wow thanks guys!
i think i'm going to check out the north road bars since they arent too expensive, although they are silver and the ones i have now are black! hehe. couldn't hurt too much to try. i might angle my bars up a little til then because theyre pointing down a bit, which i hadn't noticed before. (is that a bad idea?)
how do you make your elbows bend more? by raising the bars? at their highest point right now theyre maybe 1.5 or 2" higher than the saddle. the height is adjustable so i can probably raise them a bit more.
i really feel like i am leaning forward toward the front of the bike, like i want the handlebars closer to my stomach. is that a bad sign?
one of the lamest parts of this all is that i have lost grip strength in my right hand. i can't unlock the front door or turn the knob on the washing machine without using my left hand to help or flipping my hand around in a strange way. it blows. that totally went away when i quit riding for a week or so
i'll try using a brace and getting new bars, and eventually i'll see if i can get experts to fit the bike to me. i hope it gets fixed because this sucks!