glove question

[babynoahsmom]

This is my econd season to ride. Last year I rode a mountain bike. This year I bought a Dolce Elite. Worked my butt off last year. I have tried three different pairs of gloves. My hands and fingers still get numb. Do I need a specific type of glove? Am I holding my hands wrong? I have to shake my handds every once in a while to get the feeling back in them. Would appreciate any advice. Thanks!

[shootingstar]

Just make sure when you try on gloves in the store, that they aren't totally snug or tight. Your hands expand when you get hot/very active. If you find you cannot take off your glove easily when you are hot, that's not necessarily a good thing.

Are you completely comfortable on your bike? Any neck/back pain? Any aches and pains that persist? Your arms in their most relaxed position while you are riding on your bike, should have a tiny natural bend at the elbow when riding easier parts of route. Not ramrod stiff straight.

And your handlebars and arm positioning, should be shoulder width.

Try to see when you ride along for awhile, to deliberately relax your arms...as a test, ride like ragdoll..

I have small hands, yet for the past few years I avoid XS gloves. If the glove design allows me, I will go up next size.

[babynoahsmom]

I had my bicycle fitted to me. I don't seem to have any other aches or pains. I do try to relax my arms every once in a while. I need to talk to the bike fitter at the shop about my problem. I bought one pair of "gel" gloves. I could not tell any difference with them.

[Cataboo]

gel gloves make my hands worse... I rip the gel out of my gloves.

if they're tight across the wrist it might hurt.

How much road feel do you get in your bike? If I get too many vibrations to my wrist... my hands go numb... if I bend my wrists back towards me at all, my hands go numb... so make sure when you're on your bike that your wrists end up being straight.... You can get gel padding to put under your handlebar tape (I don;t know if the dolce is a flat bar or not, but if it's dropped bars, gel padding helps)... If it's flat bars, you can get ergo grips.

You can get bar end plugs that go into your bar ends to dampen vibrations. I switched to carbon handlebars to minimize how much vibration I get in my wrists, but I know specialized has handlebars with zertz inserts that are also supposed to dampen vibrations...


How much weight are you putting on your wrists? You shouldn't be leaning forward onto them or putting weight on them, your core muscles in your back, etc. should be supporting your weight... if you're putting weight on them, concentrate on using your body to support your weight and not your wrists.

If you can see a bumpy section of road or a bump comping up, loosen your grip on the handlebars, sorta bend your elbows to dampen the amount of vibration that your wrists are going to absorb.

I hope one of these suggestions helps!

Definitely move your hands around as you're riding... don't have a death grip on your handlebars... move your hands to a different section of bar or different angle every so often...

[babynoahsmom]

Thanks! That is some terrific advice. I am riding this afternoon and I am going to try it out. I think I may be bending my wrists now that I think aobut it. I actually had gel tape put on my bars not long after I got her. I might need to think about the carbon upgrade if repositioning doesn't seem to help. I will lyk! Thanks again!

[fidlfreek]

Hey :) I was thinking that if you're coming from a mountain bike then maybe you're not taking full advantage of the myriad of hand positions open to road bikers. If you're not putting your hands in a different position every few minutes then maybe you're not moving them enough....I can think of at least 6 different options. On top, on the bend on top, on the shifters, on top of the shifters, in the drops, down at the end of the bar. I'm sure there are more...

Also, realize that if you go carbon bars then you're much much more likely to have to replace them after a crash because they're relatively fragile. And a minor crack can lead to catastrophic failure!

[Eden]

Do your gloves have a velcro wrist closure? - Don't close it... and definitely don't pull it tight. My fingers start to go to sleep even if I loosely close my gloves. Even a little pressure is enough to do it. Also as with saddles and chamois, more is often less. I prefer a pretty thinly padded glove - no bulky gel, super padded palms - just enough to protect my hands in case of a fall and prevent chafing. Highly padded gloves just increase the chance you'll get pressure in the wrong spots.

[tctrek]

I'm no expert, but I think hand numbness has less to do with your gloves and more to do with your hand/arm position. If you lean too much on your hands, whether you're on a bike or not, your hands/wrists will get tingly/numb. Of course, tight gloves could account for numbness, but I think form of your arms/hands has more to do with it. Make sense?

[Eden]

My fingers were always falling asleep until I figured out to not close my gloves at the wrist... when I stopped doing that they stopped falling asleep. I think numbness and tingliness probably has more to do with gloves or rough roads (heavy chip seal has a tendency to make my hands feel like they are still vibrating, sometimes even with carbon bars....) and stiffness/soreness come from bad fit or form... If you already have some problems like carpal tunnel, I'm sure bad hand posture could cause a problem, but I would try the simplest fix - gloves first.

[babynoahsmom]

The more I read the more I'm convinced it is a positioning problem. I will leave my gloves open too and see if that helps. I also don't think I am changing positions enough. I hadn't thought about the fact that on my MB I always kept them pretty much on the grips. If it ever stops raining I will let you all know the results. If this keeps up I may have to trade my bike for a canoe and and paddleLOL!

