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.