Hey,

Just turned to the darkside and purchased a road bike, Urgh i know!

I’ve not ridden one for quite a while [anyone rember down tube shifters!?] Anyway, managed a piffling 80Km since it arrived on Tuesday and I’m loving it apart from I’m getting quite a bit of pain in the fleshy bits of my thumbs. Is this normal? should i just ‘man up’ and get on with it or have i just got the set up wrong?

Oh yea i’m running a Giant TCR Alliance Zero with SRAM Rival Double tap brake / shifters if thats any help?
Cheers in advance Ben

I found the same (and still do to a certain degree) when using the hoods. Have put it down to supporting my weight on a different part of my hand (and as I have a higher saddle, a higher proportion of my weight). Sprained ligaments on both thumbs is not helping the comfort levels at the moment though

I find that some gloves that are great on flat bars are terrible on my road bike, you might have to experiment.

Otherwise maybe tweak your set up? Maybe your bars are too low / too close and you are ending up supporting your weight more on your hands than your butt?

The other thing to do while you get used to it is move your hands around as much as possible, drops give you loads of possibilities