[Heifzilla]

My hand numbness was not caused by my gloves, it was definitely a hand position/handlebar reach/locked elbows issue. I had mountain bike handlebars and switched to trekking bars, and while I still have occasional tingling, it's is SO much better than it was. I would look into those items because it could be a really simple adjustment you need to do to help get yourself off your hands so much.

Good luck!

[Cataboo]

Also, realize that if you go carbon bars then you're much much more likely to have to replace them after a crash because they're relatively fragile. And a minor crack can lead to catastrophic failure!

I can't say I've had a crash on the carbon bars yet.... But I usually figure anything that makes my wrists happy so that I can ride without misery is worth it ;)

[Miranda]

I can't remeber where I read this atm, but...

It was something about squishier (is that a word even lol) grips, wraps, etc. can aid in hand/wrist issues. Some study that was done on body mechanics. Basically, sub-consciously you grip the softer surface MORE in a effort to still keep a tight grip. The tigher you grip, the more work your hands are doing, more fatigue, stress etc.

I don't know what type of work you do for a living either, but I have some carpal tunnel issues. Just like my houses' allergery issues (acculative effect), the wrist issues can be acculative too w/use. Meaning if your wrists get a workout for 'work', then you work them more in your new road riding position... well, you get the idea I think.

My mtb rides are not as long as my road rides, and positioning is all over. Which you said positioning is part of it. But the repetative working of the muscles can aid in it. I specifically stretch my hands & wrists for riding like for my pc use. Even if not pc, things like holding a pen repeatedly, etc. can do it too. I think the stretching exercises helps.

FWIW. Good Luck:).

[Crankin]

My numbness was totally due to gloves. I cannot stand any padding or gel! It is hard to find minimalist ones, but the Terry T gloves are good ones. I also have a pair of Descentes I like. But my favorites are Capos. Very expensive (got with a gift certificate), but no padding, no velcro, and a little ring to help you pull the glove off.

[babynoahsmom]

The rain finally let up enough I could hit the road last night. I tried swicthing positions more often and concentrating on not bearing my weight on my wrists. It really helped. I also left the velcro on my gloves open. I really appreciate all of the advice from you all. I am going to look into the carbon bars also. Have a great day.

[Geonz]

I'm really grateful that I had piano lessons when I was a kid. I can't play the piano for beans, but I spend probably 7 hours out of any day either riding a bicycle or typing on a keyboard, and because I had good, very relaxed hand position from the beginning, I don't have the issues others do. (All those years swimming and drilling in relaxing whatever muscles weren't pushing water help, too.) I see riders with tense, bent wrists and it's gotta hurt!

[sweetpotatopie]

Does anyone have a good website with diagrams/pictures that show some good hand positions? I've googled it, but haven't found anything that really shows what's good and what's potentially bad. I get the numbness, too, and I'm pretty sure it's from my handposition (I get it on my mountain bike, too).

[babynoahsmom]

I did a 30 mile ride today. Lots of hills. Can't feel my butt, but my hands are fine. My husband should know better than to tell me he didn't think I could do it! Thanks for all the tips!

[tctrek]

Does anyone have a good website with diagrams/pictures that show some good hand positions? I've googled it, but haven't found anything that really shows what's good and what's potentially bad. I get the numbness, too, and I'm pretty sure it's from my handposition (I get it on my mountain bike, too).
sweetpotatopie, I don't know of any websites that show hand positions, but it's important to relax your hands. You can grip the handlebars in many places and positions, but don't grip too tightly and try not to lean completely on your hands. Keep you elbows flexed a little and keep a light grip. Keep your shoulders down and relaxed. Keep your back and your core straight and strong so that you're not holding yourself up by your wrists and your hands. Wiggle your fingers! If you can ride for a second with one hand, shake your other hand out.

The more you can relax, the stronger you will be. As an added bonus, when you relax your grip your heart rate usually goes down :)

[TrekTheKaty]

Check out Sheldon Brown's website. I think I have the "two bump" problem.
http://sheldonbrown.com/pain.html#hands

Fingers

Numbness of the fingers is a potentially dangerous symptom, often related to carpal tunnel syndrome.
This is one of many problems which can result from bad upper body posture.

The Two Bump Problem

Like your bottom, the heel of your hand has two bumps, with a sort of valley between.
There are important nerves which run through this valley, and it is important to avoid excessive pressure here. One common cause of excess pressure on this "valley" is riding on the top corners of drop bars in such a way that the bar presses here.

As with saddles, the "two bump problem" can actually be exacerbated by excessive padding! If you use thick foam handlebar grips, and/or gloves with too much foam/gel padding, the "bumps" that are best able to carry weight will press through the foam, but the foam in the middle will press back at the valley. Thus, as with saddles, too much foam/gel can worsen the problem it was intended to correct!

Wrist angle.

Numbness can also be related to poor wrist positioning. Generally, the wrist should be held so that the hand is pretty much in line with the forearm. If your hand is bent upward from the forearm, the nerves can get pinched, causing numbness.