Braking from the hoods

[rij73]

Hi ladies,

I find that if I descend a hill where I need to brake a lot, I get incredible hand pain. It's really hard to brake effectively from the hoods for me. I get pain especially badly in the joints where the thumbs meet the hands.

I guess the solution is to descend in the drops, but I feel nervous in the drops. I'm getting a coaching session on Monday, and this is one of my issues to cover, but since the coach is a man I definitely wanted to ask here first.

Any tips for more comfortable braking from the hoods?

I have the Shimano R700 short-reach levers, and a Deda Piega handlebar.

[mimitabby]

it sounds like the bike is still not fitting you even with the short reach stuff.
that's the kind of trouble i was having last year before i got the bianchi set up for me better.

[rij73]

Mimi, what kinds of changes improved that aspect? I thought that maybe it is weak hands or that you're just not supposed to be able to brake well from up there. If you had improvement in this issue, I'd love to know how!!!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

When i am going down a STEEP hill, my weight is more forward. More forward weight means more pressure on the hands.
If you brake on the hoods going downhill, try to scoot back a bit in your saddle and put some of your weight back further on your pedals instead of onto your hands.
Ideally, you should be braking in the drops on very steep downhills-- because you have better steering control in the drops, you have a better grip on the bars, and generally your hands on the hoods are further forward than when in the drops thus making the weight forward issue worse.
Try sitting further back in the saddle and transferring some of your weight onto your pedals. Shift your weight backwards off your hands.

[Trekhawk]

Hi ladies,

I find that if I descend a hill where I need to brake a lot, I get incredible hand pain. It's really hard to brake effectively from the hoods for me. I get pain especially badly in the joints where the thumbs meet the hands.

I guess the solution is to descend in the drops, but I feel nervous in the drops. I'm getting a coaching session on Monday, and this is one of my issues to cover, but since the coach is a man I definitely wanted to ask here first.

Any tips for more comfortable braking from the hoods?

I have the Shimano R700 short-reach levers, and a Deda Piega handlebar.

As you get more confident with descending you will find you dont brake as much and you wont hold your handlebars in a death grip. Relax and enjoy the descent. Before you know it you will be descending from the drops and feeling really comfortable there.

[silver]

Do you have apicture of your bike?

ARe your handlebars horizontal on top?

like where my hand is resting.....the part that extends to the shifter. it doesn't really look that way in the picture but I can put a tiny bubble level there and it is horizontal.

I'm no expert, but I wonder if this could be part of the problem.

[rij73]

Thanks for the replies, and keep the ideas coming! So, I guess it sounds like I should get used to the drops, but if I must brake from the hoods try to keep my weight back.

Silver, yes I see what you're saying and my bars are level like that too. I'm still wondering if there is anything that can be tweaked, though...

Here's the bike:

[Starfish]

Do you have particularly small hands? Are the brakes still a real reach for you, despite the short reach levers?

[silver]

yes, it does look to be adjusted similar to mine.

Are you just getting into riding and increasing your mileage?

I find that as I increase my mileage I get little aches and pains all over my body but then my body adjusts and gets used to the longer miles.

[RolliePollie]

I have this hand-pain-while-braking problem as well. I really can't brake effectively in the drops because the reach is too far (another adjustment to add to my list). I'm trying to make myself ride in the drops more, but it's not a comfortable body position for me and I don't feel confident with the steering (probably another adjustment to add to my list!). So I always brake from the hoods. If I'm braking hard on a long downhill, my hands start to hurt like crazy. But, as mentioned above, the more comfortable you get going down hills, the less you will be using the brakes. On my typical training routes, I hardly use my brakes at all anymore...with the exception of a couple of very sharp hairpin curves that happen to be at the bottom of steep hills! One thing I try to do is sort of feather the brakes...brake for a few seconds, then let up, brake again, etc. When I'm in the not braking part of this routine, I try to completely relax my hands. It does help some.

[DirtDiva]

The idea of not being in the drops on the sort of downhill that requires lots of braking scares me! Getting your weight back a bit further will definitely help with balance and control on the downhills, and you can always practice getting in and out of the drops on some flat, traffic-free spot until you're comfortable enough to give it a go on the hill.

[Mr. Bloom]

Have you considered different gloves? Could it be that the pain exists from another stimulus, but is more prominent when you brake?

I have extreme hand pain unless I wear gloves that have 3 very thick gel-pads in them. Almost unable to ride without them.

You might experiment to see if different gloves help

Good Luck

[rij73]

Thanks for the ideas. I have very padded gloves, but I could experiment. My hands aren't particularly small for a woman and I can comfortably reach the brakes in the drops. It's just on the hoods that I feel I have no braking power and I get the thumb pain. Also, I am totally new to road biking. I've only had the bike for one month.

So I'm still hearing that getting used to the drops is key.

How do the rest of you feel when you brake from the hoods? Do you feel like you have good stopping power?

[Veronica]

I have good stopping power when braking from the hoods, but I prefer to be down in the drops on a long descent. I feel it gives me better control of the bike.

V.

[SouthernBelle]

I have much better braking power from the hoods as well. I have very short fingers, so sometimes I come up off the drops to brake from the hoods, even with my shimmed brake levers. So I guess I just find it odd that braking from the hoods is difficult.

Is it actually physically difficult, or is it a mental thing?