Hi all, just got back from Les 2 Alpes and an amazing 3 days riding out there.

I found after 2 days of riding (7 hours each day) that my forearms felt bruised – not arm pump but more from rattling down over the brake bumps and the muscle banging on my bones (Only way I can describe it).

Anyone experienced this before? My mates didn’t suffer from it (we all got Arm pump though). It was seriously painful.

I’m thinking my suspension was too hard but not sure. Any thoughts?

You have ladies forearms or death grip!

First time i went to the alps i suffered the same. It was as if someone had been beating my forearms for hours. Next time i went with much better forks and never had the same issues since.

It´ll wear off, don´t worry. Most likely death grip, fear is a weird thing. That or your suspension sucks over the big stuff…

Possible solutions

Slacker grip
One finger braking, index finger so more brakes inboard of shifters.
Brake levers further up than you would think, 15 degrees of horizontal
More rebound
One of those gyro ball things to strengthen fore arms
More relaxed on the bike, less rigidity

Go and lift some weights. I used to get arm pump, bit of gym time and an unexpected benefit turned out to be curing arm fatigue on the bike.

Apply a liberal dose of rule 5. 😉

Getting your brake levers set up perfectly makes the biggest difference. Otherwise, ride as much as you can, on steep terrain if possible. Cross training also helps – I reckon indoor climbing is the best training for your hands and forearms.

MTFU.
Joking aside you’ll be sore for a couple of days , it’s like lifting weights after a couple of years off, after a a week or so you still feel like someone has punched you in the arm. You’ll be fine

coolhandluke – Member
Possible solutions

Slacker grip
One finger braking, index finger so more brakes inboard of shifters.
Brake levers further up than you would think, 15 degrees of horizontal
More rebound
One of those gyro ball things to strengthen fore arms
More relaxed on the bike, less rigidity

Agree with all that. Impressively comprehensive list

If you come back from Morzine without sore forearms then you weren’t trying hard enough, although the recommendations above are all reasonably sensible (I don’t know about slackening your grip though in my experience you hold on as tight as you need to!)
Last time I was over I was having protein shakes with a bit of creatine in at the end of the day – it did seem to help.