I’m potentially in the market for new handlebars and one reason is that I’ve recently re-discovered that my shoulders are wider than my bars (around 43 cm compared with 40 cm). I’ve never really had a noticeable problem with this, but I do seem to remember that conventional wisdom says to match these two things as closely as you can.

Have any of you gone this route, and if so, what was your experience with it?

MONTHLY REPORT

It’s actually been 2 months since my first ‘monthly’ report, which is kind of indicative of the way my training has been going since you last heard from me. But I do have some good news below.

	Week 1	Week 15 (now)
Age	50	50
Current Weight (lbs)	162	158
Skinfold Site	mm
Triceps	9.5	9
Abdomen	37	27
Thigh	22	17
Suprailiac	21	18
Skinfold Total	89.5	71
% Body Fat	24.4%	20.4%
Fat Mass	39.47	32.28
Lean Mass	122.53	125.72

These are my caliper measurements, and although I’ve got a long, long way to go, at least the numbers are going in the right direction. The total body fat is pretty horrendous, though, for a guy who needs to do 7 consecutive days of intense climbing in August.

More good news: I’ve been off the beer for over 2 weeks, but that’s because I’ve been sick and more or less off the bike, too.

But there’s a long way to go before August and I’m sure that my new copy of Fast After Fifty will fill me with motivation and strategies to get me to the start line in relative shape.