Bike advice needed
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RV posted 1 year ago.
The best thing to do is go get a proper bike fit. This usually takes an hour or two to get you dialed into your bike so that you are comfortable. Go to slowtwitch and look for a FIST certified fitter in your area. Hopefully one close by. If not then best to ask around at your local tri-club or bike club for where to go. Good luck.
RV
It takes a long time to get good. - Scott Molina
Slow is smooth; smooth is fast. - Rich Strauss
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catulu posted 1 year ago.
I had the same backside and numb fingers problem when I first got my bike. You just need to get used to sitting on the seat, after a while it won't be sore anymore.
As for the fingers, have you got cycling gloves? If not i suggest you buy some with gel padding. The constant occillation of the handlebar is what is causing the numbness. A pair of gloves solved the problem for me right away.
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solidad posted 1 year ago.
Its all about fit. If you've got too much weight on your hands, they'll go numb - bars too low, saddle tilting forward, etc.
Also, if the saddle position is off, you'll have numb "parts". I would look into different saddles. Everyone's backside is not created equal and many saddles have wider seat areas, cut outs, etc.
As for the computer, if you aren't going heart rate monitor or power monitor, I would look for improvements in average speed over courses you've ridden before under similar conditions -- wind, temp, etc.
I have not jumped to power training yet, buyt with an HR and Speed, the goal is to increase speed while mantaining HR to show efficiency improvement.
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lloydte posted 1 year ago.
The numbness you are experiencing in your fingers is almost certainly due to pressure being exerted on the ulnar nerve as it passes through Guyon's canal which is an area in your wrist between some of your wrist bones and some overlying conective tissue. The greatest pressure exerted is usually when the hands are placed on the drops as all your weight is leaning forward as opposed to when you are on the hoods when the force exerted by the handle bars on your wrists is less.....but the problem can stil occur.
The numb feeling I would imagine is confined to your little finger, and about half of your ring finger and a small part of your palm. This can become worse and it is possible to develop something called 'cyclist's neuropathy' which is when the numb feeling remains and you get wasting of some of the small muscles in the hand due to damage to the ulnar nerve that provides both sensation and fine motor control to the hand.
Ass pain, basically make sure you got good well padded cycling shorts and see how that goes!!
Happy cycling
Tim
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RV posted 1 year ago.
I'm just going to reiterate the recommendation about getting a bike fit before swapping out saddles etc. Also in a tri you typically won't be riding with bike shorts (use tri-shorts) or gloves. It may be some minor adjustments to the seat height, forward/rear position, angle, stem height etc.
RV
It takes a long time to get good. - Scott Molina
Slow is smooth; smooth is fast. - Rich Strauss
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JamieM posted 1 year ago.
I'd start with gloves and maybe some tri shorts. And the fit that RV recommends is definitely a good idea. And just keep an eye on things. Most people will have some aches and pains (especially on the saddle) when they first start riding, most will go away with time.
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Grant posted 1 year ago.
Thanks all, that's given me a lot to look into. I'm also going to start wearing my HR monitor on the bike - up to now, I've only been using it for running and using the RPE scale on the bike.
Thanks again.:)
[URL=http://www.runnersforum.co.uk/blog/Grant.html]Half Marathon Training Blog
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Pete L. posted 1 year ago.
Its pretty easy to count cadence yourself. Just time it, and if you do 30 full leg cycles in 20 seconds, your cadence is 90, which is not bad, though 95 (32cycles = 96) could be better. It sort of depends on you. I'm about 90 all the time, and I run about 90, but have been trying to push that up to 95.
Aftter counting for a while, you get into a rythem, and you'll only need to count every few minutes to make sure you're not slowing down.
I'm pretty new to cycling (only got my bike about 6 weeks ago), so I've got a couple of basic questions.
1. I'm trying to build up distance, on the flat at the moment, but every time I get up to about 45mins (long for me) my backside gets sore from sitting on the saddle. Also, my fingers start feeling numb, sort of a like a dead leg. Does anyone have any advice on how to avoid these issues?
2. I just bought a basic cycle computer, that only shows time, speed, average speed, distance travelled and whether you are cycling above or below your avg speed. As it doesn't show cadence, which measure should I use to improve my cycling?
Thanks for your help.
Grant
[URL=http://www.runnersforum.co.uk/blog/Grant.html]Half Marathon Training Blog