weakness in my hand after long rides

[mimitabby]

Before you start feeling anything, move your hands around. get in the habit of doing that all the way through the ride. The more weight your hands are supporting, the more discomfort you're going to feel. Your hands and wrists were not made to support your body.
move around the handlebar. ride with one hand, doing stretches with the other. This seems to be a permanent bicycle riding problem. Some people get aerobars. and there could be a fit problem exacerbating it. get fitted professionally?

[alpinerabbit]

I had that when I first got to 100K+. I was so weak on my left hand I couldn't shift anymore. This would go away slowly over a day or so. I wouldn't call it "nerve damage" yet.

You are very likely being too stretched out on your bike, because it may be overlong. This puts too much weight on your hands.
Have it adjusted, perhaps using a higher angled stem if you can.

[rij73]

I had bad hand pain until I
1. realized my saddle was too far forward and
2. got a stem with a steeper angle
Now no more pain.

So, I second the idea of getting a fitting, though I analyzed my issues and corrected them myself.

[KnottedYet]

Google "Cyclist's Palsy", there's a ton of info out there.
Here's one to start with, it looks pretty good: http://highperformancesports.blogspo...-palsy-or.html

[cosc]

I had gel put under my bar tape which helped with hand discomfort.

[Wahine]

+1 what Knott said. This sounds like ulnar nerve compression. You need to move around on the bars as mentioned, get your bike fit... also mentioned and get some gloves with good padding over the heel of the hand on the pinky side.

The bike fit is probably the thing that will make the most difference. You need to be in a place where you can sit on your bike and "piano key" the handle bars. The most common correction for too much weight on the hands is bringing the seat up a little and sometimes back a little. But it is really best to have someone take a look at you and figure it out because it could be a host of things.

[Eden]

Be careful that you don't pull the wrists of your gloves too tight too -it doesn't even have to feel particularly tight to cut off your circulation. I have to keep the velcro totally open on some of my gloves to be sure that I don't make my fingers fall asleep.