Spring is in the air, and the biking season is here! Just like your bike, a little early season maintenance to your body can go a long way to a happy, healthy and injury-free season.
Here are a few tips to start your season off right, and avoid injury.
1- Start off slow and flat – Starting the season off easy is the key to long-term success. Whether you spent the winter on the slopes, in the gym or on the couch, the stress cycling places on your body is different from other activities. It is important to give our body time to adjust to the new stress we are placing on our tissues and cardiovascular system.
3- Bike fit – Having a properly adjusted bike to your body will help reduce injury, optimize your comfort and efficiency, and generally improve your riding experience by making it feel much easier.
An improper bike setup can lead to injury by placing increased forces on our joints and tissues, and makes you have to work MUCH harder!
- Try to select an easy pace, a route with fewer hills and easier gears at the beginning of the season.
- Once your body is adjusted to cycling (~4-6 weeks) begin slowly adding hills, increased pace and longer distances into your rides to challenge yourself.
- Strength training, yoga, Pilates and cross-training with other activities are all great ways to tune up your body for cycling.
- Specific strengthening- performing specific exercises to help train key cycling areas such as the legs, back (core) and shoulders. A physiotherapist can help evaluate areas of weakness, and teach you exercises to make you stronger.
An improper bike setup can lead to injury by placing increased forces on our joints and tissues, and makes you have to work MUCH harder!
- For example, one common error with cyclists is having their saddle set at the wrong height. This can make pedalling much harder and lead to knee or back pain.
- Here’s a quick tip to roughly estimate your proper saddle height
- While seated on your saddle, place your heel on your pedal. In this position, your knee should be fully straight with your heel still able to touch. If not, adjust the height of the saddle accordingly. Now once you place your foot in the correct pedalling position with the ball of your feet on the pedal, you should have a slight bend in your knee at the bottom of your pedalling stroke.
