Pain in the HANDS!!
 

Oh, the joys of a new bike! Nice and clean and crisp shifting and all the assorted aches and pains you get until you get your position dialed in!!

First it was the pain in the knees until I got the seat adjusted just so and now I am playing with stem angle, length and bar position. The pain in my thumbs is not any fun either. Tomorrow I go to get a new Ritchey Pro Ergo bar installed and a really good look at how I am positioned on the bike (again). Me thinks I am leaning too far out and down, but damned it feels good everywhere but my hands. I am low and aggressive on the hoods and just about flat in the drops! Everything feels good except that my hands ache for a day or so after a ride of more than an hour. It doesn't help that the roads in my area are kind of rough so I get a real hammering in the wrists some times.

Just wanted to moan a bit, but if anyone has any ideas I am willing to listen.

Bill

are you wearing gloves?
the reason i ask is because i usually ride with gloves and have no issues but today i forgot them and man my hands are killllllllling me

Yea, I ride with gloves. I really think it is that I am leaning too far out or down or both. I hate to have to go for a more leasurly position, but at my age I need to be able to be comfortable and not injur myself!! We shall see what all the playing with position ends up with.

What about riding on the flats?
I'll go on the hoods if it's breezy or if I"m drafting and use the drops when I'm really hammering away or if I'm going downhill. Otherwise I stay on the flats, puts the least pressure on my hands.
You can also try getting one of those exercise things that you squeeze to strengthen your wrist and forearms. I find that it helped me a lot in combination with gel tape and lightly padded gloves.
Everyonce in a while, take your hands off, sit up, stretch, it gets the blood circulating cause when you're down low, your hands are essentially locked, I can't imagine circulation to be too good for the arms.

in addition to strengthening your arms, try your abs and lower back muscles. they are what hold you up and take the pressure off your hands.

A good fit is a subtle thing. But once you're there, your body will thank you. Just read through the many posts about fit. People here rave about their custom bikes and having gotten "fitted" by a pro. Your time, pain and potential future injuries warrant your spending a little $$ for a fit appointment with an expert.

It's a great learning experience and you'll have the measurements to take with you for future bike fits.

I second getting a good fitting. My wife and I bought new road bikes five weeks ago. We both suffered numb hands for years on our old bikes. We were actually fitted on these bikes and have been on rides of 6+ hours and hands feel great, no numbness. We never knew how badly our old bikes fit us untill these new bikes.

Being too stretched-out can cause it, but you often also feel other discomfort at the base of the neck and upper middle back. What's the height differential between the bars and saddle, raising h-bars sometimes helps. Saddle adjustment can have some bearing. Not just fore/aft but also tilt. While there's not always much room for adjustment because of *other* comfort issues, raising the nose a little sometimes helps. Having the back high almost always increases hand pressure.

Heres what I did, I retaped my bar with a layer of foam where your hand comes in contact in the three basic position. The foam is the one that comes on those cruiser bars. I just strip them out to fit on the flat part of the bar, on the hood area, and on the drops, electric tape to hold them in place. Then I also create a build up area where the hoods are so that that area is flatter. You know how the bar come into contact with the Ultegra hoods, there is like this gap with a notch; which I find most annoying, so I build it up with foam to make it a flat space instead. Also make sure that the hood positioning is such that the angle of placement places your palms on the bar in a more natural placement when in this position. For myself that means my hoods are facing inward (Let's say 12 o'clock is straight up, so mines are at about 11'oclock) which allows for a more natural feel, my opinion. And when you retape the bar make sure it is wraped tight. Done correctly it should feel awesome.

This may or may not be relevant...

I began getting numbness in my hands one summer. After a while I realized that the weight training I had been doing had increased the size of my arms to the point where the sleeves of my jersey would slowly cut off circulation. I cut some slits in the arms of that jersey and I haven't had a problem since...

There's too much weight on your hands.