Sorry if this has been covered have tried a search with no luck.

I’ve got a weekend in Wales coming up which I also did last year, it was ruined a bit last year by the fact I was suffering on day 2 and decided to not even ride on day 3 because my legs were so knackered. I’m quite fit and could happily do any of the rides without problems individually, but doing them on days back-to-back was the issue.

I know I’m probably asking to have my cake and eat it, but any tips people have found to get around this? Barring access to Lance Armstrong’s medicine cabinet. I’m thinking of things like stretches to do pre or post ride? protein shakes or other recovery foods /supplements? Deep Heat or similar muscle rubs?

What has been successful for you?

Use a foam roller and get some compression tights.

Ice bath 😯

Personally I use a pair of Skins compression tights for a few hours after a long or tough ride if in going out again the next day.
I’m sure some people will say they don’t work and it may just be a psychological thing but my legs feel fresher and less ‘heavy’ the following day if I’ve used the Skins.

Don’t go nuts on day 1
Warm down
Be fitter to start with
Glycogen restocking straight after riding ( ram carbs in)
Cold shower on legs
Hydration hydration hydration
No beers

Fresh padded shorts each day 🙂

Eat well, and no alcohol

Thanks, I have to be honest I hadn’t even heard of compression tights, will check them out.

Um, I’d be training myself to do 3 days worth of riding on the trot by riding for 3 days on the trot.

I can do rocket science as well.

I’d be training myself to do 3 days worth of riding on the trot by riding for 3 days on the trot.

Yep, it had occurred to me, but finding 3 days in a row with 3 or 4 hours spare is hard. I do commute every day (only 40mins each way though, but i’ve be trying to do intervals recently to crank up the intensity).

I’m planning on getting out on all 3 days this bank holiday weekend.

Fresh padded shorts each day

Wouldn’t most people do this anyway? 🙂

I did the TDMB in August and thought I was going to die, but eating plenty, drinking loads of water and wwearing my Skins A400 shorts seemed to work remarkably well. End of the second day was hard, but that was the hardest day and after that I was fine.

Cold shower and leg stretch (4-5 mins) straight after the first ride. Then Hydration and food.

Done a 105 mile on Saturday and 55 on Sunday and was fine.

Sam your probably a third of his age though.

Echo what others have, proper food/sleep/drink and go mental first day

Stretches +1, especially hips flexors, lower back and other more neglected areas for desk monkeys.

Food, eat before the ride, on the ride and after the ride. You could get scientific about it, but ultimately it’ll boil down to porridge for breckie, dried fruit on the ride (conveniently a mix of fructose, sucrose and flavours, just like the expensive powder stuff), and pasta/rice for dinner. Protein in whatever ways shapes and forms you can stomach, but only eat it off the bike or more than an ahour before the ride as it’s harder to digest.

Like eating, hydration should be done all the time, if you’re not pissing like a race horse in the evening, you’re doing it wrong.

Lie down (take a book, do some sunbathing), or at least sit when off the bike, lets your body actually rest. Putting your feet up really helps. Don’t spend the evenings stood up if you can help it.

Don’t drink, it interferes with pretty much everything from metabolism to muscle repair.

Warm up/cool down properly, I find I’m actually fresher the next day if i do a 24 mile loop with ~5miles of easy spinning at each end, than driving to he start of the 14 mile loop that forms the main part of my local ride.

Milk, milk is the awesome. Milk and stretching.

I find it helps to go for a wee after-dinner stroll each evening. It seems to stop everything seizing up. Some other good ideas above though – like sleeping with your feet on a pillow to raise them a bit. Compression tights seemed to work well when I did my LeJog, as did post-ride stretches. Maybe it’s an age thing but it takes me a wee while to warm up into a ride these days, so don’t start off like a bullet. Take it easy for the first hour or so. Also – up your cadence. Try spinning a lot quicker than you normally do.

Start off steady each day – I see so many people who go off like the clappers then finish the day at a crawl.
Eat/drink regularly, mix of proper food and energy stuff – don’t rely solely on energy products.
At the end of each day, get a proper meal and fluids into you. Don’t go out on the piss, don’t stay up til 2am.
Do some stretching – it helps if you stretch regularly anyway, don’t start doing it on the first day of your ride!

Personally I like SIS Rego, maybe it costs twice as much as milk but you don’t need a shop or a fridge.

Rode for 14 days back to back at alot of the Uk trail centers so know what you are talking about.
Eat like twice what you would normally, same with the drink.
On second and third day ride for 10 -15 mins then have a really good stretch for maybe 5 mins , makes a huge difference.
Use High 5 Zero for eloctrolyte losses.
Avoid too many simple sugars and carb up using complex carbs that break down slower.
Choco Milk shake at end of ride each day
No alcohol

Take it easy on the first day,
I also like a bit of a stretching stroll after a long pedal.

Chocolate milk after the ride- the worst case scenario is that it does nothing useful but is delicious.

I’m on the fence with compression tights… Mine definitely make me feel better the next day, but I’m not convinced they actually make me work better- I seem to be just as dead-legged. This feels weird.

Full mixed grill works for me.

Compression tights and no ale for a weekends riding? I’ll give that a LOL if you don’t mind. 3 days riding nowhere near long enough to merit egregious actions like amending the drinking schedule. You need to be doing a week solid before you start taking these sort of extreme positions.

