I'm 58 years old with some narrowing in my cervical spine that sometimes causes numbness, weakness in my neck and shoulders, and nerve pain. I'm having to consider modifications to my bike fit that will result in less stress on my neck and upper back.

I can manage about 2 hours in my current aero position before it gets really uncomfortable and I need to get out of the aero bars. I use a triathlon bike for Olympic to 70.3 distance but I have been resorting to a road bike with clip-ons for ironman distance. Being able to rotate through the aero bars to drops to hoods helps a lot. I'd like to modify my fit on my triathlon bike so that I can use it for ironman.

The obvious choice is to add spacers to lessen drop to reduce muscle strain as I rotate my head up to look down the road. I'm also experimenting with widening the space between my aero pads as I seem to be able to keep my upper back and neck muscles more relaxed the closer my upper arms are to vertical. I'm also considering putting road bars onto my triathlon bike so that I have the option of spending brief periods in the drops to use a different set of muscles for a while and my back is also more relaxed in the drops because of the added width.

Am I on the right track with these modifications and does anyone have other suggestions?