Hands going numb?
 

OK, here's the deal. I'm out trying to ride 6 days a week to get back into shape and loose weight. I am only riding about 45 minutes a day. My route is slightly hilly so I feel I am getting a decent workout. I have a 2007 Allez Expert that was professionally fitted at my LBS. I wear a pair of Specialized gloves. Around the half hour mark my hands start to go numb. I will change positions and shake them to bring the feeling back but it is damn annoying all the same.

The bike fit seems to be great as far as I can tell and my hands went numb on my old bike too. I 220 down from 229 a few weeks ago. Is there anything I can do? I'm not sure if it's my weight, gripping the bars too hard (I try to have a really loose grip) or that's just the way it is going to be for me.

Any suggestions?

work on your core and relax.

Bike fit. All. Day. Long.

Go here and try this out. Get some numbers and compare them to what you have on the bike now:

http://www.competitivecyclist.com/za...LCULATOR_INTRO

Then consider getting a professional fit if the numbers the link spits out still don't work for you.

Shifting the saddle back a bit gets the weight more on your butt. Helped me a lot, when I had in inadvertently mounted my new saddle a bit far forward.

um..he said he was fitted.
Botto's correct.

Also, try to not grip the bars so tightly. Loose arms and light grip.

Changes your pedal stroke. Saddle fore/aft is not the way to create more space in the top. If the bike's too short, longer stem. There's a sweet spot where you make the maximum power. You have a better chance of winning a lottery than to find that on your own.

I was not referring to increasing reach, I was saying that 'if' the saddle is too far forwards, your butt will not take enough of the weight and could lead to hand numbness.

Without knowing how you fit onto the bike (weight distribution, etc.), it's kind of hard to say for sure.

My hands start feeling numb when:
--I don't change positions often enough. I change often. Mostly on the hoods, but changing frequently.
--my arms are "locked"; i.e., not enough bend at the elbow
--I'm generally not relaxed in my upper body

This may be part of my problem. I'll have to pay attention this evening and see if I am guilty of these two things. I tend to be tense when I am focusing on my cadence or something like that. May not make sense but the harder I focus the more tense or stiff I become. As someone above suggested I do tend to grip the bars tightly and I catch myself doing so and try to loosen them up.

Thanks for the advice, I'll give some of it a try tonight and see how it goes.

+1

I had this problem about a year ago and it resulted in a bit of temporary(4-5 months) of ulnar nerve damage in my left hand. I couldn't feel anything in two of my fingers. On paper, that doesn't sound too bad, but it was really irritating. After changing my posture and relaxing, as Mr. Turner said, I started to get better.

WOW! I'm just full of silly questions lately but could someone put into words how to relax more? I'm not being an ass, I'm really curious how I can focus on the relaxing part as I am sure this is part of the problem.

Thanks for the help.

Stop wearing your gloves, if you have them on. My hands stop getting numb after I got rid of mine.

I had the same problem and two things helped a lot. I stopped locking my elbows on rides and also made an effort to lower my shoulders. My shoulder line went from a straight _______ to a ( line and it's made a world of difference.

Yeah I read that and offered an alternative. Try a different fit then go get a professional fit. If his hands are going numb the people that did it are not pros.

Scientifically, we'd like to mount you with pressure-sensors, especially ulnar and thenar pads. Numbness is generally point-pressure blocking blood flow to nerves. What's going numb?
Index and second finger, ring and pinkie?

As Botto said, increase your core strength.

Changing positions should help: halfway on the hoods, all the way on them, tops, halfway on the drops, way down on the drops. If you had to, aerobars spaced widely enough to give you comfortable stability, no hand pressure at all.

Changing stem length and angle, bar type, saddle position, to help you get weight relief while strengthening your core muscles.

You can also try thick Barphat tape and gel pads (which may be on your Allez, stock on Roubaix). If it works, it doesn't mean you have to use it forever.

When you're starting out, what you need to feel comfy with isn't the same as after you've been riding longer.

Learning to "ride light and loose" on your bars takes time. Numbies happen. They're fixable.

My hands start going numb from the outside and work there way in. It is definitely pressure. Several folks have mentioned locked elbows. I'll check tonight but I have a feeling I do this consistently. My Allez does not have the gel pads but I was considering putting them on but was going to wait until winter when I take it in for a tune up.

