You never rode and you are over 40.
The drop bars don't give you much choice in where your hands can go
and your shoulders pay a price. They also tend to keep you leaning
more forward than an old back wants to be. That body angle means that
you have to crane your neck upwards to see the road ahead. not a great
angle as you get older. Sore in the saddle might mean you need a different
seat.
Swap in the MB seat to see if it helps. Even if your bike fits you are
going to
have to accomodate the racer's posture and that gets less comfortable as you
age.

After a few years of trying to get used to drop bars I swapped them for bars
offering a
more upright position. Lot's of improved comfort resulted.
My wife's bike is more upright than mine and she has no problem keeping a
good pace.
Road bikes tend to resemble bikes designed for superthighed 20something
racers
who need to consider windresistance at speeds of 25 to 35 MPH more than
lower back pain
and arthritis. Since they never really put their weight on the seat they
avoid pelvic pain.

At 40 I was training hard and could deal with it. Give it a shot. If you
can't adjust
then think about changing your bike.

JP






wrote in message
...
My background: I have never ridden a road bike before. Only recently
started training for long distance (more than 10 miles) riding. I am
over 40 years of age.

My existing bike: Road Master mountain bike that I have been using
until a couple of weeks ago.

Current situation: I have signed up for a charity bike ride. The final
ride is a 180-mile ride in April spanning two days in a weekend. So, I
am training for it by riding in a club every Saturday. Figured out
that my mountain bike is slow and I needed a road bike. Others riders
were passing me even though my cadence was heigher than theirs.

Road bike: Schwinn Prelude arrives and I get it fitted. I took it to
the training ride on last Saturday. Happy with the product. I stayed
in the middle of the pack and completed a 43-mile ride in 4 hours.
Longest ride ever. The route was hilly and there was constant breeze.

Problem: Various parts of my body hurt for a couple of days.
Specifically, neck, shoulders, lower back, and pelvic area hurt more
than any other part. Could that be because my bike is not really
fitted well to suit my body? Or, could it be cause it was my first
time on a road bike?

Thank you very much for your insights and help!