Numb fingers??????

Well don't be too hard on yourself, I don't do confrontations too well either, mainly because, like you I don't want some moron going off on me and run me down or just like you said, turn around and beat the [censored] out of me ...so I just make up entire new vocabularies under my breath and curse them, then I look UP and apologize, but with referrence to what they did, just in case .....
You are lossa fun, wish you lived closer we could ride together and you could laugh at me trying to keep up🙂 Ya know, there really was a day when I was a very good rider, but ...somehow the complexities of life parked my bike and 18 years past in a matter of minutes40 pounds found its way to my waistline, and muscletone disappeared without a whisper....when I awoke I was fat, tired, weak and without stamina, but I had my rockhopper🙂 and fixed her up and then bought 2 more bikes but my god it is so hard to get into shape!!!!
someone at work asked me,"where on earth do you find the energy to ride every day"
I told her, I don't have the energy to ride, I get out of bed and I force myself to ride, after I get a little ways I feel better, after a long ride the only way home is to pedal. and the more I do it, I am hoping the more energy I will find to help me get going in the morning.
Jo Anne

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Spin baby
Yeah. It was a guy, around 30ish coming at me head on. He definatly had a "tude" about something, cause from the look on his face... I believe he actually didn't care for a few seconds whether he hit me or not.

Just enough to scare the [censored] out of me..

Amazing what you see when things slow down eh?

As to reporting him... by the time I had made it around my sheltering car ... and looked back in shocked outrage... he was too far and I was too scattered. I thought for a sec about turning around and trying to get it... but the thought that sprang into my head was that he would probably stop the truck and pound the [censored] out of me.... or try and run me down again. No. when it comes to raging bad boys... I tend to go in the other direction.

Chichen [censored] way of doing it in one respect... but in the other... I tend to get a little slack about being aware of my surroundings while biking in the city... and this just drove the point home.

Lordy Joanne..... you are one determined gal. Good on you that you don't let your decreased hearing stop you from doing what you love. I hope you manage to get some relaxing rides... ; )

Yeah. They have the insulated bags that go on the top of the rack that really keeps things cold. And of course.... we always need what we left behind... ; )

You noticed that to eh? LOL

well it is me again...
you said something that made me think..
"amazing what you see when things slow down eh?"
I have often wondered what causes that, but you are absolutely right, you see more clearly when you are afraid or the adrenalin is pumping. I am thinking that things do not slow down, but you are in such a hi state of being at the time of fear or adrenalin that you are just that much faster, and processing everything you can because it may be your last image.....now wasn't that a deep subject?
bye
Jo Anne

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by bjoanne2000
Well don't be too hard on yourself, I don't do confrontations too well either, mainly because, like you I don't want some moron going off on me and run me down or just like you said, turn around and beat the [censored] out of me ...so I just make up entire new vocabularies under my breath and curse them, then I look UP and apologize, but with referrence to what they did, just in case .....
You are lossa fun, wish you lived closer we could ride together and you could laugh at me trying to keep up🙂 Ya know, there really was a day when I was a very good rider, but ...somehow the complexities of life parked my bike and 18 years past in a matter of minutes40 pounds found its way to my waistline, and muscletone disappeared without a whisper....when I awoke I was fat, tired, weak and without stamina, but I had my rockhopper🙂 and fixed her up and then bought 2 more bikes but my god it is so hard to get into shape!!!!
someone at work asked me,"where on earth do you find the energy to ride every day"
I told her, I don't have the energy to ride, I get out of bed and I force myself to ride, after I get a little ways I feel better, after a long ride the only way home is to pedal. and the more I do it, I am hoping the more energy I will find to help me get going in the morning.
Jo Anne

Quoted post said:

and processing everything you can because it may be your last image.....

Yeah... like I'd like the last images in my mind to be of his sorry mug. LOL...

Joanne... I parked my bike for 10 years as well. I had a couple of bad scares... one around riding with my young daughter and one where I went off my bike. Because I felt a huge responsibility to stay alive and healthy to be there for my child (I was not with her father and no one could raise her and love her like I could of course)... I stopped riding and took up walking/hiking instead. But it wasn't the same.

Last July, I developed an online friendship with an avid male biker from Massachusetts. With his encouragement, and excellent advice, I got back on and my gratitude to him is immense.

