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Inkratlet
Posts: 613 Member
Hi all,
I grew up in the Netherlands and cycled everywhere as a child, so I'm not a stranger to cycling, but I am new to riding a road bike.
But I always rode a city bike in a more upright position where most of your weight is going through the seatbones. I'm finding that on my road bike with dropped bars some of my weight is naturally shifted forward into my shoulders. My problem is that my hands and fingers go numb. So the extra pressure on my hands is stopping some of the blood flow. I try to change my grip, flap my hands etc. to get the blood flowing, but what I'd really like to know is how to prevent it. My favoured position is at the bottom of the drop. Sometimes I grab the rubber bit the gear/brake lever comes out of (what is that called?) to change it up a bit but I can't reach the brakes as easily.
Is it likely to be my position on the bike? Grip wrong? Or just something that happens to begin with and goes away on it's own (ie. suck it up, buttercup)
(I had a similar thing with my feet to begin with, but resolved it by using more 'pull' when pedaling. That and not doing my new shoes up so tightly.)
I grew up in the Netherlands and cycled everywhere as a child, so I'm not a stranger to cycling, but I am new to riding a road bike.
But I always rode a city bike in a more upright position where most of your weight is going through the seatbones. I'm finding that on my road bike with dropped bars some of my weight is naturally shifted forward into my shoulders. My problem is that my hands and fingers go numb. So the extra pressure on my hands is stopping some of the blood flow. I try to change my grip, flap my hands etc. to get the blood flowing, but what I'd really like to know is how to prevent it. My favoured position is at the bottom of the drop. Sometimes I grab the rubber bit the gear/brake lever comes out of (what is that called?) to change it up a bit but I can't reach the brakes as easily.
Is it likely to be my position on the bike? Grip wrong? Or just something that happens to begin with and goes away on it's own (ie. suck it up, buttercup)
(I had a similar thing with my feet to begin with, but resolved it by using more 'pull' when pedaling. That and not doing my new shoes up so tightly.)
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Replies
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Really hard to say without actually seeing you on the bike... Could be a number of things, with the most problematic being poor bike fit (could be too stretched out, saddle too high, bars too low, etc). Do you wear any type of glove?
A few fairly simple things to try first...
Lower you saddle and raise your handlebars.
Move your saddle forward and get a shorter stem.
Try some thicker bar tape/wrap job.
Gloves, if you wear them, can be very hit or miss in my experience. Some have helped with hand numbness, some have made it worse. If you wear them, try not wearing them, or try a different pair.
All of those things are fairly cheap and pretty simple. I'd try them 1 at a time so you can evaluate the benefit.0 -
Yeah, maybe the seat is too high and too far back, and her body is too stretched out so there is too much pressure on the upper joints.
Another thing to try even when you are comfortable is put some weight on the pedals and sit back with hand on the top of the bars to get some relief as you a riding. Sit up and back stretch a lot. Stand in the pedals sometimes too. Just keep shifting position with the body and hands. Keeps blood flowing and joints are less likely to get stressed too long in one position.0 -
This is a subject that is talked about quite often in the biking world, so you’re not alone in this. Proper bike fit is most importaint. Here are a few links to check out,
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/775770-hand-numbness-while-cycling
http://www.livestrong.com/article/466503-my-hands-go-numb-when-i-ride-my-bike/
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080727091925AAudT1a
I move my hand position around often. Its more of an issue on my road bike than my mountain bike tho.0 -
Numbness can also be caused by the way the head is tilted. Warm up your neck muscles prior to ride, does help. Move head more during ride, keep from getting stiff & keep loose.0
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Good to know it is a common problem!
I have a ladies frame which I believe is designed to be shorter. I don't feel like I'm stretched. Some really useful stuff about wrist positioning in those links, I'll definitely be checking that.
Gloves - I've tried with and without. Preferring without at the moment as the pair I have put too much pressure on the fleshy bit between thumb and forefinger and it hurts. That's probably just the glove design.
I think also I ride in the drops too much when I don't need to be. I find it easier to control the bike there I guess.
You might be on to something with the neck/shoulder area too, my neck does get sore around the 7th cervical vertebra. I put that down to muscular fatigue. I'm not used to being in that position for so long. Could be right about something getting pinched there.0 -
I first tried a road bike 2 months ago which was my husbands and I only rode 3 miles as I felt like my hands were going to drop off the front of the hubs!! I now have my own road bike with the bars higher and love it
He has his tilted down to much(for me anyway) Good luck x 0 -
So yesterdays ride home felt pretty good.
Didn't use the drops if I didn't need to, moved my hand position around a lot, sat more upright if I needed to, rolled my shoulders, moved my neck etc.
I feel a bit like there is still too much weight in my hands and if I try to shift my COG back I don't sit right, so some experimentation needed with the seat etc.0 -
It sounds as though you could use a proper 'bike fit'.
You can normally get a 'rule of thumb' (string, plumb line and tape measure) fit done at a Local Bike Shop (LBS), or if you really want to 'push the boat out' you could go for a Retul Bike Fit done, which fully analyses you size/position for optimum cycling performance & comfort.
