Recovery

After a few weeks off the bike with a sprained knee, I was itching to ride again. So when a friend invited me out as soon as I was feeling better, I didn’t think twice. We rode 80 kilometres of fabulous farmland rollers, and it was everything I’d been missing… until around kilometre 55, when I started to feel uncomfortable. By the time I got off the bike, my saddle area was pinching and tender.

You're a few hours into a long ride or trainer session when you start to notice something you'd rather not. Things have gone numb 'down there'. Maybe you stand on the pedals a bit, shift around and the feeling starts to come back. But if it keeps happening, you might be dealing with cyclist syndrome.

We've all woken up the morning of a ride feeling out of sorts and not knowing if it's an impending illness, fatigue from a busy period, or simply a bad night's sleep. With the right data, you can wake up each morning and make a more informed training decision based on your overnight biological measurements and previous workout data.

Cycling is a highly repetitive activity that is excellent at improving cardiovascular-respiratory fitness and lower-body muscular endurance. But if the only exercise you do is cycling, your overall muscular strength, mobility, and bone density can be suboptimal. It's also a sport with a high occurrence of overuse injuries.

Cycling isn't supposed to hurt. Yet for many riders, discomfort creeps in sooner or later. Maybe it's a nagging knee on climbs, tingling fingers halfway through a ride, or a sore back that lingers long after you've unclipped. Sometimes it builds quietly over weeks. Other times, it happens all at once in a split-second crash.

Post-bike ride stretches are simple static stretches performed after cycling to reduce muscle tightness, improve flexibility and help your body recover. Whether you've just finished an easy recovery spin or a long day in the saddle, spending five or ten minutes stretching while your muscles are still warm can leave you feeling noticeably looser and more comfortable later in the day, and often the morning after too.

“You just didn’t drink enough,” he said, as he handed me a bottle of Gatorade and an ice pack for my throbbing head. And he was right. I was so taken by the thrill of the ride and the glorious country views that I forgot to sip regularly. Dehydration got the best of me.

Foot pain while cycling is common but it shouldn’t be part of your ride. Discover the causes behind burning feet, numb toes and sore arches – plus simple fixes that actually help.

A foam roller is a self-myofascial release tool that cyclists can use to temporarily improve range of motion and reduce how sore their legs feel, but it doesn’t fix overuse injuries, poor bike fit, or pain that needs proper assessment. In plain English, it can help you move and feel a bit better, which is useful, but it’s not a magic wand for recovery.