Originally Posted by
Jseis
Oh yeah. I stopped golfing (I'm right handed) due to severe tendonitis left elbow from catching a five iron on a hidden fairway rock. Then falling on the same elbow months later then catching it hard on the car door months after that. It was my weaker elbow but I made it worse. Time is slowly healing the damage three years later.
The only way I could combat it while riding it is to develop more core (stomach, back & abdomen) muscle strength and carry less weight on my arms, ride with them slightly bent on the hoods, less upright. It is very hard for me to ride with arms locked/extended as that irritates the tendon and it'll get so stiff I can barely unbend it. On longer rides 2 hours + I'll use anti-inflamatory meds and an ace bandage wrap. I'll flex my left arm several times per mile.
I agree with the above. I sometimes ride the bike with very little pressure on the bars, just resting the weight of my hands on the bars and not using them to support my upper body. The trick is to get the saddle position correct. Moving the saddle back ever so slightly will take weight off your hands. Think of balancing your weight on a teeter totter with the bottom bracket as the pivot. Moving the saddle moves your center of gravity back and takes weight off your hands. Move the saddle forward puts more weight on the hands.
Reasonable but not great core strength and flexibility are required to achieve, less weight on hands and a low position but it can be done. Get the saddle position correct and you can ride with as little or much weight on your hands as you like. You can always keep your arms bent and relaxed.
There is a trade off with power output. Very little weight on the hands when soft pedaling may cause problems when you go hard. Very little weight on the hands when going hard means quite a bit of weight on the hands when soft pedaling.
Also consider if the nose of your saddle is too low causing you to slide downhill toward the bars. If this is the case you may need to raise the nose slightly. This will in effect move you back on the saddle so no rearward saddle adjustment may be needed.
Try it for yourself and see what you like. Just make small adjustments at a time. If you don't like it you can move the saddle back where you started.