Behind every great rider, there’s a great soigneur. The right hand man, the go-to guy, who tends every whim of his rider, feeding, watering, mending and massaging. Behind the humble Velominatus Regularus, however, there’s a string of injuries, tight muscles, bad posture and aching guns. We are our own soigneurs, and if you’re like me, that’s not a great thing.
Heading towards a half century on the earth and most of that on two wheels, you’d think an old dog would pick up plenty of tricks along the way. Basics like stretching and self-massage, drinking plenty of water, and not as much beer are learned early, but virtually ignored totally. I never stretch; no matter how many times I’ve been advised to, I just seem to lack whatever disciplinary gene that encourages me to put aside half an hour after a ride or whenever I feel tight (ie always) to roll around on the floor and pull a few limbs into strange positions. After particularly long or hard rides, I might give the hammys a cursory tweak in the shower or rub the legs a bit once out. I have one of those trigger-point rollers, but it hardly sees out from under the bed. It feels good and no doubt helps, but it’s just way too easy to flop on the couch with a beer and zone out on the idiot box.
As I increasingly find it harder to get out of bed, or walk up the stairs (there’s about a hundred to my house) it seems the only time I’m comfortable is when I’m on the bike. As soon as I dismount, I’m like a foal with a hunchback trying to take its first steps. But it’s about time to get real and help prolong an injury-free riding life. I see guys my age or even younger nursing injuries and think maybe I’m just lucky, and surely my time will come if I continue my lax routine. The same care that goes into my bikes needs to go into myself. Stretching every day, maybe some core exercises, self massage after rides, might even try some yoga.
And my own swanny.
My friend Josh, a recently graduated massage therapist, has offered to try and ‘sort me out’ with a round of treatments over the next month or so. When he asked what area needed work, I replied ‘everywhere’. As he’s been gently reminding me for years that I need to stretch, he knows what sort of state I’m in and what I put myself through on the bike. It’ll be interesting to see what regular massage can do for a regular Cyclist, even if it’s once a week rather than the everyday luxury of the Pro. And if nothing else, I hear there are some pretty good looking women at the yoga place…
I’ll keep you posted over the next few weeks as to my progress. What sort of self-soigneur techniques do you all employ, if any?
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I find the best post ride muscle relaxant is beer. Or wine. And a good hearty protein filled meal. And avoiding stairs. I had a down stairs shower room built last year because walking down stairs REALLY hurts after a big ride. Best thing I ever did.
A friend once commented "You never see a lion stretch before chasing down a gazelle".
And that is my moto every time I climb on the bike.
@ErikdR I read it as "deduce..." and I like your post ride tip, will def try next after the next ride.
@VeloJello Cheers - and I hope you'll find the sitting-up-against-a-wall stretch beneficial.
FYI: In case your hamstrings are a lot more supple than mine and you find that you can bring the backs of your knees to the floor without any strain whatsoever, you could try carefully to rotate your feet and 'tip' your toes towards you, to stretch the back of the leg a tad more - or even, while keeping the lower back firmly against the wall, lower the upper torso slightly forward towards your knees.
Blimey - that was a controversial article - I had to walk away in disgust and take a few breaths to compose myself.....
......middle-aged men doing yoga - disgusting!
The one thing that's helped the most has been getting a new bike and ignoring any pro fit bs. 1.5cm shorter I the top tube, about a cm higher bars, and I can get my back flatter and more aero, and an stay there for longer. Its backwards to think that going higher would lead to that position, but thats also partly from a piss poor fit on my previous bike
So we've done a TTT event this morning and we're just chatting afterwards over coffee with some of the other riders we know, and we're all stretching a bit in that sort of "ooohh, bit stiff" way you do when you have to stay in position for an hour.
When suddenly one of them starts doing this:
Now that's flexibility. I think it would cripple me.
@ChrisO meh, show me a pic where they've got the feet flat too & I'll be impressed.