Thanks for the responses.

If you're having to lock your elbows to ride, then whoever fit you failed.

I'm with Botto for Core strength. Do some upper back exercises. A good guide someone told me once was that you should be able to lift your hands just slightly off the bar without feeling a strain on your back, or you're putting too much pressure on your hands.

The elbow locking issue usually causes a sore back and neck as opposed to numb hands, but it wouldn't hurt to take note of it anyway.

And finally, moving the seat back MIGHT actually be a good idea. Getting a good balance over the cranks is part of a good bike fit. roadwarrior is right that saddle position isn't to adjust cockpit length, but deepakrvao was suggesting it for balance over the cranks, which is exactly what it is adjusted for. Peter White has a great explanation of this on his site.
http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/fitting.htm

Don't be so quick to judge the fitters. There are many, many ways to get fit to a bike, and if you only get fit once then you have not gotten a complete fitting. You have to get fit, ride a while, then go back for adjustments. Maybe the OP hasn't gotten any adjustments.

For example, let's say the fitter assumed the OP was a little out of shape and the fit ended up being not too aggressive. (@lechwe: it would help us a lot if you could get someone to take a photo of you on your bike and post it here.) That's only one way to fit someone. It could be a nearly "perfect" fit going by measurements and calculations, but maybe the rider was not sitting on the bike when stationary the same way he ended up riding on it--so when the rider gets out and rides he must return feedback to the fitter to make adjustments. Heck just the thighs moving up and down under a sagging beer gut could be making the rider want to sit more upright or closer to the bars and that might not have been considered at the fitting. Hands going numb could be because the seat is too high, too far forward, angled down too much...could be the bars have too much reach/drop...stem is too long, stem is angled down instead of up, not enough risers for the stem, stem angle is too shallow...there are lots of adjustments, small and large, that could be made to help get some weight off the hands and/or get the elbows bent more, etc.

sore hand? Sounds like a fit issues. Possible fit issues? excessive bar drop, saddle tilted down, weight too far forward.

You can figure it out. Locked elbows, try a slight bend. That's where your core muscles come in. I would try forcing yourself to ride the drops, a little bit at a time, then more and more. Let your upper body go down, let your elbows flex.

You can always flex them on the hoods and tops too, so practice it. Droop those shoulders.

Really good opportunities to practice are riding into the wind, and on turns you want to take fast, the first to reduce wind-drag, the second to lower your center-of-mass. If you can find a route with twisty turns, that's really good to get low.

You should also get out of your saddle a fair amount. I'm an old fart, I'm mostly heavy-seated, but often, I get off. Like at start ups from intersections, some climbs, to sprint.

The LBS spent a considerable amount of time with me and MY bike on a trainer working on fit. Probably 40 minutes or longer. I was centered over the cranks pretty good. I then went out and actually rode and cam back in and got it back on the trainer and made some minor adjustments. At this point I am going to leave the fit alone as I think I likely have form issues with how I am on the bike. I remember last night noticing that I slid forward and my sit bones were on the front edge of the saddle. I imagine I should slide back and they should be more in the center of the large portion of the saddle.

When I mentioned locked elbows I didn't mean straight out and locked but rather inflexible and tense. I don't get a sore neck.

I have a lot of things I need to try and pay attention to so I can answer some of the questions posed. Then I can get somewhere.

There is a lot more to riding than just making the peddles go around in circles. I've also been trying to get sued to using my clipless peddles correctly and putting so much focus on that may distract me from some of the other things.

Thanks again.

Yet that may be where the problem is. Upper back more accurately. Try rolling your shoulders and doing a few shrugs when you feel the numbness beginning.

Ok, here's the deal after tonights ride. I noticed when I ride on the hoods where I like to be most of the time I have very little bend in my elbows. I am not quite locked but not too far from it either. Kind of like I am reaching too far. To correct that do I need to move the saddle forward so I can get more weight on my butt and off my arms? I', thinking I should go back to the LBS and see if they can work with me to make some minor adjustments and then go back out. I don't want to make things worse by trying it myself. I did find myself putting a lot of pressure on the heels of my hands and that is where the tingle starts.

Thanks for the help. I have some things to consider now.

Slightly bent is ok. As long as they're not locked, it shouldn't be a problem.

http://kwc.org/cycling/photos/media/...%20panning.jpg