It's interesting that you see them having numbness problems. I have all upright bars now because they work for me but I have found that none of them really give the number of hand positions that a really nice drop bar (or albastache) has. I know that the concept of hand positions are there but with the long stems needed for many of them and just general design I find most of the alternate hand positions are not really useful for anything but brief stints of time.
On Thursday, May 18, 2023 at 9:38:34 AM UTC-4 Garth wrote: > I remember when I was pickup w/a shell camping traveling out West from > Ohio and spent a few days to rest and ride in Utah with my sister and her > husband I'll call JE who own/runs a local bike shop and a quite strong > rider, or so I read and heard. It's not like I had ever ridden with him > before, let alone spent any time with him. So the first day I arrive I go > out riding with his teenage son I'll call AN and I'm not feeling so great > and have a hard time keeping up the 20 some miles we ride. So it goes ... > The next day JE plans a ride of unknown duration with a buddy of his I'll > call CA, AN and yours truly. The city rests in a valley which is surrounded > on three sides by mountains. We head to one of more "gentle" uphill roads > out of town up a pass, a state highway and it's relatively even grade. The > first 10 miles are in the valley and to the top of the pass is another 6 > miles. Everything is peachy until we hit the pass. I'm used to steep hills > in Ohio, but not mile are after mile of steady mountain grades, so I feel > like a boat anchor to the other three and lag behind, and they wait for at > the top of the pass. At the top I learn they're just getting started and > plan on riding another 45 miles or something. That's not anything I was > used to, and I'm not feeling great at the time so I decided it to return to > the valley and ride some extra miles on my own. Dirty Harry would agree > that was the right move for the moment. > > A few days later JE plans another that includes a less steep 16 mile > valley canyon for about 47 miles total. He figures that'll be "easier" on > me.... he tells me later. So we hum along and get to the valley entrance > where a lone rider is spotted ahead. JE knows him and tells me he doesn't > want him riding with us.... and rather than tell him to get lost, it turns > into a surreal game of "let's drop him". So JE and CA begin to hammer. Oh > ..... now I see how JE really is a "pretty strong rider" and we're flying > along in big rings and after the initial "what have I gotten myself into, > again ?" I mean, we're flat out racing ..... I don't know what the thing > was between JE and tag-along guy, but whatever it was enough of an excuse > for JE to engage in the game, and it's either play along or be the one > dropped... heeheehee ! Well not today, not here, not now. Dirty Harry > agrees. Tag-a-long guy isn't dropped either. The turnaround is a little > awkward, to say the lest.... no fun being involved in dramas you have no > part in. The ride back down wasn't as hard for the obvious reason, it being > downhill and tag-a-long guy wasn't going to go away until we returned to > the Valley where he turned off. > > I was used to racing and group rides and all but I didn't expect one to > break out there ! In all my group rides that I did no one ever crashed or > really had anything go awry. In racing I crashed "over my head" for real > once when some riders crashed right in front of me in a criterium and I had > nowhere to else to go but in/over them. That was surreal, to say the least. > There's many times in racing where I was wondering I belonged, getting > dropped up steep hills and catching up on the down. Racing/group riding is > wild though in that I found myself riding harder than I ever did on my own. > Mostly though I prefer to ride on my own as I have nothing to prove or > attain. I just love to ride my bike, that's it, period. Now I love riding > fast when I feel like it, and I've returned to riding like I used to in the > 80's, nice and stretched out with a long reach, and a relatively flat > back. While this certainly does make riding into the wind easier, that's > not why I do it. I do it because it feels most natural of all, even uphill. > I tried the more upright thing for years and it always felt like a > struggle, like I'm trying to ride in a position that doesn't suit me at > all. I still have the Albatross bars on my two bikes, but they're near > level with my saddle and very stretched out. They also have bar end brake > levers and they're taped with padded tape over the curve. Here I'm able to > use the full extension of the bar. I could do without the rear 3 inches, > but I'm not chopping them as it's not in the way, my reach is quite long. I > have some Albastache and drop bars to try out, but it's not about the bar > shape necessarily, it's about the proper reach and position of my hands and > arms and my posture, for which the bars serve as the means by which my > hands lightly rest and use to steer. With the other bars my hands would be > in about the same place anyways. When I'm in the mood I'll do it. Once you > have all that, and the core strength to ride low and stretched out with > ease, you can use a bunch of various bars as you're not using the bars > alone to support yourself. > > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/b347d12b-9c9c-4f54-be2a-0b14ea207a4dn%40googlegroups.com.
