General Cycling Discussion - weird pain while riding..is this normal?

So I mustered up the energy to start my new road cycling hobby today. I ran into a weird problem however i was not expecting....

About 15 minutes into my ride...my wrists and thumb joints started KILLING me...is this normal for new riders? I dont have any previous experience riding a road bike and im just getting started but it striked me as a weird pain to have. The pain mostly was in my "Thumb joint"...at the end of my thumb joint...closer to my wrist...does this make sense?

Any help or info would be helpful on this...i hope this unforeseen problem doesnt prohibit me from riding!!

Do you happen to have flat bars? I recently got a new flat bar road bike, and my hand is sore in the same place.

1) Unpadded bar.
2) Glove-less.
3) Too much weight on hands, yer hanging for dear life. DON'T. Adjust bike so arms are only used for balance, most weight should be on your, guess, SEAT!

what he said.

Make sure your bike is adjusted for YOU. This all sounds like too much weight on your wrists. Hands going to sleep, maybe, but not really sore. Soreness between your shoulder blades too. Definitely sore butt. Not what you're describing.

my mtn bike is like that but my road bike is just fine (same amount of padded bars) just different postions
i made a new stem for my road bike, havent got that far for the mtn bike

bar and seat adjustments should solve the problem

Hands and wrist are in a new found position. Muscles are going to fatigue.
Like anything else you might want to stretch your hands before you ride.

If you can, raise your bars a little. Move your hands to different positions every few minutes: "tops", "corners", "hoods", etc.

Tops: hands on top of bars, close to stem; corners: hands farther apart where bars curve forward, with thumbs on top and fingers outside and under; hoods: farther forward with thumbs on inside of brake hoods and fingers outside). I have a sketch somewhere.

Ok thanks everyone for the great advice!!! I do tend to hold onto the bars way too hard...maybe for fear of losing control. Hopefully over time and the more miles i get under my belt the more "less wobbly" i will actually feel on the bike.

get cruiser handlebars.

Ok thanks everyone for the great advice!!! I do tend to hold onto the bars way too hard...maybe for fear of losing control. Hopefully over time and the more miles i get under my belt the more "less wobbly" i will actually feel on the bike.

Relax the death grip. You'll have more control with a relaxed grip then with white knuckles. Ride with slightly bent elbows too. Keep 'em locked for too long (again relax) and you'll think you can't ever bend them again.

Relax.