Everyone should consider wearing cycling gloves on every ride. here are the reasons
1. Safety When we are riding on open roads, whether you like it or not, there will always be a risk of getting into an accident. Nobody starts a ride planning to crash, but accidents do happen and you need to be prepared for it.
Quite often when you crash, it is your reflex reaction to stick your hands out to break the fall. Gloves can act as a useful first layer of defense to prevent painful cuts and grazes.
2. Firm grip When riding in warm and humid conditions, your hands can get pretty sweaty and can easily slip around the handlebars. Gloves help to soak up the sweat, keeping your hands dry and allow you to maintain a safe grip on the handlebars at all times. Gloves are especially useful when you are caught in the rain
3. Comfort The padding on gloves aids in cushioning your hands from the vibrations passed through the bike and handlebar to the main contact points.
When riding, you are placing pressure on your ulnar and median nerves. By entrapping them, you will start to feel numbness, tingling or even pain in your fingers. This will affect your grip strength and how well you control the bike. Therefore, wearing gloves will help to dampen the vibrations, eliminating hand discomfort.
4. Injury prevention Cyclists are prone to suffer from handlebar palsy. It is an injury is caused due to prolonged compression of a nerve in your wrist.
The pain can be severe and if you are not careful, you might risk suffering from nerve damage too. Therefore, wearing gloves can help to disperse the force being applied to these nerves and reduce the chance of you injuring yourself.
5. Face wipes Most of the gloves in the market have a soft towel section typically found across the thumb. That’s for you to wipe off any snot, saliva, or sweat. Your friend riding behind you will thank you for wearing gloves.