You’re in the realm of common sense solutions here, so do all the sensible things that people have suggested, not necessary to build this up into a bigger deal than that.

For 3 days of riding? Ice baths, compression, no beers, stretching, WTF? 😯

Everything you need in the suggestions above:

Buzz: be fitter to start with and don’t go nuts on day 1
Monkeyfudger / Northwind: get the milk/chocolate milk in after the ride
Plenty: Eat well and sleep well
BR: clean shorts each day

None of the other stuff required.

Garry_Lager – Member

You need to be doing a week solid before you start taking these sort of extreme positions.

Depends entirely on the rider. And since he’s asking the question, obviously 3 days is a big deal.

Supposedly eating immediately after finishing your ride aids recovery. Should no be no longer than an hour after you’ve stopped. Protein and carbs. Or a recovery drink. No junk.

Hydration is important too I find. Though after a long ride I drink loads and it just seems to go straight through me, so started using this fancy scientific electrolyte stuff while I’m out. Not used it enough to reach any real conclusions, but nothing negative to report….which is positive.

I often do this early in the year 4.5 hours, 4 hours and then 3.5 hours and then have 2-3 days off and then repeat. Tiredness is cumulative, but as long as you aren’t going full out all the time then you’ll survive. Make sure you eat plenty of protein

eat all the time. before, during, after.

also, man up, your legs will hurt.

We pre weigh out portions of SIS rego so that when you get back to the car/tent etc it is ready to just make up with some water and you get it down your neck asap. Makes a huge difference compared to the times we forget it or decide not to bother. We buy it in bulk online so it doesn’t cost too much. Its convenient wherever we are rather than having to go and find milk etc…oh and both of us hate milk! Work out which flavour you prefer though. Chocolate for me. Vanilla for MrAhsat.

Oh and just do some double rides at weekends to get more used to it if you can.

Why lol at compression? I use it a lot. If you are riding hard and constant ie not mincing up a hill to chat to your mates for a bit, then ride down. So if you’re doing say 60+ welsh offroad miles a day over 3 days, you shouldn’t be thinking a bit more serious? Not everyone lives in trail centres.

Carb ramming, full fat chocolate milk and proper all over stretchy stretches.

More stretchy stretches.

Pretzels.

No beers 😯

I did a extra lap of The Wall after a day of riding and 3 pints at Bryn Bettws lodge once. I sure it made me faster. (obviously not a sensible thing to do though 😕 )

Pretty sure I always see the TdF teams on TV having a cheeky red wine in their hotels every night too

Note, I never said no to beer. There’s always time for a beer 😀

Definitely comfy padded shorts and saddle, my plan was to do 3 days in a row this weekend, but had a super hard interval session on tues and then 4 hours round swinley yesterday. My undercarriage is so sore…..having to take today as a rest day despite the lovely day 🙁

I’ve found taking a protein shake straight after riding followed by an SIS Nocte before bed helps me when I’m riding several days in a row.

Also make sure you drink plenty to stay well hydrated and that you’re eating enough to replace the calories you use as well as getting a good nights sleep.

I’ve tried compression tights and can’t say I’ve noticed they make much difference but they certainly don’t do any harm

Don’t go completely mad with the eating in the evening. If you’re doing 4/5hrs riding a day, and eating during the ride, you won’t need much more than recovery food/drink immediately after and and normal-ish meal in the evening.

During the ride, eat every hour – something about the size of an energy bar, but it can be whatever supermarket food you fancy. If you start to feel your enthusiasm for the ride go, definitely eat a bit, that’s usually your blood sugar dropping before your stomach feels hungry. If it’s hot, throw in some electrolytes during the ride, or immediately after to rehydrate. If you keep yourself topped up during the ride, recovery is a lot easier.

After the ride, recovery drink or some lean food within 20 minutes of finishing is best. Then a normal meal afterwards.

Having looked around at other riders during Trans-Wales, it was the slower riders stuffing their faces with 2 heaped portions of dinner every night, trying to make up for lack of fitness and just making themselves bloated. The quicker folk ate substantial, but reasonable amounts.

Ride back to back days more and it will become easier! Simple.

Alternatively some MTFU supplements will help enormously.
Also the leg pain you experience is only valid for the first climb of the day am really is just weakness leaving your body. You’ll be fine.

Performance wise a beer or two should not significantly hamper performance of the average rider. Depends when you have them and who knows having one or two might even make you go faster- if you have to tackle some very scary downhill or jump where courage is more important than lightning fast reactions.

Cold water immersion (cryotherapy) or the wearing compression gear for preventing muscle soreness after exercise (DOMS) has little benefit and even less upon performance.

Do what you know you should do every day, but even better. Eat well, hydrate and get plenty of sleep. If you not able to achieve those basics your performance will struggle at some point. These will help you more than any magic shortcut or product that some company has marketed towards us.

I’ve not read all posts on this so may have been answered already but when you say ‘long rides’ what sort of distance are you talking.

Not so much a tip but in terms of training the way to get fit for riding back to back days is to ride back to back days more or do 2 rides in a day, morning/afternoon, regularly.

because my legs were so knackered. I’m quite fit

Doesn’t sound like you’re bike fit though. But exercising hard hurts, there’s no way round that really but generally the pain will go once you get moving.