Numb hands and feet?
 

I went for a 30 mile ride with a buddy of mine today and at the end of it he mentioned that he'd really enjoy these rides more if his hands and feet weren't always numb. Apparently about 5 minutes after he begins riding this happens and it stays that way until he stops. Strangely he seemed surprised at me when I said that this never happens to me. It seems like he thinks this is just a normal consequence of riding a bicycle. He rides frequently, commutes to work, and is even enrolled in a spinning class. Happens every time he gets on a bike for 5 minutes.

I can guess why his hands are numb. He rides a mountain bike with flat bars and no additional hand positions available. I'm guessing he is putting too much weight on his hands as he rides. I recommended that he gets some bar ends.. Perhaps the kind that act like dropbars so he can straighten his elbows out a bit without pressing down so hard as he says his elbows hurt if he can't straighten them out every once in a while.

As for feet, I have no clue. He says his shoes do not feel too tight at all. He is wearing clipless shoes and using egg beaters. Exact same setup I have, actually. Anyone ever experience this?

Does he experience numbness anywhere else in his legs?

You should be able to ride tens of miles with a flat bar without any discomfort. Is his riding position dialed in properly? Is it cold? Besides his riding position being completely whacked up I can only think of two reasons:

1) He puts too much weight on his hands AND he has tight/uncomfortable shoes or some weird pedaling habits.
2) He has some health condition and may want to check that with a doctor.

I will periodically get numbness on the outside edges of my feet. Discovered from this I have high arches. Happens in my street shoes and not my bicycle shoes though. The stiff sole helps.

I put a pair of orthodic inserts in my street shoes and those helped out a lot.

As for the hands, you're most likely right. Too much weight on his hands.

To my knowledge he does not experience numbness anywhere else. Towards the end of our ride he was definitely done with sitting on the saddle, but I don't think that is anything other then not being used to sitting on that particular saddle for any significant distance.

No clue about his riding position. I'm sure he has never had a proper fitting done, for what that's worth. It looked to me that his seat height was right, but I couldn't tell you if his distance from the bars was appropriate. It was a beautiful 80 degree ride, and he says this happens to him every time he rides.

I do think he must be putting too much weight on his hands which is probably a response to poor positioning on the bike and perhaps weak ab muscles. He says his shoes are perfectly comfortable, though.

I'll bet that if you ride with him you will see that his elbows are locked. Tell him to relax his arms and grip. Take a deep breath and let it out once in a while.

I'm not a doctor, but I'm wondering if having incorrectly positioned or wrong size/type saddle may have something to do with getting numbness in the feet? Like to much pressure on a nerve or something. What I do know is that the cause and symptoms may be located in different regions. So numbness in the feet might be caused by something else in other parts of the body.

That is absolutely the case. He says experiences a lot of discomfort if he keeps his elbows bent for too long. That's why I suggested some bar ends to give him somewhere to hold on to that is further away.

You know you may very well have a point there. I could see saddle issues causing foot numbness.

I had this problem with my bike when I first got it. here's what fixed the problem on my Trek Soho:

1. raising the handlebars a bit so I wasn't leaning so far forward and putting weight on my hands (accomplished just by rotating the handlebars a bit)
2. replaced my grips with Bontrager Satellite Plus, which give you more of a surface to rest your palms on
3. started wearing gloves with gel on the palms

now I have no numbness. well, maybe after 10-12 miles, but then I just change hand positions for a bit and it goes away. huge difference.

A proper fitting should make a world of difference, unless he has some sort of medical problem that is causing it.

Yeah, he needs to get something done before he does himself harm.

I get foot pain when my seat is too low; for some reason, that's where some of my stresses go. My 2c.

I believe that happens because with the seat too low one has a tendency to press the pedals with the middle of the foot, the arch, where it's soft. Also, some may get pain in ankles for some reason too.

Hmm, so that made me think, perhaps snorkel's friend has his saddle too high so he pushes pedals with his toes instead of the entire forefoot? But then he would be getting some discomfort in the back of the knee.

He's clipped in so he is pedaling with the proper part of his foot (assuming that his shoes are the right size, cleat correctly positioned, and shoe manufacturer doesn't suck [Nike]).

I could buy that his seat is too low as he is typically a mtn biker where he rides with his seat nearly down to the tire, but when we were riding it looked at least from a glance that he had about the right height.. Just a very slight bend of the knee when the pedal was at the lowest portion of its cycle.

When I see him next I'm going to recommend that he go get a proper fitting. I'm betting that he is positioned so that he is having to lean too far over and is thus supporting his upper body with his arms on the handlebars.