Do I just need to force myself to lean over my bike?

[karen]

Went to the bike shop and every bike I got on, I just naturally migrated to as up-right/straight as I could be... Do I need to add "lean!" to my mantra?

I've been so afraid to put more weight on my hands for fear of making my carpal tunnel worse, but getting tennis elbow isn't helping me either!

[Aquila]

Sounds like you might want to get a bike with a more upright position to take care of your wrists and shoulders? Or maybe try a recumbent?

[coyote]

I may be wrong about this because I'm very new to rode bikes, but I'm a computer tech who was trained to give initial ergonomic evaluations....

I would worry about Carpel Tunnel with straight bars but I'm not sure about with drop bars. With the straight bars you would want to be upright as possible because your wrists are not in a very ergonomic position. Your hands are holding your arms up and it would be easy to bend your wrist, impeding the nerve.

With drop bars, you rest your hands on the hoods or in the drop. Your hand is like you are shaking someone’s hand. When I'm in the drops, my hands are resting on outside of my hand (pinkie side). When they are on the hoods, it’s the same only my thumb seems to be more involved and will get tired. I will briefly put my hands on the flat upper part.

One thing I did find out with the drops....I have to have my handle bars level with my seat or I will put too much weight on my hands.

This is just my experience and observations. Hopefully others with more knowledge will weight.

- Mary

[Zen]

Have you tried a Trek Pilot WSD?
It has a fairly upright position for a road bike.

[KnottedYet]

mustache bars or albatross bars.

Beautiful things!

[karen]

Well, i went for a ride this morning and make sure to stay bent over with elbows bent... Rode the first half of the 10 mile ride with my hands on the middle grips and boy oh boy, did that hurt when I stopped!!

Rode back with my hands on the bar ends, staying bent, and my hands felt fine after I got back to the parking lot! So, I'm pretty sure that I am going to swap bikes again and get a small road bike (Fuji Newest, most likely) so that I'll have more positions to ride in than just the one position that I have now.

Thanks for all the advice thus far in this thread and my other - I'll post an update after I put a few miles on the new bike!

[KnottedYet]

If you like everything about your current bike except for the bars, can you just switch out the bars?

(not that I'd *ever* try to talk someone out of buying another bike!!)