Bit of a noob roadie q this. I've never done long rides on the road, but recently I did approx 5 hrs on the cx bike and found the tips of two of my fingers stayed numb / tingly for weeks afterwards. I did another long day at the weekend, about 8 hrs, and all today the top of two fingers feels the same.
Anyone get this and know what I mean? Never had this on the MTB and was wondering if it was some sort of carpal tunnel effect.
From the cold? It is getting quite chilly, you got decent gloves on? Did your hands get cold?
Or you might be holding on too tight, or putting too much weight on the bars. Ideally you just want your hands to be resting on the bars, as in you could take your hands off the handlebars and you will stay in the same position.
Your seat is too far forwards, meaning that you are taking too much weight on your hands and ending up compressing the nerves therein.
Seat back young Skywalker...
Which two? I'm not qualified at all in this but it sounds like your compressing some nerves in the palm of your hand. Depending on which fingers it could be ulnar (or a whole host of others). My advice (as a long time suffer of ulnar compression) is to work really hard to avoid this as nerve damage takes an age to heal.
I wasn't cold particularly, although my gloves were fairly average. Could easily be laying on the bars too much - I ride on the hoods by and large. Guess I'll check my position.
ETA It's the pinky and the ring finger on my left hand.
You've given yourself an ulnar nerve neuropraxia (temporary, squashed nerve damage) on both occasions...means you are compressing the ulnar nerve as it passes through the little finger side of the palm.
see this very useful link: http://www.hughston.com/hha/a_15_3_2.htm
You need to make sure you're not loading all your weight through the outer edge of the palm.... useful prevention strategies mentioned in the article.
I get the same if I'm not careful on road rides....length of time consistently squished is one of the key contributing factors with road riding.....we are constantly changing grip/position with MTB'ing so nerve gets some time out from constant longterm compression.