I still have to drag my butt out of bed to go, and my muscles complain bitterly at times... but there is no denying the pleasure once I am warmed up, in the fresh air, feeling my body working, and knowing that what I am doing is soooooo good for me.

I believe that nutrition is a huge part of the energy issue... and despite the fact that I am an abysmally lazy cook... I have decided to put some energy into that area as well to improve my overall feeling of wellness and [censored].

I found these sites to be an interesting all-round read......

http://www.cptips.com/

My next purchase is going to be a slow cooker. And a pot roast. LOL (never cooked one in my life)

Whatever you do... don't give up... okay? Just draw on that collective biking spirit that is free floating all over the world.. LOL... and don't forget to let your inner kid out to play ; )

Hi Spin Baby🙂

You're going to love your new crock pot!!!!
I am going to go to the site you sent me in a few minutes, just wanted to thank you..
gurl do I know about sore muscles, and I have learned about lactic acid?? thighs were killing me first few months. still get sore but not as bad. My biggest problems getting up to ride, are My back is total trash when I wake up, body aches all over... and that makes it hard to get motivated, but I take a hot shower and feel a little better after that, then I go out and ride, after a couple miles I am ready for the day!! I never seem to get rid of the stiff neck...always there.
Thanks again for the link I am on my way...(I love to cook!)
Jo Anne

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Spin baby
Yeah... like I'd like the last images in my mind to be of his sorry mug. LOL...

Joanne... I parked my bike for 10 years as well. I had a couple of bad scares... one around riding with my young daughter and one where I went off my bike. Because I felt a huge responsibility to stay alive and healthy to be there for my child (I was not with her father and no one could raise her and love her like I could of course)... I stopped riding and took up walking/hiking instead. But it wasn't the same.

Last July, I developed an online friendship with an avid male biker from Massachusetts. With his encouragement, and excellent advice, I got back on and my gratitude to him is immense.

I still have to drag my butt out of bed to go, and my muscles complain bitterly at times... but there is no denying the pleasure once I am warmed up, in the fresh air, feeling my body working, and knowing that what I am doing is soooooo good for me.

I believe that nutrition is a huge part of the energy issue... and despite the fact that I am an abysmally lazy cook... I have decided to put some energy into that area as well to improve my overall feeling of wellness and [censored].

I found these sites to be an interesting all-round read......

http://www.cptips.com/

My next purchase is going to be a slow cooker. And a pot roast. LOL (never cooked one in my life)

Whatever you do... don't give up... okay? Just draw on that collective biking spirit that is free floating all over the world.. LOL... and don't forget to let your inner kid out to play ; )

Hey Joanne...

That sux about your body hurting first thing in the morning. And you get up and ride in the face of that !!!!???

I'm impressed. ; )

I don't do near enough stretching.....so, I am thinking of taking up yoga again. The little I did do really helped with my stiffness and range of motion..... but WORK and house and riding keeps interfering with my plans. LOL

I went and looked at the slow cookers.... and left without buying one. LOL

I know what they look like now and how much they hold and all their different features... but I was standing in the store thinking "I don't have a clue how to cook with one" so I will be perusing slow cooker recipies online for a bit before I make my choice.

anyway.......Be well Joanne... : )

I am awed that you didn't buy a crock pot!! you will love it when you are ready. you can put something in, put it on low, go to work come home, supper is ready🙂 super for all kinds of foods, and roasts being one of them, soup being another, oh my gosh, boneless chicken breast, and some veggies with some noodles, I use a water base, no broth, but this one is for friends with blood pressure problems... I make it a little spicy, because I dont use salt in it. if it is just me, I will add salt, but want my friends around for long time🙂
bye for now...hope you never have to wake up because of pain...it really sucks.
Jo Anne

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Spin baby
Hey Joanne...

That sux about your body hurting first thing in the morning. And you get up and ride in the face of that !!!!???

I'm impressed. ; )

I don't do near enough stretching.....so, I am thinking of taking up yoga again. The little I did do really helped with my stiffness and range of motion..... but WORK and house and riding keeps interfering with my plans. LOL

I went and looked at the slow cookers.... and left without buying one. LOL

I know what they look like now and how much they hold and all their different features... but I was standing in the store thinking "I don't have a clue how to cook with one" so I will be perusing slow cooker recipies online for a bit before I make my choice.

anyway.......Be well Joanne... : )

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by C'ya
Hi..I am new to all of this cycling. Only been doing it a few months now.

