davida

Hi

I went for a 5 hour ride and when I finished the fleshy part of my palm near the base of my thumb was partially numb. It's a bit better today, but I don't want this to happen or there may be permanent damage.

I went out and got some new gloves with slightly better padding (the old ones had gel panels but the gel was getting a bit compressed).

I'm also thinking about getting either a CF stem or CF handlebars. I would prefer the CF stem because its easier to fit.

So should I get the stem, handlebars or is there some thing else I should do?

whichway

zitter

Don't grip the bar too tightly, don't lock elbows, cork or thicker bartape will help too and switch around your hand positioning frequently

Looigi

Are you riding flat bars or drop bars? Flat bars make my hands go numb. Bar ends can help. Drop road bars don't seem to for some reason.

johnny99

Don't lock your elbows. Bend your elbows and waist more to reduce pressure on your hands.

kleinboogie

Don't stay too long on the areas where the nerves are. Picture below. The worst is when you place the bars along the nerve (which I've seen is people's natural tendency to put the bar right in the middle of their hand). I've found it better to put the bar across so it's only putting pressure at one point. Then change positions regularly. That said 5 hours is a long time even on CF. GL

buelito

tilt your saddle up a bit. It is probably pointing down from the horizontal, which is putting a lot more weight on your hands. Make sure the saddle is either level or slightly tilted up.

train safe-

Waves77

Had the same problem when I started riding. Main problem for me was handlebar rotation. The hoods were at such an angle than it put some pressure on my ulnar nerve. Not super noticable at first, but after an hour or more my pinky would go numb. Played around with the angles and it went away.

hairnet

You ever sit on the toilet for too long and have your butt go numb?

sd790

I disagree. Don't create more problems trying to correct your numb hands. You should change your hand position periodically and work on increasing your core strength so that you don't have to put as much weight on your hands. The new gloves might help a little.

You HAVE been properly fitted on your bike, right?

knowledgdropper

Why, "The Stranger", of course.

BigBlueToe

I had this problem when I was setting up my own bike. I was rotating the bars so the bottom portion was level, and positioning the brake levers for the easiest grasping. My local mechanic suggested I redo them so that there was a level space on the outside tops, and move the brakes so that there was a comfortable position with the hoods as the front portion. It made a huge difference! I had been riding with things the other way for decades! Suddenly my hands didn't ache anymore. Of course, with the brakes pulled back it's a little harder to reach the levers. On my road bike I bought some shims from Specialized that brought them back closer to the bar. On my touring bike this wasn't possible so I just deal witih it.

The other thing that helped with hand numbness was to raise the bars so they were almost level with the saddle.

Some things to try.

Trailblazer3

This. I experienced this issue last year on any ride >60 minutes, and went to get my fit checked. After the fit I haven't experienced it since. My saddle did happen to be angled down too far causing me to put excess weight on my hands, but that might not be the OP's issue. I would recommend a fit check.

San Rensho 

The problem is too much weight on the hands. The solution is to move the seat BACK. Move it back until you can take both hands off the bars when you are in the drops and you don't fall forward.

oilman_15106

Try gloves with little or no padding. Your pain will cease.

Creatre

Either your hoods are too high on your bars and are causing too much pressure, or you need to rotate your bars down more. Both were my problem when I started riding a long time. A little downward rotation, and moved the hoods/shifters down on the bars a bit and no pain since!

WestCoastDan

+1 on bar rotation. I had mine too high as well and once I put them back down a few degrees, the issue has basically gone away.
I just did a 4:45 ride w/o ANY wrist/hand pain where I was not able to do a 20 mile ride w/o pain 3-4 weeks ago.

A professional fitting may or may not help you; they are worth the $$ only if they work.
+++

save10

probably better than a hairy palm

DGozinya

Ahh, man, now I have to get a fitter for that too? Sorry, I can't change the length of my stem...

X-LinkedRider

+1 to the move your hands around more often.

deepakvrao

Plus 1. Worked for me on my previous bike. Just 1cm made all the difference.

bobonker