My assorted hurts

So as much as I love my new girl I'm finding some various aches and pains when I ride. I need lots of help determining which ones are the kind to tough it out and get stronger, and which can be fixed.

The biggest one, the one that makes me want to go home and just cry is my hands. My palms, in the padding under my thumb hurt like h*ll! Not specifically the heel of my palm, but more like radiating out from there. I switch my hands around a ton because it sucks. Most of the time it stops bugging me after a while but it comes back.

My concern here is that I don't think the angle my handlebars are at is working for me. I feel like the hoods should meet me at a more natural angle. Concern two is that maybe I'm just an idiot and don't put my hands right at all. I try to steal glances and at all riders who seem to have a clue, but I don't know if I'm doing it right. I try and keep my elbows bent and in close to my body but this seems to have zero effect.

Ouch number two came tonight. My lower back was protesting pretty hard core. I finally got off and did some stretches, conveniently over the top tube of my bike so I didn't have to lay her down. I think this one is a live through it. It's never shown up before tonight and I got super brave and spent tons of time in the drops. Had to show mister fancy pants on his lighter than a popcorn fart and worth more than I make in a year bike what was for. Amazing the energy you have when chasing guys wearing jerseys from the "snobby shop."

I may try and swing her by the LBS Friday after work. They're all super excited to see her anyway so maybe I can get some quick help from a second pair of eyes.

Sounds like a fit issue. Have you had your bike fitted and tweaked by a person who is very good at doing these things? Should take at least an hour, maybe two.

Also how's your core strength? If your core cannot support you, you will end up putting alot of weight on your arms and hands, and it will also hurt your back.

The most likely culprit -in my opinion- is the age old issue of a bike that's designed for a typical man having a top tube that's too long, thus when a woman of the same height but with shorter arms than a man rides it, she has to stretch forward more to grasp the bars and it throws her weight forward onto her hands.

Ditto on the previous posters' suggestions.

Another question - how is the angle of your wrists and elbows? Your wrists should be neutral, as if you are shaking hands with your hoods, not severely flexed/angled. I see a lot of new riders with very bent wrists. Also your elbows should have a bend in them at all times, acting as shock absorbers.

Get a good bike fit and I bet most of those issues will go away. Just a couple of things to think about in the interim.

For your hands, try rotating your bars upward some (hoods closer to you). Or, you can go in for a fitting and maybe they'll move the hoods higher up on the bars towards the tops. You should also be able to be comfortable in the drops. Perhaps you need a higher or shorter stem or shorter drop bars. I'd see how rotating the bars work first, because that's the easiest thing, and you can do that in a couple minutes on your own. The muscle in the pad of my thumb will cramp if my hoods are too low, because I must hold them in a weird way.

When I had really bad thumb pain it turned out to be two things:
1. My saddle was too far forward
2. My handlebars were too low.

A fitting at the LBS will probably help!

Another thing to check is how level your seat is. If your nose is too far down, you slide forward and put more pressure on your wrists and the palms of your hands.
Have your tried riding without gloves or riding with different gloves? I had a pair of gloves that put pressure in all of the wrong places.

All good ideas, thanks a bunch. I read somewhere last night that the hoods can be tipped inward so they match the natural angle your hands take when dangling at your side. No info on doing it, but it made sense. Yes I am big enough of a dork to google "hand position road bike."

I had my bar angle up higher but my roommate said it looked too high and talked me into changing it. I didn't know any better.

It could be a top tube issue, but when I had a women's specific MTB I had to go with a much longer stem to be comfortable. I'm not built like most chicks torso wise, but I dunno how my arms stack up.

My saddle is nosed down a bit, that's a very good point. I keep pushing my butt back so yeah, that may be a factor.

Core strength, ha ha, good one. I have a little beer batter muffin top that is bought and paid for. My back pain is gone this morning, it was more aches from unused muscles. Been riding a fair bit, but the drops and I are frenemies so last night was the first time I hung out with them much.

Aaanyway, both of the places that really do fitting around here are ultra snobby, so hopefully I can get the boys at the LBS to lend a hand. I'd get laughed out of the other two, and told to come back when I had a better bike. Bah.

Peas!
-HillBill

Ahh ha!

http://www.cyclo-club.com/public/356.cfm?affID=page1

*looks around for the "wrenching kit" *

I shall return!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by smurfalicious

Yes I am big enough of a dork to google "hand position road bike."

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Wait, you mean some people wouldn't do that??? :confused:

:D;):D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by smurfalicious

All good ideas, thanks a bunch. I read somewhere last night that the hoods can be tipped inward so they match the natural angle your hands take when dangling at your side. No info on doing it, but it made sense. Yes I am big enough of a dork to google "hand position road bike."

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You can just bend them inward. You probably *should* loosen the screw, but with some brute force, you can just grab one and pull the hood inward.

Have you taken a tumble where your hoods got knocked out of whack? Maybe they didn't get realigned properly. Some people like them straighter than others. The hoods are generally designed to be pretty ergonomic when they're mounted straight, but brands differ as do people's hands.

I think that before you do that, you should try things like the bar rotation and saddle angle. If rotating the bars upward makes the position in the drops more awkward, you can instead move the hoods higher up on the bars and then keep a more downward rotation to get the drops right. You may want to get some help with that, and you'll have to remove and rewrap the bartape.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by smurfalicious

Ahh ha!

http://www.cyclo-club.com/public/356.cfm?affID=page1

*looks around for the "wrenching kit" *

I shall return!

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:eek: Oooooooooooooh! My crap wrist might like that! I shall report back.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by aicabsolut

You can just bend them inward. You probably *should* loosen the screw, but with some brute force, you can just grab one and pull the hood inward.

Have you taken a tumble where your hoods got knocked out of whack? Maybe they didn't get realigned properly. Some people like them straighter than others. The hoods are generally designed to be pretty ergonomic when they're mounted straight, but brands differ as do people's hands.

I think that before you do that, you should try things like the bar rotation and saddle angle. If rotating the bars upward makes the position in the drops more awkward, you can instead move the hoods higher up on the bars and then keep a more downward rotation to get the drops right. You may want to get some help with that, and you'll have to remove and rewrap the bartape.

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Nope, I have yet to eat it pavement. Thought I was going to several times the other night. My faith in skinny tires is not what it was in knobbies. Still keep amazing myself that I stay upright, but one day, I know. They are cheeseball Sora though, so I think you get what you pay for and super amazing ergonomics is not part of the deal. Guess they don't figure many Sora users dream of metric centuries.

The whole bar set up is straight out of the box from Specialized to the best of my knowledge. Bought it off a guy who upgraded a Dolce for his GF. I don't want to redo the wrap, but it would be an excuse to go with the pink tape.

Anyway, the fit guru at the LBS isn't available until the 29th so tonight will be adjust, pedal around the block a few times, adjust again...

I did get to see how my bike would look with the white Basil Blossoms though, so not a total loss. :D

Thank you all for saving me from the cost of a fitting. Stupid nose of my saddle was down. Put it up and presto! All better! Hooray! Now to solve the strange clunking in the bottom bracket. Grrr....

Clunk in bottom bracket? Just to rule out something simple, re-torque the pedals. If you can, pull them off and grease them, too.