Hands

[betagirl]

Hey everyone

What can I do about my hands falling asleep on me on long rides? I'm a roadie, and I usually ride on the lower part of the bars. I did a 72 mile organized ride today and the last 20 miles or so I really fought with my hands. Nothing a little shaking out didn't remedy, but if I go all summer with this it'll get old. When I mentioned it at my LBS they said i was putting too much weight on my arms. Ooook. On an aside, I'm enjoying the post on building your core. A co-worker suggested getting a ball to sit on, so I've done that the last week or so. I guess my question is how much weight "should" you be putting on your arms? My bike is well fit to my proportions, so I'm not over extended or the like. I wear specialized gloves with a little pad thingie that goes by your thumb. Maybe I need to upgrade those?

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

[CorsairMac]

I know you need to have some bend in your elbow and yes - your core should take most of the weight. I also had a pair of Specialized gloves with the lil gel thingy in the palm by the thumb and I lost all the feelings in both hands in that area and had tenderness there for days. I bought a different brand of gloves (Trek) and that seems to have helped greatly! I always think:

scrape gum off shoe (read thread about cadence) and
light hands, strong core

when I'm riding the road bike.

Now if I can just figure out why the PI attack shorts have messed me up fairly bad!

[nuthatch]

Now if I can just figure out why the PI attack shorts have messed me up fairly bad!

Me too. There's something about that stepdown from the really thick center chamois to the thinner side panels that just wads and rubs and, dang it, I want to pull, tug and twist to get them to stop that!!! What happens to you?

[betagirl]

Cool thanks. I'll try some different gloves in the interim until my core gets stronger. I wish I could help with the chamois issue. Have you tried BUTT'r? That stuff is a gift from the gods, I swear

[CorsairMac]

oh Nut - tytytytytyty!.....everyone here loves PIs sooo much I thought I would try a pair. I found the attacks on sale but they were just awful. I thought it was me!....first the padding is so thick they're actually really hard to walk in! I kept thinking on the bike they should be fine but it just got worse. I rode Allez my first day in them (Wed) and I've been swollen, and very tender and itchy ever since. I almost couldn't ride Thurs, putting on my other shorts was very painful and riding was almost too much. Even wearing underwear hurts. My other shorts have real chamois in them and these PIs seem to have some type of synthetic material??....I don't know is that's what did it but I have no desire to wear them again. Funny thing is: it wasn't Allez' fault - I've ridden him before and I was wearing my new Bellweathers that time and had no problems whatsoever! I'm still very swollen and tender and itchy today and it's what? 4 days after I wore them?......I truly can not remember ever experiencing anything like this before.

Sorry Beta - did Not mean to steal your thread.

[slinkedog]

I have some PI's with a thick, grey chamois, and I can't stand them. They bunch up horribly in the girly bits. I love my Shebeest Triple S shorts with the SheLastic Chamois. It's got a microfiber layer over the padding and I slide around on it much more. Much better. I'm hoping for a pair of the new Elite Distance 2 shorts for my b-day... that chamois is nice, too.

And Chamois Butt'r or Assos chamois cream (my fave) helps with the friction.

[AutumnBreez]

Me Want Cookie! I am a CookieMonster Fan myself. And of course COOKIES!
Oatmeal raisen w/chocolate chips....YUM!

[nuthatch]

Whoa, Corsair! That sounds like you're alergic to the chamois! I'm assuming you washed them before wearing them, so they must have something (like maybe the chemical they use for the 'antibacterial' property) that your booty just doesn't like! What a disappointment ($$$)!

Mine are just "bunching up horribly" like Slinke but on the sides. Boohoo! They were my big shorts purchase for the summer long rides! You know, I was blaming it on the thickness of the chamois paired with the wide cushion quality of my saddle. Well, for whatever reason, they ain't workin'!!!

[SadieKate]

I can't quite figure out how this conversation veered from hands to bottoms so I won't try for a smooth segue back.

