Braking from the hoods

[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?

[rij73]

Wow, your braking is *better* from the hoods? No, it's definitely harder for me to brake from the hoods. Maybe cause the Shimano hoods are so bulky?

[SouthernBelle]

No I've got Shimano. But I have very poor reach from the drops. Stubby fingers.

[mimitabby]

I repeat, if her body is not fitting the bike right, there could be extra stress on the hands.
It's not necessarily the size of her hands; but gloves might help too.

I wish Triskelion was reading this thread; she could be very helpful.

[rij73]

Mimi, what kind of changes helped your hand pain?

[Triskeliongirl]

I agree with Mimi, it's probablyabout fit. Do you get the pain only when you train to brake, or is it persisstent from riding in the hoods? If your weight is too far forward on the bike, that can lead to handpain (which sometimes can be fixed by pushing the saddle further back). If the angle at which your hands contact the hoods is wrong, that can too (which can be changed by adjusting the bar angle). You want your hands to contact the hoods in a neutral hand-shake position, while being flat on top may be optimal for someone, haveing the hooks parallel to the ground is optimal for others. I don't think any of this can really be troublepshoot it over the internet. Why not ask an expert (i.e. is the shop that sold you the bike nearby) to look at you riding and see if they can see an obvious reason for the problem. If that's not possible, post a pic of you sitting on your bike trying to brake on your trainer, taken as parallel as possible to you, and we'll see what we can do.