I have a question...have any of you experienced numbness in your fingers? I hardly "grip" the bars..and I have gel gloves..but by the end of my ride my fingers are tingling.

Any suggestions? Thought?

😎
try an angled stem for your handle bars....it may change your weight distribution, take some off your arms/hands....I have the same problem, and it helped...particularly on long rides...

You should hold the bars like an ice cream cone!! Not like your hanging on for dear life. Or maybe a better analogy is how you hold your steering wheel in the car...firm but not over tight! You will conserve more energy if you are relaxing your upper torso as well.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Kylie-Anne
You should hold the bars like an ice cream cone!! Not like your hanging on for dear life. Or maybe a better analogy is how you hold your steering wheel in the car...firm but not over tight! You will conserve more energy if you are relaxing your upper torso as well.

That was my recent problem. I was hanging on with a wild woman's death grip and I was "turtling", pulling my shoulders up towards my ears.

Once I was aware of doing this, I spent the next few rides being very conscious about my biking posture, reminding myself about 80 times to RE-LAX, drop the shoulders and lose the white knuckle syndrome.

Huge difference in performance. Everything worked better once I "lightened" up a bit. And it went a long way to alleviating the "numb hands" syndrome although a handle bar adjustment might also have helped so I can't totally credit the better posture for that result.

Cycling gloves helped me a lot with numbness. Also, when my back and stomach muscles got stronger (or else I just learned, not sure), I was able to ride with much less weight on my hands and that has helped immensely. I don't think I've gotten the numbness for at least 3 years.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by C'ya
Hi..I am new to all of this cycling. Only been doing it a few months now.

I have a question...have any of you experienced numbness in your fingers? I hardly "grip" the bars..and I have gel gloves..but by the end of my ride my fingers are tingling.

Any suggestions? Thought?

#
Hi
Just browsing throught posts here and thought you may be interested in having a look at this ( non Commercial )
numb hands
Its a link to a mavellous web diary of a cycle ride from the UK to Australia
regards
Chris

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by bjoanne2000
thanks for the site.. I was on a ride today and was stung by a hornet "on my tongue" I was in the middle of nowhere and my water was hot, tongue swelled just enough after about 30 minutes to gag me, then I was sick..and couldn't muster the energy to get back on my bike, so I walked about a mile in cleats till I found a "down hill" and rode the rest of the way home...lets invent a water bottle that stays cold!!!
Jo Anne

Good news, they have a water bottle at nashbar.com which keeps hot drinks hot and cold ones cold...

I've never used one, so I can't say how good they work, but they're not spendy.....

😉

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by C'ya
Hi..I am new to all of this cycling. Only been doing it a few months now.

I have a question...have any of you experienced numbness in your fingers? I hardly "grip" the bars..and I have gel gloves..but by the end of my ride my fingers are tingling.

Any suggestions? Thought?

In 2001 I did a 16 (continuous) day ride from Rome to London on a hybrid, with bar extensions so that I could adjust my grip periodically. Despite this I suffered with numbness in a couple of fingers for months afterwards. In 2003 I repeated the ride on a road bike, despite my original fears about back-ache and general comfort. There was no comparison, and I did it this time without any numbness or tingling. I have to say, however, that I did have the bike set up meticulously for me by the people at De Mayo and I am convinced that this, coupled with the different grip position, made for the huge improvement.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by C'ya
Hi..I am new to all of this cycling. Only been doing it a few months now.

I have a question...have any of you experienced numbness in your fingers? I hardly "grip" the bars..and I have gel gloves..but by the end of my ride my fingers are tingling.

Any suggestions? Thought?

It's caused by pressure on your wrist and hand nerves, and constriction of blood vessels from griping the handlebars
there's really only one solution, I've had it for years. Get a recumbent bike where you no longer have to lean over your handlebars and pressure your wrists.. I've been at this a while like 50 years of cycling. You can try more flexible forks on an upright, that will help to some degree. And hold your hand/arm over your head for a few seconds when it get real bad, that allows a relaxing of the muscles and also the blood to flow back to the heart and refresh the numb area some what and make it more bearable. My pain and numbing went away on an recumbent, but other problems accompany a recumbent, like heavy pressure on your knees and hips and inability to see very much since your scooting around on you butt laying down on those crazy things and heavy pressure on your upper lobes in your lungs from riding with a compressed diaphragm.. Good luck, cycling is not without some discomforts, but the rewards are great.! I think it beats all others sports for long and healthy aerobic workout. Nothing is better for your old ticker than pumping those pedals all day.

