Why would I lower my handlebars?

[nikkoblu2]

I'm so thankful for you experts who take your time to answer these questions.

During my bike fitting, the fitter told me he guessed I would probably take another spacer out of my handlebar stem before the season is out. But, he didn't explain why I would do that or how I would know if I wanted to take one out. Any thoughts on that?

In the last few rides I've really started using my drops, and I'm much more comfortable with the road bike position, whereas when I started, it made me super nervous, since I was so used to riding a hybrid with very high bars.

At the moment my handlebars are exactly level with my saddle. I've lowered the saddle since my fitting - since I'm not using clipless, I needed to be closer to the pedals.

This comment isn't totally on your topic, but so glad to hear you're happy making the transition from hybrid to road bike. I've been riding my hybrid mostly on weekends - usually 40-50 mile rides w/ some shorter rides during the week. The people at the bike shop keep telling me it's time to move on to a road bike. So, the other day I rode my step-daughters road bike over to the gas station to put air in her tires. Granted, it was way too short for me (she's about 5 inches shorter), but everything threw me. The sitting position, the gears, the idea of clipless, the brakes...just everything. For a moment, I thought maybe I'll just stick with my good old Trek 7.3 and be happy with my 14mph rides. But, hearing "happy transition stories" makes me ready to go try out some new bikes.

[sarahspins]

But, hearing "happy transition stories" makes me ready to go try out some new bikes.

I transitioned from a hybrid to a road bike about 4 months ago.. it was an easy move for me. Go out and try some bikes... it took me several months to find the "right" one for me, but I'm glad I took my time... I was immediately so much more comfortable on my road bike than I had been on my Hybrid.

[trista]

I've only had it for a month but I really love it - definitely a happy transition. I was lucky that the 2nd bike I sat on was a perfect fit - the Trek Madone. On the first bike I tried, I felt like you said you did on your step-dd's bike - everything felt weird and wrong. But on the Madone it all felt right. So definitely try a few different bikes and maybe you'll find one that feels like butter.

The first several rides I was kinda like "whoa.... whhhhoooooaaaaa" all shaky and scared. But that feeling didn't last long. This morning i was approaching 30 mph down a hill and did not feel shaky at all.

[aicabsolut]

As I've become more limber in the lower back over the season, I've been itching to take out a spacer, but I didn't want to change things up too close to a race. I might start playing with it now that the season is winding down. I just feel like I want to stretch out more. I find myself hanging my hands over the tops of the hoods when I want to set a steady tempo. I don't think this is an uncommon thing, particularly for people newer to road bikes. I lowered the bars in my first and second seasons. Then I moved to deeper drops for the third. I kept the tops the same due to shoulder problems. Now I feel comfortable enough to go for some more reach. I also think being lower makes me feel more stable for corners and descending so long as I'm not so stretched out that I can't scoot my weight back over the saddle for those activities.