Your "pain points" sound very much like mine as I've been getting used to the bike this year! It's a weird body position when you're not used to it, and there's pressure on your hands that they're not used to, even if you're not riding with a death grip. We also seem to lock our elbows and do something with our shoulders -- I found that thinking shoulders down to myself every now and then has them feeling ever so much better!

I DID get some shims added to my 105 brake/shifter levers earlier this season, which has made it a bit easier to be in the drops -- I can reach those levers better now!

I also got a shorter stem on my bike recently, which has made a HUGE difference for me. I still might put narrower handlebars on, which I've seen suggested a lot.

We get eager to make everything about the bike "perfect" right away, and wonder what about IT to change when we have a bit of discomfort. When we're new to this sport, though, we have to realize that there are things about us that we have to consider too. My LBS guy sent me home with instructions to ride for a couple of weeks, then come back. I go in every now and again, and we make like one change at a time, based on my body's response to the last one or two changes. Meanwhile, my body is making lots of changes that seem to make bike changes less and less necessary!

(A recent addition to my repertoire of skills that changed how my hands and shoulders feel yet again -- watching the "boys" on the Tour the other day, I noticed that they put their hands farther out on the hoods than I was doing, so like, the heel of my hand is actually on that hood thing, rather than heel on the bar, thumb/forefinger area on hood. That proved to be HUGELY comfortable, and an impossible-to-lock-my-elbows position too!)

Karen in Boise