On the hands topic, I just added Specialized 2.5mm Bar Phat to my Litespeed's bars and yummy! Not too thick, not too thin, just perfect! I have a tendon injury in my left wrist which is very happy with the stuff. It'll be going on the Mercian so I can fly down Diablo a bit more comfortably (plus some 25 tires). Fizik makes something similar to the Bar Phat. (FYI - Bar Phat is available in a 4mm thickness also but it would increase the size of the bar too much for my dainty paws)

Yes, to your core strength. A strong back is important to hand happiness as well as bent elbows.

I also discovered yesterday that I hate my PI GelLite gloves. The pad on the base of my thumb has a thick ridge that hits me in the wrong spot unless I ride on the hoods or drops all the time - no other variations.

[xeney]

My husband hates those gloves, too, SadieKate. He gave me a pair last year that I really liked when I was riding a more upright bike, but then when I switched to a road bike I realized they were too small -- there is a weird tensioning around my little finger on each hand where the fabric just can't quite stretch enough, and it's excruciating. So he gave me his slightly larger men's pair because he had decided he didn't like them, and I had that exact problem you described with the pad on the thumb. I noticed that his were different from mine (a year older, different style) and had the padding in different places. His had a full palm pad and much more stuff around the thumb.

I just replaced mine with a larger women's size and I love them. They only have padding in a couple of places, kind of right where I need it, and it's perfect for me. He went back to his old Pearl Izumi White Line gloves, which I think are utter torture. I have a half-baked theory that it's a shoulder-width issue -- he and I have almost the same sized hands (yeah, I've got the giant man hands, no small-sized brake levers for me), but whatever weight is resting on our hands is coming at a different angle because he has much wider shoulders. I think I just made that up but whatever the reason, we have totally different taste in gloves.

[Melody]

I have some PI's with a thick, grey chamois, and I can't stand them. They bunch up horribly in the girly bits.

I have a pair of PI shorts with that same grey chamois. I wore 'em this last weekend at Primavera and they ended up chaffing like I had never experienced before. I have another pair of PI shorts that have this multicolored chamois and I've never had problems with those.

But yeah, the grey one does bunch up horribly. Things were rubbed raw yesterday and still hurt today.

Mel

[yellow]

While I firmly believe fit is a personal thang, I found that once I wore my true size, things got a lot more comfortable.

I tend to wear all of my clothes a bit on the large side, so when I first started buying shorts, I just did what I usually do...buy something that really is a bit on the big side. Dumb! Chafe city! But when I bought the next size smaller, the problems disappeared.

Re: your hands, they often on fall asleep on me on long rides. I find it's more of a position rather than the amount of weight I put on them. I give then a shake every now and then. But then, my hands fall asleep pretty regularly because of--I'm guessing--where the nerves are in relation to how I lay my arms on things (chair arms, my bed if lying flat), so I've gotten to the point where I try not to let it bug me (mentally) anymore.

[SadieKate]

While I firmly believe fit is a personal thang, I found that once I wore my true size, things got a lot more comfortable.

I tend to wear all of my clothes a bit on the large side, so when I first started buying shorts, I just did what I usually do...buy something that really is a bit on the big side. Dumb! Chafe city! But when I bought the next size smaller, the problems disappeared.

Good point, Yellow! I went through the same phase and had forgotten about it. If the shorts are too large they move around too much.

[Melody]

Good point, Yellow! I went through the same phase and had forgotten about it. If the shorts are too large they move around too much.

hrm. Well, my other shorts are an XL, so I bought an XL with these PI's. Maybe I need to go down 1 size. If so, I know I won't complain.

Mel

[spazzdog]

I always wore mens PI mediums. I needed new shorts and tried the men's small then, naturally tried on womens (PI Perls - purple chamois) mediums. I thought they were fine... but the salesperson intervened and had me get smalls.

Much mo better!

When I started cycling I was bigger... and my brain thought (incorrectly) that lycra is stretchy; smaller body it just won't stretch as much.

With cycling shorts I now go into "pantyhose" mode. Fit like a skin...