The little stuff

I truly believe that some of the biggest and easiest gains an athlete can make are the little things they can do "off the bike."

Rest, recovery,stretching and nutrition on the bike.

There are enough options out there for recovery drinks but I'm a big fan of the Endurox R4 and the Hammer Recoverite. When I get back from a ride or finish a race sucking down some calories is always the first thing I do, usually before anything else. Once I have my drink in hand I settle into some stretching while my muscles are still warm. I would recommend shooting for replacing close to as many calories you burnt over the same time as your workout. I use 500 calories/hr as a guideline for easy rides and 1000 cal/hr for racing... Once I drink my recovery drink I continue to stuff my face with real food over the next X amount of hours, if it was a 3 hour ride then I eat for 3 hours. For some reason I think it's a good idea to mix up the recovery drink you use every now and then. I usually keep the Endurox and Recoverite around and switch. Being the OC freak that I am I have a method for that too; I use the recoverite for rides less than 3 hrs and mix Endurox with chocolate soy milk (or reg milk) for the heavy duty training days or long rides...

Warm up easy for at least 20 minutes, stop and stretch, resume. If your back is a big problem, like mine used to be, this may help if you aren't already doing it.

Much to my girlfriends dismay, every night when I get home I stack pillows up on the coffee table and put my feet up until I go to bed. Feet up whenever you can.

Nutrition on the bike- rides less than 2 hrs just carb blends spiked with electrolyte powder if cramping is an issue or you sweat a ton, I shoot for 100-200 calories/hour depending on how hard/long I am going. Rides less than 1 hour- just water. Rides more than 2 hours you should be starting to eat/drink around 250 calories, with a little protein from 15 minutes after you start riding up until the end. If you start to feel hungry it's too late. We can talk more about this and maybe I'll sell you my top secret endurance recipe!