thumb pain

[rainlax]

I got my first road bike in June and up until now I haven't really been doing many big rides. I've worked up to doing about 25-30km rides now. Everything feels good, except for my left thumb. There's a lot of pain in the lower joint and area where the thumb meets my hand. I've done some reading and it seems that the reason could be that I'm putting too much weight into my hands? My handles are already quite high and my partner (a seasoned cyclist/racer) has set me up pretty well. Just looking for some other opinions as he's not sure what would be causing this.

One thing I'm wondering about is the size of my hands vs the grip on the hoods. My hands are really small and it's a stretch to reach the breaks. Would shims help with the pain? Any advice/insights would be appreciated!

 

[ThomasCBaker]

I also have a lot of pain in the lower joint when I started cycling but now it is ok with me,I can easily mange.

 

[melkor1]

Though I'm by no means an experienced cyclist, if go with you're putting too much weight on your hands. I recently cycled from London to Paris over 4 days (280 miles) and after the first day, I had blisters on my hands where they rested on the bar, and pain in my thumbs and forearms. However, as the days went on, this pain decreased as I started to use my core more, taking weight off my hands. Also, I would have thought a higher handler bar placement would take weight off your hands, not increase it.

 

[alfeng]

Originally Posted by rainlax .

I got my first road bike in June and up until now I haven't really been doing many big rides. I've worked up to doing about 25-30km rides now. Everything feels good, except for my left thumb. There's a lot of pain in the lower joint and area where the thumb meets my hand. I've done some reading and it seems that the reason could be that I'm putting too much weight into my hands? My handles are already quite high and my partner (a seasoned cyclist/racer) has set me up pretty well. Just looking for some other opinions as he's not sure what would be causing this.

One thing I'm wondering about is the size of my hands vs the grip on the hoods. My hands are really small and it's a stretch to reach the breaks. Would shims help with the pain? Any advice/insights would be appreciated!

A shorter and/or even taller stem would probably be beneficial due to your apparent discomfort with your current riding position where you feel you are too stretched out (which may certainly be the case).

TERRY sells a handlebar designed for shorter riders.

POST a picture of your bike as it is set up ... take the picture from as close to perpendicular as possible at bike level from the driveside.

Also, how tall are you & what is the bike's frame size?

What is the distance from the REAR edge of the center of the saddle to the back of one of the brake lever's horns?

As melkor1 more-or-less suggested, your fitness can be a factor.