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!