Advice (please)

[Rob Rushworth]

Hi, im fairly new to this forum, and fairly new to cycling.
I decided earlier on this year that i would like to do a "big" trip, so at the start of june i left England to ride France Spain and Portugal.
I'm doing ok, 3,800 miles so far and no major mishaps, however, i have a spreading numbness in my left hand first 3 fingertips. Could this be caused by riding on rough surfaces? (Portugal doesnt have the best of roads), also, i'm beginning to develop muscular pains in the legs that dont ease with 1 or 2 days rest, are there any stretching excercises that i can do to relax the muscles at the end of the day?
Any advice gratefully recieved,
i cant always find good net access here so a reply to
www.hittheroadat.blogspot.com in the "shoutbox" section would be a big help, friends can pick it up there and forward to me.
Many thanks
Rob.

 

[dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers]

>Hi, im fairly new to this forum, and fairly new to cycling.

Greetings.

I hope you enjoy cycling - but be aware this is *not* a forum. uk.rec.cycling
is part of Usenet - it has been around years before being "hijacked" by
cyclingforums as a "forum". The place existed before cyclingforums existed and
it'll likely be around well after cyclingforums is gone.

> i'm beginning to develop muscular pains in the
>legs that dont ease with 1 or 2 days rest, are there any stretching
>excercises that i can do to relax the muscles at the end of the day?

Perhaps you need a longer rest period? Cycle fewer miles in a day? Cycle more
slowly for a while?

For the pains in your hands - are you wearing mitts/gloves with gel inserts in
the palms - these help ease the bumps out. Are you changing your hand position
on the bars often enough?

And finally - do you need to see a doc to get a check-up that there's nothing
as an underlying condition?

Cheers, helen s


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[Michael MacClancy]

On 27 Sep 2004 06:28:40 GMT, dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers wrote:

>>Hi, im fairly new to this forum, and fairly new to cycling.
>
> Greetings.
>
> I hope you enjoy cycling -

I too hope he enjoys cycling. It must be a bit of a bummer to have cycled
3800 miles since June and not enjoy cycling.
--
Michael MacClancy

www.macclancy.demon.co.uk
www.macclancy.co.uk

 

[dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers]

>I too hope he enjoys cycling. It must be a bit of a bummer to have cycled
>3800 miles since June and not enjoy cycling.

Well he is saying he's a bit sore ;-)

Cheers, helen s


--This is an invalid email address to avoid spam--
to get correct one remove fame & fortune
h*$el*$$e*nd**$o$ts**i*$*$m*m$o*n*s@$*a$o*l.c**$om$

--Due to financial crisis the light at the end of the tunnel is switched off--

 

[Keith Willoughby]

Michael MacClancy wrote:

> On 27 Sep 2004 06:28:40 GMT, dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers wrote:
>
>>>Hi, im fairly new to this forum, and fairly new to cycling.
>>
>> Greetings.
>>
>> I hope you enjoy cycling -
>
> I too hope he enjoys cycling. It must be a bit of a bummer to have cycled
> 3800 miles since June and not enjoy cycling.

There's a documentary in it if he isn't . . .

--
Keith Willoughby http://flat222.org/keith/
"Some cursed, some prayed, some prayed then cursed"

 

[Steph Peters]

Rob Rushworth <[email protected]> of
cyclingforums.com wrote:

>Hi, im fairly new to this forum, and fairly new to cycling.
>I decided earlier on this year that i would like to do a "big" trip, so
>at the start of june i left England to ride France Spain and Portugal.
>I'm doing ok, 3,800 miles so far and no major mishaps, however, i
>have a spreading numbness in my left hand first 3 fingertips. Could
>this be caused by riding on rough surfaces? (Portugal doesnt have the
>best of roads), also, i'm beginning to develop muscular pains in the
>legs that dont ease with 1 or 2 days rest, are there any stretching
>excercises that i can do to relax the muscles at the end of the day?
>Any advice gratefully recieved,

I'd suggest the stretching exercises should be done a few times a day, not
just at the end, to try and reduce cramping before it sets in. From what
you've written it appears that you have been cycling for four months with
rest breaks of only 1 or 2 days. That's a lot of effort, so it sounds to me
like time for a longer break. If I were experiencing your problems I'd
declare a week's holiday from cycling. If by day 3 or 4 the numbness and
pains weren't easing, then I'd find myself a doctor.
--
Black holes happened when God divided by zero
Steph Peters delete invalid from [email protected]lid
Tatting, lace & stitching page <http://www.sandbenders.demon.co.uk/index.htm>

 

[davek]

dirtylitterboxofferingstospammers wrote:
> Perhaps you need a longer rest period? Cycle fewer miles in a day? Cycle more
> slowly for a while?

I wonder if the problem might be /too much/ rest - after all, in the TdF
the cyclists still do plenty of riding even on their rest days.

When you stop cycling completely for a day or two, your body will take
that as the cue to go into "recovery mode" and you'll probably find it
much harder to get started again until you have fully recovered - and
when you've done 3,800 miles that may well take a week or even longer.

d.

 

[Rob Rushworth]

Many Thanks for your replies,

Helen, yes changing hand positions a lot, I have bar ends that offer various possibilities but am not wearing padded gloves, maybe that would help, thank you. longer break currently in progress, day 4, may stay here a week or two then see how a few days back on the bike feel, legs getting better now, no difference in the hand, hmmmm.
my apologies for calling this a forum ).

Steph, a week at least, didnt realise how tired I was when I arrived here, slept almost straight through the first 2 nights 2 days. Resting and stretching 2 to 3 times a day, the problem isnt the muscles cramping up, the most effective way i've found to ease the muscles is to tighten them up as much as I can then fully relax, this gives a few minutes relief.

DaveK, I think you are right about the "recovery mode", I have taken several breaks of 1 and 2 days with no riding at all, the break is good but after the first day or two back riding again I feel just as bad if not worse, that passes fairly quickly though.

Keith and Michael, I really enjoy cycling, an absolutely superb experience, holiday of a lifetime.

Rob.