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Here’s Why Cycling Recovery Is So Important

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In our go-go-go society the focus always seems to be on working out and never on working in. This despite the fact that we actually get stronger, leaner and more fit in the times when we’re resting as opposed to training. Cycling recovery is no different, so today we’d like to share with you how to make the most of your rest and recuperation to be a better, stronger cyclist.

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Cycling Recovery 101

Your exercise choices determine the stimulus received by the body, and your recovery choices determine the response. With every workout on the bike, lifting session in the gym or cross training exercise through another sport, you are telling your body that you want to get stronger, faster, more coordinated, etc. What are you telling it in between?

Not allowing adequate rest time in between rides or ignoring the integration of other recovery methods will lead to one cranky, broken, bent out of shape cyclist. Some of us are addicted to giving ourselves away, and have never learned how to properly receive the care that we need. If you’re serious about cycling (or just want to improve) you need to understand the difference.

Mental Health & Cycling Fatigue 

It’s sexy to “push yourself”, “give it your all” and “never quit”, but trying to do that all the time is the exact opposite of health and balance. We are constantly caught up in comparing ourselves to other people, not realizing they lead a completely different life with their own unique set of gifts and misfortunes. 

Social media and every advertisement out there wants to tell you that you’re not good enough, but when it comes to your cycling recovery, you have to realize that isn’t true. Remember to take the performance and training regimens of others with a grain of salt; that you’re your own person participating in this sport for your own reasons.

Whether it’s for competition, recreation or just simple enjoyment, there are many wonderful things about jumping on a bike. A light perspective and pain free body goes a long way in reducing cycling fatigue, and that’s exactly what the rest of this article is designed to teach you about.

Tools For Cycling Recovery

Relieving our achy backs, painful hips and sore legs after cycling is a multifaceted and often complex, individualized issue. Posture, anatomy and various lifestyle factors all have a say. However, there are certain constants that, if adhered to (even loosely), can be a significant contributor to your post cycling recovery and overall improved cycling performance.

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Warming Up

Incorporating a warm up into your bike riding routine is one of the most effective (though underused) methods for reducing soreness and promoting post cycle recovery. Warming up before exercise has been shown to mitigate the effects of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), which is one of the worst nightmares for a cyclist.

Supple tissues that have been primed for movement with dynamic exercise perform better and are less susceptible to injury. It’s hard to imagine that a significant part of your cycling recovery takes place before you even get on a bike, but that’s just one of the many influences a pre-ride warm up will have on your performance.

Track Your Training

Simple journals that record your overall feelings before/during/after cycling, total distance, terrain and rate of perceived exertion are great tools to monitor performance over time. If you start to feel symptoms of overtraining, such as mental fog and reduced output on the bike, you can go back in your logs to determine where your recovery has gone wrong.

The truth is that you can have all the best resources at your disposal, but with no way to keep track of them it will be difficult to utilize the right one at the right time. Developing a stress-free journaling practice around your cycling will start to create associations between how different rides and periods of training work with your life and body. Without a plan, you plan to fail.

Recovery Rides

If you still want to jump on the saddle without the stress of a full blown workout, then integrating recovery rides into your training is a direct way of doing so. The recovery ride is, at its core, just reduced intensity riding that places the focus less on performance and more on movement and blood flow.

There is one significant benefit to recovery rides not often talked about in the cycling community, and that is learning to control your exertion. Forget the romantic and ego-fueled ideas about perseverance, grit and will. Our sport requires those things, but not all the time. A mature athlete knows when to attack and when to submit. 

Self Myofascial Release (SMR)

Using a foam roller or lacrosse ball to give your muscles a gentle massage is a low cost method for long-term health and bodily maintenance. They’re widely available and probably hanging out in the corner of your gym! These implements, when used correctly, have been shown to increase joint range of motion and reduce muscle soreness post exercise. 

Not only is this a relaxing practice that you can do almost anywhere, it helps to break up all those stiff, grouchy tissues in your legs and back from being on the saddle. You get to know your muscles in a new way by finding different pressure points (ouch!) and knots that you didn’t know were there, then giving those areas some much needed love and attention.

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Today we wanted to give you a glimpse into our Roll & Release series here at Dynamic Cyclist! We are an all-inclusive training platform designed specifically to train cyclists and help them ride pain free. Our coach Alisha is going to take you through a foam rolling exercise you can do from home, designed to target the hip flexors!

Complete Recovery Plan For Cyclists

Dynamic Cyclist offers a completely integrated training and recovery experience for cyclists of all levels! Stretching, mobility, injury prevention and strength workout routines all in one convenient, easy to use online platform. We hope you join us in the journey to becoming stronger, better cyclists who RIDE PAIN FREE!

6 Tips To Speed Up Post Ride Recovery

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We get it, when you get home after a long ride all you want to do is collapse on the couch with a beer. There may not be anything wrong with that, but what you do after your ride can be just as important as the ride itself. If you miss the opportunity to give your body what it needs to recover, it can have negative effects in the long run. So here’s what you need to know about post ride recovery to bounce back from a hard ride feeling even stronger and faster.

