Hand Pain

hayesdj

I recently purchased a new road bike after many years of mountain biking and I have noticed that whilst my legs are fine, my hands begin to hurt quite soon and i can't seem to find a comfortable hand position to alleviate this. I am assuming this is down to differing weight distribution.
Will I get used to this (i.e will I stop noticing) or is there something I can do to stop this?

Cheers

Rich Hcp

You may need a diffrent stem, your putting too much weight over the bars

Richard

Best thing I ever bought for a bike?
Padded shorts![:D]

Unknown

relax your hands. You don't need to wrestle Roadbikes like you do MTB's

Mleh Mleh Mleh

domtyler

I think you are used to an upright position on your MTB and are now suffering as you have poor strength in the core of your body which will cause problems on a road bike with a much lower position. This will develop in time anyway but you can help speed it up with a program of 'core-strength exercises' (Google). Eventually you will notice that most of your weight is actually carried on the pedals with only a small amount on the saddle and handlebars.

Watch some footage of pro cyclists on Youtube, cycling.tv or wherever you can find it and note their body positions then try to copy them.

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hayesdj

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Rich H</i>

You may need a diffrent stem, your putting too much weight over the bars
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

do i need a longer or shorter one?

Unknown

Hold on! it might be nothing to do with your stem length.

try riding with a more relaxed grip first and try to ride with less weight on your arms.

It might just be a matter of getting used to riding in a different position. i found when
putting more road miles in after lots of MTBing, i was 'gripping' the bars like i was wrestling
a wild elk, and my forearms were getting really pumped. it could be that you need gloves, new bits etc
it might be worth trying to ride 'easier' first

Mleh Mleh Mleh

manick0decp

Just to add to to the confusion, you might have your saddle to far foward. Try moving it back slightly and it could make the world of difference.

hayesdj

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by manick0de</i>

Just to add to to the confusion, you might have your saddle to far foward. Try moving it back slightly and it could make the world of difference.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

I tried this on my 20miler tonight and it made the world of difference. I also tried to ride a bit "easier" so maybe it was a combination of the two. the riding style is so different!...I wish to local council would resurface some the B roads by me though!!!!!!!

Thanks everyone for all your help

fossyant

No.. just keep at it, I actually find my MTB more tiring than the road bike because of the lack of hand positions (despite bar ends) but that's because my MTB is actually set up like the road bike for reach etc.

Just keep training on the road bike, take rests when necessary, ride one handed and shake out each arm, until you get used to it - I'd say maybe 3-6 months really as I've got back into proper riding on the road since December 06 and suffered for a bit with back pain and hand numbness until I got re-used to it !

Buggi

when i first got my road bike i suffered with pains in my hands for about 2 months. you get more vibration off a road bike and to dull the vibration i bought padded gloves. but they seemed to be strained between the thumb and forefinger for ages, but now i don't get any problems. think they just strengthened up.

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inchcape

i had the same problem so purchased a pair of padded mitts and they have really helped.