Couple of Things - Butt and Hand

[ummbnb]

1. Butt
Recently I've noticed that I'm constanly scooting back on my saddle to be more comfortable. I'm not overly sore at any point, it just feels better when I'm back on my sit bones. I've been playing with the position but haven't found a good spot.
It is a women's saddle and didn't start bothering me until recently. I've been riding fairly regularly through the winter but not nearly as frequently as in warmer weather.

2. Hand numbness - possibly connected to my saddle issue or to carpel tunnel that I've dealt with from time to time over the years. It is better when I concentrate on keeping my wrist position straighter which makes me believe it has more to do with the carpel tunnel, but could still very well be a combination issue. I'm probably putting more pressure on my hands as I slide forward.

Any ideas/suggestions?

Oh, my bike is a K2 road bike.

[VeloVT]

three questions come to my mind:
1) is your saddle tilted too much, so that it's causing you to slide forward? It doesn't actually take that much tilt to make this happen.

2) is your saddle set too far back, so that your natural position from the perspective of overall fit is kind of on the nose of the saddle, so you ride there often, but then you scoot back to find a more supportive part of the saddle?

3) is the reach too long? this could cause both the scooting and the hand numbness.

It's probably not a bad idea to stop by your bike shop when they're slow and see if someone can observe you on the trainer for a few minutes. It's much easier for someone else to see exactly what's going on sometimes, and they may be able to tweak it in very little time.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Maybe I am totally off, but to me it just sounds like the old familiar too-long-top-tube issue so many women deal with....it puts too much weight on your hands, and makes it feel like your center of balance is too far forward and like you need to get back further in your saddle to keep from holding yourself up with your hands. It's typical when a woman has proportions different from a man of the same height and rides a bike made for men's typical geometry (slightly longer arms and slightly shorter legs). For some women it's more of a problem that for others. I have these issues to a certain extent on my current otherwise great bike, and it's why I am now getting a bike made to my body measurements.
Could be I'm all wrong in your case though. :rolleyes:

[Kalidurga]

I used to do the scoot-back thing on my saddle, too, and always felt like I was leaning a lot of my weight onto my hands. When I had a fitting a year ago, the fitter ended up raising my bars and voila! no more scooting and no more numb hands. Just one more fit element for you to consider (there are sooo many!) ;)

[Mr. Bloom]

I've been a long time Carpal Tunnel sufferer. I wear heavily padded gloves called "gel vent". I've had no pain for several months now...successfully focused on computer egonomics and regular wrist stretches.

Here's a women's version of the glove:

http://www.pearlizumi.com/product.php?mode=view&pc_id=133&product_id=192655

[Melalvai]

My hand/arm numbness went away when I got Trekking bars (http://tinyurl.com/2l3dzd) from Nashbar.

[li10up]

When I got my new bike my hands were killing me...I asked the bike shop to rotate the handlebars forward, tilting the hoods a bit forward. That took a little of the bend out of my wrists and the problem was fixed on the very next ride...something to try. While watching the tour I noticed a lot of the guys having to scoot back from time to time...especially during time trials. It may just be normal and not really a fit issue since I would assume that their bikes are fit to them perfectly. But if you are doing it constantly it may be a fit issue.