I almost never on the drops (only use those at high speeds when I’m on actual roads, due to the headwind).
My goto is the tops (if that’s the horizontal part of the handlebar).
When I used to MTB, I used to use a lot the horns that were attached to the handle bar ends, so I try to also use the hoods (if that’s the reference to the brake lever gear shift base) but it’s not so comfortable either.
Yesterdays ride to reduce pressure on my wrist, I moved around with my gripping and tried also to use the base of my fingers rather than the palm of my hand, but it’s not so comfortable.
Yes—“tops” is the horizontal area. “Hoods” is the brake levers. If you keep a towel nearby, you can also fold it up and keep it on the bar tops under your hands (padding your hands and available when you need a wipe down).
Just out of curiosity, with that setup, slightly tilted up with that front wheel stand, if you’re on the hoods looking down at the front hub, do you see the hub in front of the bar, or is it the other way around? Or does the bar cover the view of the hub?
Reason I’m asking is whereas you don’t have your saddle much higher than the bars, which is good considering your hands, another factor that can put strain on the hands is a frame with a reach that is too long or, put differently, you might have a short upper body and get too stretched out.
Or you just have sensitive wrists (or hands or elbows or shoulders)… What about doing 90 min tops for a bit rather than 2 hrs?
I see the front hub just behind the handlebar, kind of in the same line of sight as the front brake calliper.
See photo below. What are your thoughts?
I changed the hood grips a little today, put my wrist more on the outside of the hoods and resting the “cushion” of my thumbs on the hoods, seemed to feel a little better.
If what you see is like on the picture, ie the front hub is on your side of the bars when sitting comfortably, then ’in theory’ your reach is a bit too long. ’Ideally’ the bar should cover the hub.
(If on the other hand the hub shows beyond the bar from your side, then reach may be a bit short, which isn’t uncomfortable but isn’t very aero - doesn’t matter in Zwift - and you may even bump your legs into the bars when climbing standing, ie the frame is too small.)
Bike fitting rules of thumb are just that. They are not exact and don’t necessarily apply to everyone. But since you have a problem… Maybe the reach is too long and you are bit too stretched, which wouldn’t help your hands (a bike fitter would spot it instantly, looking at you on the bike).
The go to way to adress that would be to get a shorter stem, as they come in different lengths. Your stem, however, isn’t very long to begin with. 9 cm? I wouldn’t go shorter than 8 minimum, not if you use the bike outdoors. Long stem = stable ride. Short stem = very reactive steering, like a race car, usually not a good thing. Then again, if you don’t use it outside, then you can go zero stem length no problem, like on a standard bike, and that would help your hands. Changing stems isn’t difficult but you should read up on it a little or watch some youtube vids as there are a couple of potential pitfalls you need to be aware of.
If you can’t go shorter stem and the reach is indeed long, then you’d need a shorter frame = expensive.
If your kickr height is set correctly (i.e. the middle pin is in the 700c hole), which it looks to be, you shouldn’t need a riser under your front wheel. We needed them under the old dumb trainers because the rear wheel was being lifted to sit on the roller. On the kickr your rear should be at the same height as if you were on the road.
In the picture it looks like your front hub is higher than your rear and your bars are the same height as your seat, this might mean that your wrists are not aligned correctly while seated. However, having it set up the way you have should mean that you’re not putting as much weight on your hands/wrists. so not sure if correcting it would help. But if you are training for the real world it might be a good idea to set it up correctly and then go from there.
Paul.
I’ll definitely schedule a bike fit, once I’m back home.
Wahoo rep recommended I use the block under the front wheel as It makes the handle bar much more stable and was supposed to make the indoor ride more comfortable.
Do some core work. Learn to let your core support your body weight and not your palms. Also assuming you have traditional round bars, you can get flat/aerodynamically shaped bars which give your hands more surface area thus reducing the hotspots.
P.S. are your hands and shoulders relaxed or are you white knuckled when you ride?
Hi @Heli_Guy ! I just came across this thread today looking for information on hand/arm pain while riding. I see that these posts are from August last year, so I am wondering whether you were able to have a bike fit in the meantime or whether you have found another solution? I will be rereading this thread carefully and looking at all of the pictures and descriptions to see if I can figure anything out. I was recently diagnosed with radial tunnel syndrome and I am positive that it was caused by my bike position. The problem for me is that it is affecting lots of things I do now (like cooking and typing). I also see lots of people saying - and I have read before - that we need better core strength. I wonder whether there is a test that can be done to rule out insufficient core strength. Like if I can plank for 5 minutes, then maybe it’s not that??? If it’s interesting to anyone, I think I caused my problem by increasing distance and intensity. I then moved my seat back a smidge hoping to find better balance through seat and pedals and thereby decreasing pressure on my hands. I usually was riding with my hands on the tops, wrists slightly bent and probably gripping harder than I should have. Moving the seat back also caused me to ride with nearly straight elbows. When I see how other people ride with totally bent elbows, I can see there is something dreadfully wrong with my position on the bike. I guess I will be going back for what will be my 5th bike fit… Only the third really expensive one though.
You can try double wrapping your bars.
I use a flat bar with bar ends (from a MTB) and my bar ends are triple or quadruple wrapped.
The flat bar itself just has soft padded grips but I spend most time on the bar ends.
This is for my trainer bike.
My out side road bike is double wrapped.
Hello,
Sorry to hear your pain, I totally understand. I had the same issues of the pain affecting other tasks.
I no longer suffer from the pain I had, my solution was to make a conscious effort to change my grip every so often and try as much as possible not to rest my hands on the hypothenar region.
I also got fingerless gloves with generous gel padding in the hypothenar region as well as the base of all the fingers (in the hand region but below the base of the fingers).
I don’t have a place to do a fit. The salesperson at the bike store examined my fit once more and said that in his opinion my setup was correct. He used a special fit app on his iPad, taking video of me riding and then examining various angles.
Like Tim above, I have switched to mountain bike flat bars. I was starting to have issues like you and the bar switch made an immediate difference. For me, the issue wasn’t while riding, but after the ride my hand was killing me. When I switched, it was actually a bit uncomfortable while riding, but no after affects. My situation is not perfect yet, but I am going to add bar ends and see if that helps. For outside riding, I’m on a mountain bike anyway, so it does make sense for them to be the same.
Good luck with your issue!!
I put foam pipe insulation over my handlebars for added padding/protection. Doesn’t look pretty but I’m not fussed about my trainer looking good. A quick fix and all for pennies.