See here:
http://youtu.be/C2Fq0D8S2LQ 0 -
Okay - this is a quick guide, and by no means comprehensive - and NOT a substitute in any way to a proper bike fit - but it's a good "first aproximation" to what you nay need.
1 - saddle height - quick rule of thumb for correct saddle height. In your normal riding kit, Sit on bike next to a wall or something you can support yourself stationery with (an indoor trainer would be the ideal) and place your heels on the pedals. Back-pedal, and check if your hips rock from side to side. If they don't, raise the saddle 5mm and repeat. As soon as they do, back off the saddle height 2mm and re-check until they dont.
2 - Saddle fore-aft adjustment. With a plumb-bob (or a weight on the end of a 3ft length of cotton) Clip into your pedals, and position the pedals at 9-3 (so the cranks are horizontal) - from the bony-bit at the side of your kneecap on the forward foot, drop the string, and it should fall pretty near to the centre of the pedal spindle. Adjust the saddle fore-or-aft to set this (going back to step one after this to amend the saddle height again if needed - this may be a loop 1-2-1-2-1-2... a few times until you get it right)
3 - handlebar position - unless you're massively flexible, or have a really long body compared to your leg length, or have arms best fitted to an orang-utang, don't try and emulate the pro's and get the handlebars down massively lower than the saddle height. You may not have much option in the actual height, other than "flipping" the stem or finding an alternative stem anyway, if the steerer has already been cut down and there aren't enough spacers under/over the stem itself. As to Stem length, well - my usual rule of thumb is this - if the bars are at the correct height, then when sat in the saddle, and with your hands gripping the bars at the brake hoods, then if you look down, the top of the handlebar will generally obscure your view of the front wheel hub. If you sit up, and hold the top of the bar, the hub should be visible on the rider side, and as you tuck down into the "drops" of the bars, the hub will emerge out the front of the handlebar...
As I say, it's not exhaustive, and it's only a first-approximation, which will probably require plenty of tweaking (or a proper bike-fit) but it's better than nothing, and costs nothing but a little time with the Allen Keys and a modicum of patience.
If you alter anything, do it in small increments, and take a decent ride to get used to it. Don't be afraid to move back to a prior setting, or to move away completely from these initial settings, because they're sort of based on "typical build" - and as we know, "Typical Builds" are pretty much anything but Typical.0 -
You may also need to adjust the bar angle: sometimes all-over numbness can be caused by having a little more pressure on one part of your hand. Ideally, you should be able to reach straight out from your torso and grab the drops without flexing your wrists.0
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Okay - this is a quick guide, and by no means comprehensive - and NOT a substitute in any way to a proper bike fit - but it's a good "first aproximation" to what you nay need.
1 - saddle height - quick rule of thumb for correct saddle height. In your normal riding kit, Sit on bike next to a wall or something you can support yourself stationery with (an indoor trainer would be the ideal) and place your heels on the pedals. Back-pedal, and check if your hips rock from side to side. If they don't, raise the saddle 5mm and repeat. As soon as they do, back off the saddle height 2mm and re-check until they dont.
2 - Saddle fore-aft adjustment. With a plumb-bob (or a weight on the end of a 3ft length of cotton) Clip into your pedals, and position the pedals at 9-3 (so the cranks are horizontal) - from the bony-bit at the side of your kneecap on the forward foot, drop the string, and it should fall pretty near to the centre of the pedal spindle. Adjust the saddle fore-or-aft to set this (going back to step one after this to amend the saddle height again if needed - this may be a loop 1-2-1-2-1-2... a few times until you get it right)
3 - handlebar position - unless you're massively flexible, or have a really long body compared to your leg length, or have arms best fitted to an orang-utang, don't try and emulate the pro's and get the handlebars down massively lower than the saddle height. You may not have much option in the actual height, other than "flipping" the stem or finding an alternative stem anyway, if the steerer has already been cut down and there aren't enough spacers under/over the stem itself. As to Stem length, well - my usual rule of thumb is this - if the bars are at the correct height, then when sat in the saddle, and with your hands gripping the bars at the brake hoods, then if you look down, the top of the handlebar will generally obscure your view of the front wheel hub. If you sit up, and hold the top of the bar, the hub should be visible on the rider side, and as you tuck down into the "drops" of the bars, the hub will emerge out the front of the handlebar...
As I say, it's not exhaustive, and it's only a first-approximation, which will probably require plenty of tweaking (or a proper bike-fit) but it's better than nothing, and costs nothing but a little time with the Allen Keys and a modicum of patience.
If you alter anything, do it in small increments, and take a decent ride to get used to it. Don't be afraid to move back to a prior setting, or to move away completely from these initial settings, because they're sort of based on "typical build" - and as we know, "Typical Builds" are pretty much anything but Typical.
Awesome post. Going to take me a little while to analyse all these things but thank you.0 -
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Techniques cited are good starting points but you might want to read the following to refine the adjustments.
http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/fitting.htm
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/kops.html
http://web.archive.org/web/19980201073043/http://www.kleinbikes.com/Technology/Myth/Knee_Over.html0
