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Thumb pain?



 
 
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  #1  
Old July 21st 03, 07:01 PM
jmk
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Default Thumb pain?

OK, I feel really silly for asking this but both of my thumbs have been
both weak and sore. If I do not ride for a few days (out of town on
business), it goes away. It seems to me that there is something wrong
with the way that I am riding or with my bike fit. I checked the site
mentioned earlier (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/pain.html) but did not
see this mentioned. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

  #2  
Old July 21st 03, 09:29 PM
Paul Bielec
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Default Thumb pain?

Do you wear gloves?

"jmk" wrote in message
...
OK, I feel really silly for asking this but both of my thumbs have been
both weak and sore. If I do not ride for a few days (out of town on
business), it goes away. It seems to me that there is something wrong
with the way that I am riding or with my bike fit. I checked the site
mentioned earlier (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/pain.html) but did not
see this mentioned. Any suggestions would be appreciated.



  #3  
Old July 22nd 03, 12:13 PM
jmk
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Default Thumb pain?

Yes, I do wear gloves. I think that they are Performance Elites.

In the Raleigh area it seems that very few places carry women's
clothing. My choices are pretty much REI (Pearl Izumi doesn't fit me so
it's not really a choice since that's mostly what they carry) and
Performance.

Paul Bielec wrote:
Do you wear gloves?

"jmk" wrote in message
...

OK, I feel really silly for asking this but both of my thumbs have been
both weak and sore. If I do not ride for a few days (out of town on
business), it goes away. It seems to me that there is something wrong
with the way that I am riding or with my bike fit. I checked the site
mentioned earlier (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/pain.html) but did not
see this mentioned. Any suggestions would be appreciated.


  #4  
Old July 22nd 03, 01:36 AM
Lindsay Rowlands
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Default Thumb pain?

jmk wrote:
: OK, I feel really silly for asking this but both of my thumbs have been
: both weak and sore. If I do not ride for a few days (out of town on
: business), it goes away. It seems to me that there is something wrong
: with the way that I am riding or with my bike fit. I checked the site
: mentioned earlier (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/pain.html) but did not
: see this mentioned. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

One suggestion is to move your hands to different positions on the bars
every 10 minutes or so. On drop bars there are these options in order:

- either side of the stem
- bit further out
- on the first bend
- straight bit just before levers
- on the hoods
- on bottom section of the down curve
- fully on the drops

Just make sure that you aren't hanging on grimly - it helps to have
a light touch. Also, the rule of 'thumb' (sorry about the pun) is
to have your upper body weight evenly distributed between your butt
and hands. Measure this by gauging how difficult it is to sit up
into a no-hands position from the bars. The right balance is when
it takes a bit of a shove from your hands. Any more than that
means that the bars are too low in relation to the seat height and
you would have too much weight on your arms, wrists and hands.

I find it helps a lot for my comfort if I also have a slight bend
in my arms - not having elbows locked. This seems to absorb road
shock and gives my neck and shoulders an easier time of it.

Hope this helps, cheerz,

Lynzz
  #5  
Old July 25th 03, 04:46 PM
Paul Bielec
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Posts: n/a
Default Thumb pain?

If you have a MTB or a hybrid, you could consider adding bar ends.
This would allow you to vary your hands position.

"jmk" wrote in message
...
OK, I feel really silly for asking this but both of my thumbs have been
both weak and sore. If I do not ride for a few days (out of town on
business), it goes away. It seems to me that there is something wrong
with the way that I am riding or with my bike fit. I checked the site
mentioned earlier (http://www.sheldonbrown.com/pain.html) but did not
see this mentioned. Any suggestions would be appreciated.



 




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