Battled quad cramping around mile 40 last night. How long do you ride between breaks to curb fatigue? How do you prepare or pack (food) to reduce this from happening?
>How long do you ride between breaks to curb fatigue?
Depends. Usually I like to ride at least 50km before any break. Sometimes I ride longer if I’m alone (up to 100km).
Basically when I’m backpacking I tend to ride at least 100-150km a day (but there were days where I had 180 and 220km in 2 days…. ).
>How do you prepare or pack (food) to reduce this from happening?
Stove and some pasta is great.
rogermbyrne on
one of my best trips without fatigue involved a packet of butter waffle biscuits broken into pieces in an open top tube bag, eat a piece constantly…
AFartherStation on
Fit. Fuel. Fluids. Flats. Fun.
That rear seat bag looks huge/long/high. I’d try a rear pannier rack and flat pedals. You might be fish-tailing a lot of force and torsion into your upper legs (and knees and ankles) without realizing it. Also you have to step up over that beast every time you mount and dismount.
Minor inconvenicnes that get overlooked or rationalized as too small to be worth addressing end up mattering *a lot* over time. Things that go unnoticed in the moment like how you mount and dismount or, how you get a bike moving from a stop can have major physical impact while touring. It also might be that favoring a sore ankle or knee is forcing you to compensate somehow.
Make a quick study of your body position and movements throughout. Are you often standing on the pedals when you start from zero ? If so stop doing that and see if it helps. This is just one picture but, your bike is stopped with the gears are in the upper/middle. When I stop I am automatically going to be in the low gears, ready for seated pedalling at slow speed speeds.
I would seriously consider a fundalmental re-rig, a bike fit generally and, an assesment of your postion and fit as you ride – including mounting and dismounting.
Having said all that – It’s prob. just a seat postion hack.
3 Comments
>How long do you ride between breaks to curb fatigue?
Depends. Usually I like to ride at least 50km before any break. Sometimes I ride longer if I’m alone (up to 100km).
Basically when I’m backpacking I tend to ride at least 100-150km a day (but there were days where I had 180 and 220km in 2 days…. ).
>How do you prepare or pack (food) to reduce this from happening?
Stove and some pasta is great.
one of my best trips without fatigue involved a packet of butter waffle biscuits broken into pieces in an open top tube bag, eat a piece constantly…
Fit. Fuel. Fluids. Flats. Fun.
That rear seat bag looks huge/long/high. I’d try a rear pannier rack and flat pedals. You might be fish-tailing a lot of force and torsion into your upper legs (and knees and ankles) without realizing it. Also you have to step up over that beast every time you mount and dismount.
Minor inconvenicnes that get overlooked or rationalized as too small to be worth addressing end up mattering *a lot* over time. Things that go unnoticed in the moment like how you mount and dismount or, how you get a bike moving from a stop can have major physical impact while touring. It also might be that favoring a sore ankle or knee is forcing you to compensate somehow.
Make a quick study of your body position and movements throughout. Are you often standing on the pedals when you start from zero ? If so stop doing that and see if it helps. This is just one picture but, your bike is stopped with the gears are in the upper/middle. When I stop I am automatically going to be in the low gears, ready for seated pedalling at slow speed speeds.
I would seriously consider a fundalmental re-rig, a bike fit generally and, an assesment of your postion and fit as you ride – including mounting and dismounting.
Having said all that – It’s prob. just a seat postion hack.