I had a fairly normal 2 hours XC ride yesterday, After abut 40 minutes, my hand started to get pins and needles. At first I though it was my glove being too tight (?) and loosening it seemed to work. Plus a few shake outs (climbing style) seemed to help. But persisted to various degrees for much of the ride.
Then last night and this morning my upper arm feels numb (back of the bicep, whatever that muscle is called) and slightly tingly. Odd but not painful. Does this sound familiar? I wonder if its anything in the set up of my bike - too far forward pushing weight on to hands perhaps?
Possibly a cervical disc prolapse. Go see a doctor.
Just been googling it a bit and seems relatively common - handlebar palsy, carpal tunnel etc. However, hugor, I accept that is may require medical attention. But also wondering how common - 2 hours is actually quite a short ride for me, so thinking about other issues - body position, grips worn out, sailing gloves (not padded) etc.
Pain or numbness in the upper arm is not normal for carpal tunnel syndrome or handlebar palsy but I don't agree with making internet diagnoses.
If it goes away I'd ignore it. If it persists I'd see someone.
thanks hugor. will seek medical advice if symptoms persist. i have also been trying to deliberatley shift my weight forward after losing front wheel crashes and hanging off the back too much, so there is something in my riding that is triggering the sensation! appreciate the comments though. thank you.
Could be fork's compression damping is a bit firmer than previous thus transmitting more shock to your limbs.
My main limiting factor when road riding is my wrists/grip, I get really bad pain, then numb'ness then tingling, then I literally cannot grip the bar. That can happen after just 30minutes, or 5hours, really doesn't seem to have a finite time until it happens. I've got overlapped cinelli gel bar tape and generously overlapped super daft looking foam bar tape on top, with spesh BG gel padded mitts, made a difference, but not enough to cure it.
I suspect my ligaments in wrists need beefing up a bit, as i've improved my core strength over the past 2years which has cleaned up any back/shoulders pain after long days in saddle.