I hate to be discouraging on this subject, but DON'T ignore the pain thinking that it will go away. I have permanently damaged my neck by doing this, and now I cannot lift my head up to level anymore--I must look down all the time. Now I ride a recumbent (at least I am riding again (YAY!)--I was having to use a wheelchair part time and was on the verge of not being able to work!). Get your bike adjusted so that the pain will go away (get a professional fitting), and if that doesn't work, get a recumbent NOW before it is too late! If I had only known 4 years ago that my mysterious symptoms (numb feet, numb legs, numb hands, numb arms, dizziness, and chest pain) were due to spinal cord compression in my neck, I could have gotten a recumbent then and not have gotten so much worse. I didn't know until this year because the pain in my neck that I have had since 1981 never got much worse than it had been all along. Spinal cord compression is mostly painless (at least it doesn't hurt at the site of compression), but it produces weird symptoms remotely in most other parts of your body. During the past 4 years I was tested for almost every disease known including endocrine disorders, metabolic disorders, and full cardiology workup, until a new MRI of my neck showed that my spinal cord is being compressed. I am trying to get surgery now, but since I am doing better now that I am keeping my neck bent forward all the time, I may have to wait for it to get much worse before I can convince the neurosurgeons to do surgery.

Definitely if you start to get symptoms in your feet, STOP! Spinal cord compression may show up first as foot numbness because these nerves are located near the periphery of the spinal cord and are among the first to get compressed. (Of course you can get foot numbness from shoes that are too tight, but if the numbness persists when you aren't riding, this could be a major problem!)