Thumb pain?

Do you wear gloves?

"jmk" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

OK, I feel really silly for asking this but both of my thumbs have been both weak and sore. If I
do not ride for a few days (out of town on business), it goes away. It seems to me that there is
something wrong with the way that I am riding or with my bike fit. I checked the site mentioned
earlier (sheldonbrown.compain.htmlOpen ↗) but did not see this mentioned. Any suggestions
would be appreciated.

jmk <[email hidden]> wrote:
: OK, I feel really silly for asking this but both of my thumbs have been both weak and sore. If I
: do not ride for a few days (out of town on business), it goes away. It seems to me that there is
: something wrong with the way that I am riding or with my bike fit. I checked the site mentioned
: earlier (sheldonbrown.compain.htmlOpen ↗) but did not see this mentioned. Any suggestions
: would be appreciated.

One suggestion is to move your hands to different positions on the bars every 10 minutes or so. On
drop bars there are these options in order:

- either side of the stem
- bit further out
- on the first bend
- straight bit just before levers
- on the hoods
- on bottom section of the down curve
- fully on the drops

Just make sure that you aren't hanging on grimly - it helps to have a light touch. Also, the rule of
'thumb' (sorry about the pun) is to have your upper body weight evenly distributed between your butt
and hands. Measure this by gauging how difficult it is to sit up into a no-hands position from the
bars. The right balance is when it takes a bit of a shove from your hands. Any more than that means
that the bars are too low in relation to the seat height and you would have too much weight on your
arms, wrists and hands.

I find it helps a lot for my comfort if I also have a slight bend in my arms - not having elbows
locked. This seems to absorb road shock and gives my neck and shoulders an easier time of it.

Hope this helps, cheerz,

Lynzz

Yes, I do wear gloves. I think that they are Performance Elites.

In the Raleigh area it seems that very few places carry women's clothing. My choices are pretty much
REI (Pearl Izumi doesn't fit me so it's not really a choice since that's mostly what they carry) and
Performance.

Paul Bielec said:

Do you wear gloves?

"jmk" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

OK, I feel really silly for asking this but both of my thumbs have been both weak and sore. If I
do not ride for a few days (out of town on business), it goes away. It seems to me that there is
something wrong with the way that I am riding or with my bike fit. I checked the site mentioned
earlier (sheldonbrown.compain.htmlOpen ↗) but did not see this mentioned. Any suggestions
would be appreciated.

Thanks. I do try to move my hands around but I will work on it more.

Lindsay Rowlands said:

jmk <[email hidden]> wrote:
: OK, I feel really silly for asking this but both of my thumbs have been both weak and sore. If I
: do not ride for a few days (out of town on business), it goes away. It seems to me that there is
: something wrong with the way that I am riding or with my bike fit. I checked the site mentioned
: earlier (sheldonbrown.compain.htmlOpen ↗) but did not see this mentioned. Any suggestions
: would be appreciated.

One suggestion is to move your hands to different positions on the bars every 10 minutes or so. On
drop bars there are these options in order:

- either side of the stem
- bit further out
- on the first bend
- straight bit just before levers
- on the hoods
- on bottom section of the down curve
- fully on the drops

Just make sure that you aren't hanging on grimly - it helps to have a light touch. Also, the rule
of 'thumb' (sorry about the pun) is to have your upper body weight evenly distributed between your
butt and hands. Measure this by gauging how difficult it is to sit up into a no-hands position
from the bars. The right balance is when it takes a bit of a shove from your hands. Any more than
that means that the bars are too low in relation to the seat height and you would have too much
weight on your arms, wrists and hands.

I find it helps a lot for my comfort if I also have a slight bend in my arms - not having elbows
locked. This seems to absorb road shock and gives my neck and shoulders an easier time of it.

Hope this helps, cheerz,

Lynzz

Paul Bielec said:

Do you wear gloves?

I need to wear padded gloves to prevent cramp in my hands and all sorts of pain in the upper joint
of my thumbs. Non-padded gloves don't work for me.

Also, I used to suffer from a similar proiblem when I used to ski.

