Strrreeeeetttcccchhh

What could this possibly be about I hear you say - well, recently I engaged a Sports Therapist to look after my legs while I am doing all this cycling - an hour after lying face down with my calves, hamstrings and glutes being poked, prodded and kneaded to within an inch of my pain threshold, I was questioned over my stretching regime post exercise.

My reply was something along the lines of "I know that I should but I don't really do much" - so, I am here to say, you need to do it.

Having benefitted from an excellent deep muscle massage, Lucie showed me how to stretch off my quads, hamstrings, calves and glutes, quite simple instructions - basic stuff really - but must be done regularly.

The work these people do is amazing, I asked Lucie to have a look at my dodgy knee, when I explained the problem, she said 'that's nothing to do with your knee' - once again my perceived injuries are linked to the old problem of tight hamstrings but also a really tight Iliotibial Tract (attaches to outside of knee and runs down from Gultimus Maximus).

Next up was some additional work on my Calves - having torn both Calf muscles last year (the Soleus muscle) my ongoing concerns have been around scar tissue and the potential for weakness and more damage. The solution for prevention rather than cure is an amazing Elastic Therapeutic Taping support system known as Kinesio - strategically applied to target the muscle requiring support, I can tell you it is brilliant and will stay on for several days.

So - more stretching after exercise is a must - after todays 42 mile ride over to Chepstow and back, I spent over 20 minutes doing exactly that - I am sure tomorrow I will benefit and am planning another training ride in Somerset.

Good stretching everyone.

On the road again

Having set off from home mid morning, I had only a vague idea of where I would cycle today, yes I usually make it up as I go along. As always, the first mile is down hill at quite a speed, this may appear fine however on the end of a long ride, I have to go back up!

So within a few minutes I have decided, up onto the Mendips it is - the challenge of the hill known as Burrington Coombe was going to be my main objective, I will get up there - seated!

Earlier in the morning I adjusted my saddle slightly and dropped the seat height slightly - this seemed a good move as I felt just a touch more comfortable. Without boring you, the first 15 miles were fairly uneventful but this brought me to the aforementioned Burrington Coombe.

Feeling just a touch short of power I decided to call into the bike shop at the bottom and invest in some energy bars and energy gel sachets - a good move really as later in the ride I was glad of the boost these gave me.

So, up we go a steepish climb with several bends. Between the rocks of the gorge I was protected somewhat from the stiff breeze and made reasonable progress, or so I thought. Seated and pulling about 7mph, I was passed by a female rider who politely said 'good morning' as she seemed to power past, although she soon faltered and the gap between us didn't grow much.

Only a matter of minutes later a deep voiced 'morning' came from a guy who did really power past me and soon powered past the lady in front - I wish that I could have the same amount of muscle strength! 

Anyway, onwards and upwards and on to the relatively level Mendips - going quite well for about 5 miles until - a hail storm! Suddenly the sweaty climb up the gorge had turned into a shiver as I start to descend towards Cheddar Gorge. A fairly dangerous descent really as the bends are quite tight in places and I guess a safe speed was about 25mph although as always, some car drivers have no idea!

By now I had covered 25 miles and had targetted myself with making 50 miles - so heading back towards home now with the wind in my back, progress was made as I seemed to pick up a good pace averaging 20+mph on the level. It was my turn to overtake somebody, a couple moving well but well within my range, my turn to say 'good morning' even if it was with something of a laboured breath.

As per the journey out, the return was reasonably simple, however In the end I was keen to get back as my feet had gone numb and shoulders starting to ache a bit. The final challenge then, the mile hill climb back to the house - Had to take this one a bit easy but got up no trouble.

There we are, 50.30 miles covered and finished in reasonable nick - keen to extend my distance over the next couple of weeks ready for the 'big one' - more on that next time.