Quote Originally Posted by bal
the "tour de france" type racing bikes have one leaning over and pushing back with the legs on the peddles. while i think this is excellent for peddling in short races; for longer distances, its like being frozen in a "push-up" postion, and unless you have really strong arms, i don't think this is that terrific for a woman.
Hey there, just in response to this particular part of your post - the Tour bikes are road race and time trial (TT) bikes... as you look about you'll find there are all sorts of bikes... mountain, comfort/hybrid, indoor/track, recumbant, TT and road race...

I have a road race bike which doubles as my TT bike, and as soon as I do well in some TTs will get a nice TT specific bike (my partner recently got himself a Trinity and I have been drooling over it...)

You'll find many of the women here have road race bikes too and find them comfortable enough, you do need to get measurements/set up right though...

Many of the women here have hybrid/comfort bikes which give the more upright position, and I also agree with the earlier post that this is probably your best bet initially... unless you try the recumbant - I don't know anyone personally that has one, but have heard via various grape-vines (including this community) that a recumbant can be ideal for those with back issues.

Find a sympathetic LBS, pref one with a woman there (simply because a woman will have talked to other women and will have a female perspective on female physiology) and try out a few bike types.

Best of luck