James

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homepage.ntlworld.comLarrau.jpgOpen ↗

x-no-archive:yes

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

: OK, I feel really silly for asking this but both of my thumbs have

been

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

: both weak and sore. If I do not ride for a few days (out of town on business), it goes away.
: It seems to me that there is something wrong with the way that I am riding or with my bike
: fit. I checked the site mentioned earlier (sheldonbrown.compain.htmlOpen ↗) but did not
: see this mentioned. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

If you are riding a mountain bike, go out and get some of those short add-ons for the handlebars
that make your bike look like it has antlers. These are great for shifting your hands around to
different positions.

Pat in TX

What kind of gloves to you wear? Would you mind sharing the brand name? I'd love to give them a
try. Thanks!

Also, this is sounding more like a hand position problem than a fit problem? Do you agree?

James Hodson said:

Paul Bielec said:

Do you wear gloves?

I need to wear padded gloves to prevent cramp in my hands and all sorts of pain in the upper joint
of my thumbs. Non-padded gloves don't work for me.

Also, I used to suffer from a similar proiblem when I used to ski.

James

jmk said:

What kind of gloves to you wear? Would you mind sharing the brand name? I'd love to give them a
try. Thanks!

Also, this is sounding more like a hand position problem than a fit problem? Do you agree?

I certainly agree that it is a hand or thumb problem and had nothig top to with the fit. I can
comfortably ride with non-padded gloves for a distance but eventually I end up getting cramp in my
hands and problems with my thumb joints.

The make? Trek. I'm quite sure that other makes of padded mits would work just as well but as I live
quite close to a Trek dealer that's the type I buy. Some time ago I lost an old pair of Trek padded
gloves. The replacement set felt quite strange for a few days but I soon got used to them.

The gloves cost in the region of £20.00 to £25.00 over here (UK). I've no idea about the prices
elsewhere in the world - probably cheaper.

James

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homepage.ntlworld.comLarrau.jpgOpen ↗

jmk said:

Thanks. I do try to move my hands around but I will work on it more.

Lindsay Rowlands said:

jmk <[email hidden]> wrote:
: OK, I feel really silly for asking this but both of my thumbs have been both weak and sore. If
: I do not ride for a few days (out of town on business), it goes away. It seems to me that
: there is something wrong with the way that I am riding or with my bike fit. I checked the site
: mentioned earlier (sheldonbrown.compain.htmlOpen ↗) but did not see this mentioned. Any
: suggestions would be appreciated.

One suggestion is to move your hands to different positions on the bars every 10 minutes or so.
On drop bars there are these options in order:

- either side of the stem
- bit further out
- on the first bend
- straight bit just before levers
- on the hoods
- on bottom section of the down curve
- fully on the drops

Just make sure that you aren't hanging on grimly - it helps to have a light touch. Also, the
rule of 'thumb' (sorry about the pun) is to have your upper body weight evenly distributed
between your butt and hands. Measure this by gauging how difficult it is to sit up into a
no-hands position from the bars. The right balance is when it takes a bit of a shove from your
hands. Any more than that means that the bars are too low in relation to the seat height and you
would have too much weight on your arms, wrists and hands.

I find it helps a lot for my comfort if I also have a slight bend in my arms - not having elbows
locked. This seems to absorb road shock and gives my neck and shoulders an easier time of it.

Hope this helps, cheerz,

Lynzz

as mentioned, light touch & good body position. or like some of us idiots ( look ma no hands)

chsb said:

(look ma no hands)

<grin> Or as I said in another NG: oh-oh-splat.

James

--
homepage.ntlworld.comLarrau.jpgOpen ↗

If you have a MTB or a hybrid, you could consider adding bar ends. This would allow you to vary your
hands position.

"jmk" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

OK, I feel really silly for asking this but both of my thumbs have been both weak and sore. If I
do not ride for a few days (out of town on business), it goes away. It seems to me that there is
something wrong with the way that I am riding or with my bike fit. I checked the site mentioned
earlier (sheldonbrown.compain.htmlOpen ↗) but did not see this mentioned. Any suggestions
would be appreciated.