I was thinking the same thing. Recently, the palm on my 'mid-weight' winter gloves got tore up; the gel pad insert came out. I'll get new gloves next season; but wore them this AM on a long, colder ride. I had numbness issues - but only in the hand without the padding. I solved by modifying hand positioning on the bars to alleviate the pressure points. As far as pressure - he did mention Clydesdale class, so perhaps weight is adding pressure to the bars; I'm beginning to experience this myself! When I was racing & skinny, I had a much easier time 'floating' my hands on the bar.