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

[Livin the Dream]

I'm late to this thread, not sure if this will be helpful, Karen, but here's my experiences with leaning. I bought a Trek Pilot this summer after four or so years on a Trek 7100 hybrid. I was hesitant about making the switch as I was worried about placing too much weight on my hands and about getting used to the riding position. Four months later, I would never switch back to an upright riding position. I am so much more comfortable on my Pilot; I like stretching out to ride, and the different hand positions keep my hands so much more comfortable. We went on vacation recently and I took the hybrid instead of the Pilot because I knew we'd ride on paths & fire roads. I didn't ride much at all because I was so uncomfortable on the hybrid.

Enjoy your new ride!

[equus123]

In terms of not wanting to be upright anymore, here are suggestions that come to *my* mind....

An upright position is attributed to 3 factors (2 major, 1 minor):
1) stem height (above the headset as well as the stem's angle),
2) stem length, and
3) handlebar tilt.

Of course a proper saddle fit is a prerequisite. But in adjusting those three factors, you will have any combination of your upper body sitting high, low, close, or stretched. From my experiences, I've found that if my bars are too close OR too far away then I will have more pressure on my hands. When you find that sweet spot then you should be comfortably balanced.

In order to bring your stem down a bit and flatten your back - so there's more of an offset between your saddle height and your bar height - then you need to be aware of two things: 1) FLEXIBILITY and 2) core strength. If you're not too flexible in your hamstrings or back and you don't work your core then a lower setup is NOT going to be good for you.

But after a lot of time goes by from doing micro-adjustments and letting them stand for a week or so EACH, you should dial in to a comfortable position. When I'm riding on my hoods in an aero position (my back's just as low as when I'm in my drops), my shoulders and elbows are both at ~90 degree angles. It's so comfortable in this position for me that I feel like I can ride it all day. I have a perfect balance on the saddle in relation to pressure on the pedals and upper body "heaviness". What also makes this position comfortable for me is that in riding this way on the hoods, my wrists and a portion of my forearms are resting on the bars. This pretty much takes all of the weight off of my hands completely and distributes it to my arms whereas the rest of the weight is absorbed by my strengthened core.

Here's a shot of my fit. I'm at the front in the CSE uniform (red, blue, white, black) on the LEFT side of the picture (my teammate Carol is looking down).