Talk to me about post-ride recovery

[malkin]

Another handy hint for icing:
Prop your beer against the ice bag and claim that you are multi-tasking.

[tulip]

Are you wearing cycling shorts without undies?

Drink more, eat more, and treat yourself to chocolate milk at the end. It's a great recovery drink.

good job on the longer ride.

[trista]

I'm new to cycling, but I can tell you that when I first started doing indoor spin, my bones and general crotch area were sore for the first few days, but it went away. I've never had it on my bike, but I think that's from the spinning experience - I'm already used to the pressure there. So anyway I do think you get used to that and it's pretty quick.

After a workout, I make myself a smoothie almost as soon as I walk in the door: 1 cup frozen blueberries, a banana, yogurt, milk, a kiwi, and something to sweeten, usually honey. If I remember I put in some protein powder. I don't like the way it tastes though, so I often forget on purpose. I rarely get muscle soreness.

DH likes Endurox for recovery. It tastes pretty good. I'm just not big on powder of any kind. I've tried it though, and it does seem pretty effective.

[jenniferh]

Thanks everyone. I can't wait to try a smoothie. Yum! What a great treat after a ride.

It's been 48 hours since I rode and my muscles all feel great. It never did turn into actual pain, just the normal stiffness after working a little too hard. My ankles feel fine too. Now my only real concern is my knees. They are still sore.

I'm wondering if I might need to tweak my saddle a little. I've had a bike fit, and 30-day follow up fit, so everything fits, but I'm wondering if a tiny adjustment would make the knee pain go away.

[trista]

One bit of advice I got when I was experiencing knee pain was to make sure i wasn't riding at too slow a cadence (and too high gear). It was really good advice. I increased my cadence to between 80 and 100 (averaging around 90), and the very next ride the knee pain stopped. It's never come back.

I have a cadence sensor that at first really helped maintain the right cadence for me (I would have a tendency to forget to shift), but I hardly look at it anymore. Now I know just by feel what my cadence is.

[marni]

chocolate milk or a mocha smoothie with chocolate protein powder and espresso used to be my favorite recovery drink- however my daughter brought me a bottle of choco vin which is sort of like baileys irish cream with mint- which could easily replacer it if I was willing to snooze the afternoon away. Chocolate milk or a protein smoothie- either choclate mocha or mango chile are my favorites.

marni

[jenniferh]

I went for a 10mi ride this evening and I think I've sold my knee pain. My cleats needed moved. Both shoes cleats were pushed to the far right and the right shoe's cleat was crooked. I straightened it out and evened it up the the other shoe and I centered it and now the pain seems to be gone.