Ok, my girl was a D1 scholorship swimmer. Rockin’ body. Got her into tri’s this summer. Sprints. She raced three times: two top five AG finishes and an AG win. Averaged 18 mph on her beat-up ass hybrid. Put her on a real road bike about a month ago. Got her pro fit. She’s only been on it twice and she likes it – but after Sunday’s 1 hr. ride she said her left hand was completly numb. That can’t be good. Any advice?
thanks,
SM
Carpel tunnel syndrome comes to mind, but impossible to diagnos over the net. Rest a bit and see if it goes away/stays away.
Pinched nerve maybe? If that’s the case maybe try the new Louis Garneau ergogloves.
It may also be she is placing way to much weight on her hands/arms. If that’s the case you may want to raise the handlebars a little bit and/or slide her seat slightly farther forward. My fingers occasionally go numb when I lean heavily on the bullhorns for too long, but I always change positions then, so it goes away.
Maybe a dumb observation, but where do you live? here in the midwest this time of year it’s been mid thirty’s all the way up to very low fifty’s. I’d imagine even colder farther north; that can sure make your hands go numb!
Yep, I’m thinking it’s the weight. Just not sure what part of her position to change to take a little of the load off. It’s not the weather. We’re in Miami. It’s 85 and sunny. Don’t know how some of you guys handle that cold weather.
SM
“It’s 85 and sunny”
Don’t rub it in.
Sorry.
Is it her left hand or right?
Well, that doesn’t make any difference except to you. If she is new to riding, she may experience numbness for a while until she learns to ride w/o so much weight on her hands or w/o having a death grip on the bars. When I started riding, my hands were numb all the time–but now, not. Suggest that she move her hand position often and shake her hands out once in a while. Let her relax and get the feel of the bike more before you start pushing her pace too hard. That may be making her nervous and tense.
I used to have this problem and I belive there is actually a condition called “cyclists palsey” in my case it was numb hands after a ride and a lingering lack of strength in my hands. I understand it is from pressure on the nreves in the hands and wrist. I solved the problem by changing my position slightly on the bike using better gloves with more padding and as my core strength improved I wasn’t leaning on my hands as much in fact jst useing them to “steer” the bike rather than support my upper body so much. It should pass with time and some adjustments.
Thats my experience for what its worth!
You said that she is on a road bike now so a couple of things come to mind when I think of new riders on road bikes. As others have stated, make sure that she isn’t supporting all of her upper body on her hands. Make sure that she is riding with a slight bend in her elbows, not with them locked and straight arms to the bars. She needs to probably learn to support her upper body more with her core muscles, her lower back and abs. Also changing her hand position regularily while she is riding. WIth a road bike there are three really good hand positions, down in the drops, on the hoods and on the bar close to the stem. She should rotate between all of these positions and not be locked into any one position all of the time.
Hope this helps a bit.