Ouch.
This is my reply on a similar archived thread:
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/hernia-recovery
Also – please email me if you want some NHS guidance documents from various authorities (i got given nothing).
Op was mid-June 2009
“Post-op my surgeon said I could ride gently to work after two and a bit weeks – if only for the reason that I had no other way of getting to the office.
I was told to take it gently and to stop if it hurt – I pushed up the hill for the first few days. Also used a Brompton for the first week to reduce the need to lift my leg over the cross bar.
After three and a half weeks I went for a spin on my road bike. In hindsight I did too much – 30 miles with an 800ft climb. I got half-way and ached like hell but had no choice but to carry on to get home. I started MTBing after 6 weeks and had no problem with this other than a loss of mojo and pain if I slammed my saddle into the scars. Ouch!
I found the best way to recover was to do some gentle exercise and then rest for a couple of hours before doing a bit more. I slept a lot too!
Chatting a while later to a friend who’s a physio and cyclist he reckoned I’d got the recovery process spot on – gentle exercise stops lesions from forming, which is a big risk and causes a lot of pain.
At the end of August I set off on a hilly 6-day cycle tour of Northumbria. I aimed at 40-60 miles a day which caused no problems. Lack of strength and stamina was a bigger problem than hernia pain. Normally I’d aim at 60-80 miles a day but that would have been too much having lost three months of hard cycling (by my standards).
Oh – and riding a fixie ached for several months post-op, but again I think it may have been helping the recovery process.
Hope this helps – good luck with your recovery!
CB