I was reminded last night that there's a huge difference between road riding and mountain bike riding.
I broke my leg just before Christmas, and haven't been doing any road riding since. Well, no road-bike riding, that is. I've been doing plenty of 20+ mile urban rides on my mountain bike, and now that spring has sprung I'm back on the trails. But it's been four months since I've done a hard road ride.
That changed last night. And it was hard on me.
We started off at a quick pace, 25+, trying to catch up with folks that started 5-10 minutes ahead of us. That was fine for a while, but my lack of conditioning reared its ugly head after about 5 miles. I was fine on the flats (for once I was glad Indianapolis is on the glacial plane), but had no oomph for the hills. At 10 miles I bailed from the fast group and took a short-cut.
Just shy of 20 miles I found out why: I started getting really uncomfortable. Cramps from my quads to my calves to those odd-ball muscles around your hips. Argh!! Then the deal-breaker: As I got more tired, I spent more time on the saddle rather than standing up cranking. And I started getting really saddle-sore. I mean really really sore. As in "I can't sit on these muscles any more" sore. I was glad to be only a couple of miles from the end of the ride.
Once I was back at the car, I started feeling the damage. Just lifting my leg to change my shoes put me in a world of hurt. The muscles on the inside of my groin were screaming at me! Now, 12 hours later, I can tell that I've strained my adductors on both sides. They'll heal, but it drives home the difference between grinding out miles in one position versus the same amount of miles and aerobic effort on a mountain bike, where you're changing your body position all the time.
It seems odd to think of road biking and mountain biking as being so different, but they obviously place different demands on the body.
I'm going to chase down Frank Radaker, BGI's bike-fitting guru to see if he has a magic wand for me, but I think I already know the answer: I'm the same person I was when he did my fitting last summer (and I instantly gained 1.5mph over the 20 mile CIBA-Butler loop!), but I'm out of condition. I'll start stretching, strengthening, and riding my road bike more regularly. I'll warm up before jumping into a 25mph paceline. I'll do those boring routines we call "exercises."
This isn't the fun part of the season, but the pay-off will come. Hopefully sooner, rather than later!
I broke my leg just before Christmas, and haven't been doing any road riding since. Well, no road-bike riding, that is. I've been doing plenty of 20+ mile urban rides on my mountain bike, and now that spring has sprung I'm back on the trails. But it's been four months since I've done a hard road ride.
That changed last night. And it was hard on me.
We started off at a quick pace, 25+, trying to catch up with folks that started 5-10 minutes ahead of us. That was fine for a while, but my lack of conditioning reared its ugly head after about 5 miles. I was fine on the flats (for once I was glad Indianapolis is on the glacial plane), but had no oomph for the hills. At 10 miles I bailed from the fast group and took a short-cut.
Just shy of 20 miles I found out why: I started getting really uncomfortable. Cramps from my quads to my calves to those odd-ball muscles around your hips. Argh!! Then the deal-breaker: As I got more tired, I spent more time on the saddle rather than standing up cranking. And I started getting really saddle-sore. I mean really really sore. As in "I can't sit on these muscles any more" sore. I was glad to be only a couple of miles from the end of the ride.
Once I was back at the car, I started feeling the damage. Just lifting my leg to change my shoes put me in a world of hurt. The muscles on the inside of my groin were screaming at me! Now, 12 hours later, I can tell that I've strained my adductors on both sides. They'll heal, but it drives home the difference between grinding out miles in one position versus the same amount of miles and aerobic effort on a mountain bike, where you're changing your body position all the time.
It seems odd to think of road biking and mountain biking as being so different, but they obviously place different demands on the body.
I'm going to chase down Frank Radaker, BGI's bike-fitting guru to see if he has a magic wand for me, but I think I already know the answer: I'm the same person I was when he did my fitting last summer (and I instantly gained 1.5mph over the 20 mile CIBA-Butler loop!), but I'm out of condition. I'll start stretching, strengthening, and riding my road bike more regularly. I'll warm up before jumping into a 25mph paceline. I'll do those boring routines we call "exercises."
This isn't the fun part of the season, but the pay-off will come. Hopefully sooner, rather than later!
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