Braking from the hoods

[rij73]

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.

[mimitabby]

it sounds like the bike is still not fitting you even with the short reach stuff.
that's the kind of trouble i was having last year before i got the bianchi set up for me better.

[rij73]

Mimi, what kinds of changes improved that aspect? I thought that maybe it is weak hands or that you're just not supposed to be able to brake well from up there. If you had improvement in this issue, I'd love to know how!!!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

When i am going down a STEEP hill, my weight is more forward. More forward weight means more pressure on the hands.
If you brake on the hoods going downhill, try to scoot back a bit in your saddle and put some of your weight back further on your pedals instead of onto your hands.
Ideally, you should be braking in the drops on very steep downhills-- because you have better steering control in the drops, you have a better grip on the bars, and generally your hands on the hoods are further forward than when in the drops thus making the weight forward issue worse.
Try sitting further back in the saddle and transferring some of your weight onto your pedals. Shift your weight backwards off your hands.

[silver]

Do you have apicture of your bike?

ARe your handlebars horizontal on top?

like where my hand is resting.....the part that extends to the shifter. it doesn't really look that way in the picture but I can put a tiny bubble level there and it is horizontal.

I'm no expert, but I wonder if this could be part of the problem.

[rij73]

Thanks for the replies, and keep the ideas coming! So, I guess it sounds like I should get used to the drops, but if I must brake from the hoods try to keep my weight back.

Silver, yes I see what you're saying and my bars are level like that too. I'm still wondering if there is anything that can be tweaked, though...

Here's the bike:

[Trekhawk]

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.

As you get more confident with descending you will find you dont brake as much and you wont hold your handlebars in a death grip. Relax and enjoy the descent. Before you know it you will be descending from the drops and feeling really comfortable there.

[batsheva]

i had the same issue-- the LBS slackened off the brakes for me, so the levers were easier to engage and also put shimano 'shims' (little rubber wedges) in between the lever ends and the hoods to bring them closer to the hoods so i could use them easier as my small hands did not have the power otherwise to engage the brakes-- the slackening of the brake tension and the shims has worked quite well for me-- and i am developing also the hand strength.

batsheva

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

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.

When you descend a steep hill with your hands on the hoods, you are putting all your weight on that very spot where your thumbs join you hand.
With your hands braking in the drops, the pressure changes more to the heels of your hands.

Your should practice riding in the drops on downhills- start with less steep ones. Also practice shifting your weight back OFF your hands onto your feet and butt more when descending.