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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!
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).
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!
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.Quote:
Originally Posted by sweetpotatopie
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 :)
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.