tingling fingers and toes

[amcfadzean]

i am not an avid cyclist; more of a beginner and i do more triathlons than just cycling by itself. i have noticed that when doing tri's, and even longer rides, that after maybe 8-9 miles (give or take) my fingers and toes get a tingling feeling as if they are not getting enough circulation. when doing triathlons, i do not normally wear clips, however i do wear them when doing just cycling though. my shoelaces/clips/gloves are definitely not on too tight, either.
has anyone ever heard of this? what causes this and how can i avoid it? thanks.

[YellowLemondTed]

It could have something to do with the pressure points where your hands and feet come in contact with the bike itself. For your hands, it could be that you are putting too much weight on the hands/bars, you can help correct this by creating a stronger core. Most seasoned riders actually do not support themselves primarily with their arms and hands, but actually with their ab muscles and mid section. This allows you to relax your shoulders, arms, and hands and not be over bearing on them while using your stronger, more solid core muscles.

You say your shoes aren't too tight. Does the toe box area of the shoe have enough "wiggle" room? My cycling shoes don't fit well at all if looked at from a conventional shoe fit aspect. Yet they do fit great as cycling shoes. I've got room to not only wiggle my toes, but to spread them out within the shoe comfortably. Street shoes traditionally fit a bit more snug through the whole foot. Cycling shoes allow your feet to have some room for the natural movements created during the pedal stroke. From pushing down and through, to pulling up and over your foot is actually flexing and moving little bits. This could have something to do with your situation.

I'm just going on past experience of similar problems. I'm no doctor or fit specialist and a good bike shop can probably really narrow it down to specifics.

Best of luck, and happy tri training

[1yellowtire]

" I do not normally wear clips, however I do wear them when doing just cycling though. my shoelaces/clips/gloves are definitely not on too tight, either. "

So do you mean you use old style clips and straps? If so, you might want to go with clipless pedals with a good pair of cycling shoes. You can buy a cheap pair of Look clipless pedals for not much $.

Sometimes I find sock choice matters. During the summer, I often wear thin Defeat socks and I find I sometimes get hot spots. When I switch to slightly thicker/reinforced socks (like the Hincapie/Motion Makers socks), some of that goes away. Obviously I don't mean thick all over, but slightly reinforced in the toes and heels. If you're wearing socks that are too thick, that could also be a source of the problem.

As for finger numbness-I think putting less pressure on the bars, or potentially trying different gloves might help. I'm sure some on this board will disagree, but if you are getting a lot of pain, you might also want to try padded bar tape, like the Specialized Bar Phat.

Good luck and let us know what/if anything works.

[Nikki Alexander]

For your hands, don't rest your body so much on the handle bars. Gloves help a lot, even the kind with lots of padding are great if you find the right ones
For your feet, it looks as if you're not using clipless (i hate this term cause i totally clip into a clipless pedal...). Kind of like driving a car (maybe i'm the only one who gets numb feet driving, esp stick), this kind of pressure created on your feet can create hot spots and even enough pressure to start cutting off circulation.

Do you have any of these problems off the bike?

[amcfadzean]

i don't have any problems off the bike. i will get out for a ride this weekend and try to pay more attention to how much weight i am putting onto the handlebars and see if i notice any difference there.
feet-wise, i usually wear the dri-fit style socks, which are pretty thin, so i don't think it's that. could any of it have to do with possibly not being properly fitted to the bike? i ride an older colnago that i inherited from my husband when he upgraded to a specialized, so it wasn't ever measured to fit me specifically although he and i are about the same height/same leg and arm length.
thanks for your thoughts!

[Nikki Alexander]

not being fitted could be a problem. road bikes unlike mountain bikes require more fitting for it all to work well.
thin socks could be a problem. like skiiers, cyclists can get socks that have a bit more fabric where the pressure points would be, without causing discomfort of affect performance. i'll even see that wearing thin socks one day with my sneakers, and thicker ones the next and the thicker socks always help out a bit more...

[cujo]

The reason they are called clipless is that there use to be metal brackets you use with a strap; Back when we nailed the cleats to our shoes.

As far as the tingle thing;

1) fit is most likely the issue.
2) hand pressure
3) shoe fit and binding
4) saddle
5) back problem
6) blood flow problem (clot) on left side

Although option 6 is really far fetched i have heard of it once. I hade a back issue and wnet to a chiropractor it fixed it right up. Though i still get the hand thing on the track(pressure from g force) and the leg in TT situations but only after sustaned effort.

[1yellowtire]

"road bikes unlike mountain bikes require more fitting for it all to work well."

I actually think this is a bit of a myth. If you ride your mountain bike for any significant length of time (which many people do not), then fit becomes very important. There is nothing magic about a mountain bike that makes fit less important. Some even argue that it's more important on a mountain bike.

[cujo]

I would agree on frame size. It directly relates to handleing.