need your expert advise again

[alpinerabbit]

I think you guys need to listen to CycleChik.
...
I've been fitted and fitted. I have a great bike and I know exactly what to do when descending and cornering in terms of looking ahead, which leg to put down, etc.
...
I know I have really bad depth perception and my general visual motor skills suck.
...
???

hey - should we just tell her "you suck, live with it & ride a hybrid"? I don't think we should. And I don't want to be interpreted as saying this. at all. !!
So we're giving her the best advice we can pull out of a hat.

As with all such questions, CyclChick - pictures speak a 1000 words. Show us how you look on your bike?

[Crankin]

No, I DO NOT think we should tell her "you suck!" Please, don't misinterpret me. I just think that most people don't understand this problem. No one tells me "you suck," and I haven't traded my road bike for a hybrid, either. I have a hybrid, but it's for other purposes... I do actually lead rides, but they are always well within my comfort zone.
I guess I sound like I'm complaining, but I have ridden lots of miles over 8-9 years, and it's not changing. I have improved, but not where i should be. I guess fear is a tremendous motivator in my case, but perceptual issues are just like other forms of learning disabilities; I can't imagine how it feels to have dyslexia and I don't imagine that others can imagine what I feel, either.
So, if someone wants to give me some ideas, shoot!

[xeney]

I don't know about CyclChyk, but Crankin, I think that if you have not taken a basic skills class, you should think about it. I have similar depth perception/gross motor issues, except really, most of them are in my head at this point ... I've always had them, I think of myself as a clumsy person who is bad at sports, and it's really hard to let go and be confident when you have all of that baggage.

I took a basic cycling skills course long after I bought my road bike, and while it also helped me to figure out what did not fit right about my bike, it improved my confidence enormously. That plus lots more miles was far more helpful than miles alone.

(Since you have depth perception problems, this analogy may help you: I am not a good parallel parker because my depth perception sucks. I overcompensate so I have never bumped another car while parking, but I used to really hate parallel parking and feel like it was beyond me. About ten years ago my mother gave me a bunch of pointers that felt like cheats, but once I had a framework, I got more confident about parallel parking, and now I'm actually better at it than my husband is. But I think it's the confidence that made that happen, not the cheats I got from my mom. They just gave me the confidence in the first place.)

[shellkay1212]

I need the parallel parking cheats!

[Geonz]

The main one is that corners have to match. If I had a visual memory I could explain better but mythought process is to get *'way* too close to the car beside me, pull up much further than I think I should (for most cars so my rear wheel lines up to the back of their car), then crank **all** the way over and back up until exactly the corner of the car that's in my mirror lines up with... some corner... I don't remember ... and then straigthen the wheel out and back in.

I did that on a very narrow street at the U of S. Carolina the day I was leaving with a pickup truck piled to the sky so I coudln't see out the back at all. I was blocking traffic, of course, while I got in... and it worked! it worked! and the guy in back of me clapped as he rode by.

[aicabsolut]

Just slapping straight bars on a road bike isn't going to change your posture. It would be similar to just riding on the tops of your drop bars. You'd need to change the rest of the front end (stem height and angle). That could affect handling (for the good or not). It may be impossible for you to get sufficiently upright and still reach the bars, because of the road bike geometry.

It would be helpful if you could describe what you have trouble doing and why you feel uneasy on the road bike versus the other. Is it just the more responsive feel of the road bike, or do you feel unstable turning, or can you physically not relax for some reason (e.g., support your own weight over your seat)? Something else?

[Crankin]

Thanks for the advice; I have taken the Road 1 course. At this point it's mostly a confidence issue and fear. I think you've given Cyclechik good advice, too.
I'm one who generally avoids things that I know I'm not good at. Cycling has already pushed me far beyond a lot of my boundaries.
I guess that unless I get a cycling therapist, I have to work on this myself!

[sundial]

CyclChyk, your post # is 666!