5 tips for recovering from your cycling trip

Although cycling is above all a gentle and pleasant activity, the succession of stages can generate fatigue. Feelings of heavy legs, stiff thighs, onset of cramps, it sometimes happens that the body makes pedaling difficult, especially at the end of the day. In this case, it is advisable to encourage a little rest and optimize its recovery phases. Here are our 5 tips for recovering from your cycling trip.

Whether you’re a seasoned cyclist or a cyclo-traveler, recovery between each workout or each ride remains an important point to enjoy yourself throughout your trip. We offer you 5 tips that make it easier to chain long days of cycling. Recovery is one of the most important keys to your endurance.

Hydration

Water loss during your cycling efforts increases and can be very important depending on the intensity of the effort and the weather. Depending on these parameters, we may need 1 to 3 liters of water per hour. It is therefore advisable to drink during the effort at regular intervals. For the more athletic, it is advisable to add to your water bottle drinks composed of carbohydrates and minerals that provide the necessary fuel for efforts of more than 1 hour.

It is also important to hydrate before the activity to delay dehydration but also after the activity to compensate for sweat losses and promote cellular construction, in order to optimize the recovery time.

With the right methods to promote recovery, your trip and your bike will take you far.

Nutrition

Just like hydration, energy losses can be significant depending on the duration and intensity of the cycling effort. It is therefore important to provide a quality diet during and after the effort to recharge your batteries and recover as well as possible.

After your day of cycling, for optimal recovery, opt for carbohydrate and alkalizing foods such as rice, legumes, potatoes, vegetables and fruits (ripe). Protein-based foods are also to be preferred (eggs, fish) as well as quality fats (oilseeds, rapeseed, flaxseed and walnut oil).

Beyond these tips, it is important to recharge your mental batteries! So treat yourself during your meals.

Streching

After a light to moderate effort, stretching will be interesting to restore the initial length of the muscles that contracted during your sports activity. The slow and deep breathing practiced during your stretching will also have a relaxing effect to allow the body to enter more easily into a resting phase. For a good relaxation session, we recommend the practicing yoga which is easy and accessible to all. It can be practiced in the morning, before the effort, or in the evening after the sport effort.

Massages

Massages participate in the recovery by promoting muscle relaxation. The massage roller or a light massage based on essential oil will be your allies to relax your muscles.

Blood circulation recovery

It is also important to promote blood circulation recovery in order to get “new” legs more quickly.

To do this, don’t hesitate to position your legs almost vertically when you watch television or read, for example. When you sleep, you can also slightly raise the foot of your bed with wedges or by adding a layer under your mattress. For those who are equipped with them, compression socks are a good equipment to promote blood circulation recovery.

With the right methods to promote recovery, your trip and your bike will take you far.

We hope that our tips for recovering from your cycling trip have been useful. Check our other blogs posts for more cycling tips.