6 Tips To Speed Up Post Ride Recovery

Cool Down

You may want to do a final sprint on your final segment home, but it’s important to take some time for a cool down. Stopping abruptly can cause blood to actually pool in your legs, so you’ll want to gently spin your legs and lower your heart rate for at least 5 minutes at the end of each ride.

Stretch & Roll

You may not have access to a massage therapist after every ride, but massaging your legs after a ride encourages blood flow to the muscle, pushing out waste products of muscle breakdown and aiding muscle recovery. Using a roam roller is like having your own personal massage therapist, as painful as it can be. Stretching your muscles in a way that returns them to their natural state of balance is also important to recovery. If you want to learn more about the best stretches for cyclists, check out Dynamic Cyclist for more information.

Hydrate 

Dehydration can slow the recovery process, so be sure to drink up after a ride. Whether it be water or an electrolyte drink, be sure to replenish your body before reaching for that beer.

Have a Nap

A long ride is the perfect excuse to go for that afternoon nap. Sleep is one of the most important parts of recovery, as your body enters full relaxation mode. Whether it be having a 30 minute nap, or going to bed a little earlier that night, getting plenty of sleep will help boost your recovery.

Have a Meal 

Hard rides can eat through your carbohydrate stores pretty quick, so it’s important to replenish within an hour after your ride. A meal that is both carb-rich and high in protein is ideal to restock glycogen and speed up muscle recovery.

Hot/Cold Shower

Contrast water therapy (a fancy name for alternating between hot and cold) can help reduce inflammation and increase blood circulation to the areas that need it. Although the science hasn’t fully backed the method, there’s a reason why many professional athletes and coaches still swear by it.

What’s A Recovery Ride And How It Can Make You Faster

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recovery ride

It’s a beautiful day and your legs are spinning easily and effortless underneath you. You’re not out for a land speed record and can enjoy the sights. You don’t run out of energy or water because you’re not riding long enough to do so. Why not do a ride like this everyday? It sounds like bliss. For some, this is every ride but for others the draw to ride harder and farther is always there so day in and day out they dig themselves into a deeper hole. They may find that it takes a little bit for their legs to come around and feel good. If this is you, you’re in desperate need of a recovery ride. This can be a challenge if you’re always trying to go hard so knowing when to do one and how to do one right will help to ensure that you get the most out of your recovery ride, and not just in the recovery department but in enjoyment factor as well.

What Is a Recovery Ride?

A recovery ride is a ride dedicated to riding easy and just spinning the legs to get the blood flowing. The increased blood flow without the higher stress on the muscles from riding hard will help to enhance and speed recovery. If you’re particularly tired from a day or three of hard riding, you will probably feel like crap at the beginning and not want to do anything but by the end of the ride you will feel great. It is a boost for the muscles as well as the mind.

The Importance of a Recovery Ride

If you’re looking to recover, why not just stay planted on the couch? The couch is good, particularly if you’re horizontal on it, but it doesn’t get your blood flowing. Doing a recovery ride after lying on the couch will get your blood flowing along with loosening up your muscles. Muscles at rest will tighten if they’re not used or stretched properly. A recovery ride will also keep your legs from feeling stale the following day. Ever take a day off and get back on the bike a day later only to find that you feel tired and unmotivated to ride? This falls within the premise of a body in motion stays in motion while a body at rest stays at rest. When you try and go against what your body is used to, it resists. A recovery ride keeps you riding but at a level that is low enough to not cause increased strain.

When to do a Recovery Ride

You should do a recovery ride about two times a week depending upon how much you’re riding and/or training. It should follow two to three days of harder riding and a single day even if it is a much larger ride than you would normally do. Think century, race, a ride you would maybe only do two or three times a month. You should also do a recovery ride when you set out on a harder ride but simply are too tired to keep going at the same pace. Sometimes it’s good to push through this with “overreaching” training. Other times it just digs you a deeper hole and doesn’t make you any stronger or faster. Simply spin easy for a much shorter duration instead of flipping it and heading straight home.

How to do a Recovery Ride

A recovery ride sounds easy; just ride easy right? Well yes but there’s more to it than that. You should make a concerted effort to spin your legs more than you normally would. Also, when going up any climbs, go extra slow and again, spin as easy as you can up it. If you have to get out of the saddle, do it gingerly and keep your heart rate and/or power down if you’re measuring it. Your recovery ride should range in length from 30 minutes to one and a half hours if you ride more than fifteen hours per week. Also, since you need to go so easy on climbs, seek out the flattest route you can find. In conjunction with this, you want the roads or trails to be mellow with few cars or other riders to avoid. Going slow isn’t fun when it’s on a main road. Find the nice country road or scenic bike path and enjoy.

Also a great way to ensure that you ride slow and resist the urge to go a bit harder is to ride with someone else who is also doing a recovery ride. Include a stop at a coffee shop too. This will help the ride to be focused around conversation and enjoyment, not going hard. Another great option for a recovery ride is to ride with someone who doesn’t ride as much and couldn’t keep up with you otherwise. Someone such as your significant other or friend who you have been trying to get into cycling. Ride slow and next to them. This will keep you at a mellow pace until they try and drop you up a climb; then let them do it. You’re on a recovery ride.

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