ThePhoenix74

Good day!

I did my first metric century this weekend, and as usual, around 30 km, I started to feel that my hands were getting numb even though I frequently vary my position on the bars... We took a 15 minutes break at 50 km, and for a reason I can't explained, the numbness didn't come back at all on the last 50 km... Any idea why it went away in the back half of the ride?

I've been trying to understand why, but I can't pinpoint the factors that could have contributed to that...

Anyone has a theory?

Garfield Cat

First thing to know is if you are aware of the causes of numbness of hands while riding. Then maybe second is the ride itself.

First half of a century might have been different. It would depend on how a rider approaches the ride. Some riders take it easy the first part, thinking that they need to be conservative in order to ride well throughout. Other riders do the opposite and ride a bit hard on the first part.

Then the terrain itself. At some point of the ride, the stress on the handlebars might have changed due to the change in riding conditions.

roccobike

In support of Garfield Cat's comment about terrain, chip-sealed roads cause numbness to occur faster than smooth asphalt for me.

Machka 

Did you stretch your shoulders and neck?

One of the best ways to get rid of numb hands (at least temporarily, while riding) is to sit up straight on the bicycle, place one arm behind you with the forearm along your waist in an L shape. With your arm back there, slowly tilt your head from side to side and stretch your shoulder. Also wiggle your fingers. Then place the other arm behind you with the forearm along your waist in an _| shape. With your arm back there, slowly tilt your head from side to side and stretch your shoulder. And wiggle your fingers.

Sometimes numb hands are caused by tightness in the shoulders and neck.

So ... on your break, perhaps you stretched your shoulders and neck in some way and relieved the tightness.

ThePhoenix74

Thank you all for your suggestions. The road conditions and my riding style aggressiveness was pretty much the same on both segments. I did stretch a bit on my break, but I always stretch before I start a long riding session (I did stretch before I started riding in the morning)...

Machka, you might have a point where I sometime end-up with a sore neck and shoulders (and yes I did a fitting and tweaked the fitting many times), but at the end of this century, I didn't have that soreness...

I now try to focus on my core and try to alleviate some of the pressure on the arms, elbows and shoulders, and it might have helped... In retrospect, the stretching at break time might have done the trick, I'll have to try this again and see if that works on a repetitive basis!

Thanks to all for bouncing ideas!

carpediemracing 

One thing that may be a contributor is the weight distribution on the hands. For example if you were riding easier at the beginning you would be putting more pressure on the saddle/bars (and less on the pedals). If you were working harder later then you'd be supporting more weight on your pedals and therefore less on hands/saddle.

As you fatigued it's possible that you sat up more, transferring weight to the saddle.

Finally it's possible that you held the bars a bit differently on the second half of the ride. Part of it might be more/less standing, more climbing (going uphill reduces weight on hands simply because your bike is tilted up), etc. I know that I tend to use all hand positions initially but as I get fatigued I end up on the drops more and more. When I'm really tired I start to twist my hands to the inside of the drops. Etc.

Machka 

I don't usually stretch before a ride, but I do once the ride gets going. Once an hour or so, or as needed, I'll sit up and do a little stretch routine. And I'll stretch on just about every off-the-bicycle break.

I also get neck and shoulder soreness, and in addition to regularly stretching while riding, I have to focus on dropping my shoulders ... I tend to hunch them up around my ears when I ride.