I think there's a number of reasons for numb hands. Look at every step between your hands and the road. Tight gloves has already been mentioned. Putting too much weight on your hands is another - you can get a shorter head stem or move your saddle a little bit to get you closer to the handlebars so you're not leaning on them as much. Might be worth getting a professional to fit you to the bike. Bar tape has also been mentioned. Then there's the shock absorption properties of your bike components - carbon forks if you can afford them may help. Or it might come down to frame geometry,..how well your bike is absorbing road shock & stopping it going into your body. It could be your hands as well of course! Do some strengthening exercises for the wrists etc.

I used to get numb hands on my old cheap taiwanese aluminimum bike, especially when descending at high speed down bumpy hills roads. When I switched bikes to my quality Italian Pinarello, the problem disappeared. In my case I think it was primarily how much vibration the bike was allowing to get through to my hands that caused my problem.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by pinarello65
I think there's a number of reasons for numb hands. Look at every step between your hands and the road. Tight gloves has already been mentioned. Putting too much weight on your hands is another - you can get a shorter head stem or move your saddle a little bit to get you closer to the handlebars so you're not leaning on them as much. Might be worth getting a professional to fit you to the bike. Bar tape has also been mentioned. Then there's the shock absorption properties of your bike components - carbon forks if you can afford them may help. Or it might come down to frame geometry,..how well your bike is absorbing road shock & stopping it going into your body. It could be your hands as well of course! Do some strengthening exercises for the wrists etc.

I used to get numb hands on my old cheap taiwanese aluminimum bike, especially when descending at high speed down bumpy hills roads. When I switched bikes to my quality Italian Pinarello, the problem disappeared. In my case I think it was primarily how much vibration the bike was allowing to get through to my hands that caused my problem.

One of my bikes is a "Lemond" with carbon forks. I've tried changing positions, seats, stems, no major change. It's about
the hard grip required to ride an upright.. When you've been riding as many years as I have the nerves get frayed and smashed in your wrist. I've done the forearm exercise, they make for more muscle compression and more numbness. The recumbent resolved the wrist problems, but was too hard on my hips and knees. I may try another make of recumbent, I have a Gold Rush currently.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by C'ya
Hi..I am new to all of this cycling. Only been doing it a few months now.

I have a question...have any of you experienced numbness in your fingers? I hardly "grip" the bars..and I have gel gloves..but by the end of my ride my fingers are tingling.

Any suggestions? Thought?

I suffer from numb fingers, my pinky and the finger beside it.
The reason it happens is from a damaged ulnar nerve in my elbow caused from to many hours on the computer.
Maybe this helpled in some way.

I've been reading your thread with interest and have a few tips which may help:

Warm down after a ride by taking it easy for the last 10 mins of your ride, spinning at a higher cadence and with less power. This clears the lactics from your body which may have built up during your ride.

Stretching after coming back from your ride really helps the soreness in your muscles, and not just your leg muscles - it clears the lactic acid in your limbs and it helps your back, arms, neck and the supporting muscles which you use from cycling. Only stretch when you are warm!

Lastly, drink water before, during and after the ride. Essential for your body to function properly.

Hope this helps,

Normski

Keep your wrists straight. If you let your wrists sag, you restrict the circulation to your hands, and put undue pressure on all the nerves and tendons and other things that go through this slim opening. If you concentrate on keeping your wrists straight, the tingling should go away. However, I read a story about a guy who rode the "RAM" (Ride Across America) and although I don't know if he kept his wrists straight, he suffered nerve damage symptoms for a few weeks after the ride.

Tom
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Quoted post said:

Originally posted by C'ya
Thanks for your suggestions...I will check them both out and see what helps!😉

I've tried everything except expensive handlebars. What helped me was the Bar Phat gel bar pads from Specialized. I believe other makers produce similar products.
I think gel must be the univeral solution. It made all the difference in my bike seat too!