Routine Leg Works

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Sent from Chad

Coffee, Bikes, and of course Embrocation

The combination of smells that frequently fill the air prior to many of my rides. 

Coffee, bikes, and embrocation!

 

Good starting point for using Embrocation

Howdy- I post this article several times a year. My hope is that it presents some useful information in a less biased manner. I share this information when individuals inquire about the benefits of using embrocation. Obviously we believe there are many benefits to using our handcrafted embrocations, but this serves as great starting point. Thank you Mr. Freed! As allows we welcome all questions. Thank you for stopping by the blog. If racing this week, "race, eyeballs out", and have a blast!

Chad

Self-Massage
The goal of pre-ride massage is to manually warm the muscles and tendons, helping to eliminate a cold start. It makes the warm-up time on the bike more efficient and decreases the time it takes to warm up to difficult efforts. When a therapist is available pre-ride, certainly take advantage of it. For most, that will be only a distant luxury. The pre-ride self-massage will be advantageous as well, improving circulation to tendons and ligaments and breaking adhesions in the muscles. Adhesions are muscle fibers that bundle up and need to be separated to improve freedom of movement. A proper pre-ride self-massage leaves the legs warm and invigorated.

Plan on spending about 10 minutes on the pre-ride massage, roughly one minute per muscle group.


Post-Ride Massage
After a long, sometimes grueling ride, the body begs for recovery. Legs take the brunt of the punishment -- cramping and general soreness is the most common result. The upper body also takes a beating because of the unnatural posture required for serious cycling.

"The most common problem area during the ride is probably the quads," said Julie Arrowood, a Colorado therapist who has worked on the multi-day Ride the Rockies tour for many years. "The pedaling motion, especially during the steep climbs, puts tremendous strain on that area. The upper back and shoulders also require a lot of attention. If it's a head-wind day with a lot of climbing, the lower back and gluts are the most common complaint. The climbs can lead to a lot of cramping. Some people need work on their knees. We don't get a lot of injuries, just a lot of sore muscles. Most participants in Ride the Rockies are in pretty good shape. They know their bodies pretty well. They also realize getting worked on regularly by a therapist can really help them make it through the week in better shape."

A post-activity massage for almost any athlete improves recovery time by allowing fluids and toxins to be moved out of the interstitial spaces between muscle fibers, and allowing blood flow, oxygen and nutrients an opportunity to get back in. An increase of blood flow and nutrient to the muscles naturally translates to better recovery.

In the case of more serious injuries, massage can have the same effect. Swelling caused by an injury, and the production of non-flexible scar tissue, can "pinch" the flow of blood to the injured area. Athletes suffering ankle sprains or other joint strains will find massage can speed recovery by sending more blood and nutrients to the injured area.

Swelling is the evil anti-recovery agent. Whether it is caused by traumatic injury or micro-trauma to the muscle fibers during exertion, it should be treated with cold (cryotherapy), not heat. Heat increases swelling, cold decreases swelling. Therefore, no matter how inviting that hot tub looks, or how good it may feel, stay away from it. The heat will slow recovery.


Freelance writer Doug Freed is one of the active and aging baby boomers mentioned in this story. He has the aches, pains, bumps and bruises to prove it. A weekly massage is high on his wish list.

 

CLINIC

Something to get you in the mood for Cyclocross from SuperLuminal Films. 

CLINIC from SuperLuminal Films on Vimeo.

Get your embrocation needs from Routine Leg Works.  Click here to purchase.

The CX Singlespeed- take 1

Race ready? Well I think the bike might be, but me, probably not. Here's to some hard work and October. Best of luck to the RLW team this weekend!

Sent from Chad

Mind shift...

Starcrossed Cyclocross 2008 from bce on Vimeo.

Posted before and will post again. Hope to get some mud rocking the CO CX scene in 2012  

Mr. Macaskill amazes again

 

What can you do on a bike?

/

Nike Pool from Defgrip on Vimeo.

Like most every video you find posted on a blog, "this one is awesome". Anyways, I enjoyed it and felt both humbled and inspired. Over the past couple months I have spent more time absorbing the urban culture of cycling and continue to be fascinated with the genuine creativity that the simple bike can ignite. This video carries the bmx. But the fixed bike tricks, and general urban cycling culture continues to amaze me. One more angle for the bike to move us forward.

Thanks for taking a peak-Chad

Stolen from one of my favorite blogs: http://prollyisnotprobably.com/

RLW love's to ride...

Just left one of those bike forums feeling a bit bummed...seems as though a some people work hard to belittle fellow cyclists, too bad. Reminded me of the post below from the Surly folks.

This sums up my perspective. Thank you Surly! Ride and smile, all the rest is crap.

Surlyblog

Thursday, June 16, 2011

posted by Skip Bernet

Some answers to just about any bike forum post I’ve ever read

 

If you think your bike looks good, it does.

If you like the way your bike rides, it’s an awesome bike.

You don’t need to spend a million dollars to have a great bike, but if you do spend a million dollars and know what you want you’ll probably also have a great bike.

Yes, you can tour on your bike – whatever it is.

Yes, you can race on your bike – whatever it is.

Yes, you can commute on your bike – whatever it is.

26” wheels or 29” or 650b or 700c or 24” or 20” or whatever – yes, that wheel size is rad and you’ll probably get where you’re going.

Disc brakes, cantis, v-brakes, and road calipers all do a great job of stopping a bike when they’re working and adjusted.

No paint job makes everyone happy.

Yes, you can put a rack on that. Get some p-clamps if there are no mounts.

Steel is a great material for making bike frames - so is aluminum, carbon fiber, and titanium.

You can have your saddle at whatever angle makes you happy.

Your handlebars can be lower than your saddle, even with your saddle, or higher than your saddle. Whichever way you like it is right.

Being shuttled up a downhill run does not make you a weak person, nor does choosing not to fly off of a 10 foot drop.

Bike frames made overseas can be super cool. Bike frames made in the USA can be super cool.

Hey, tattooed and pierced long shorts wearin flat brim hat red bull drinkin white Oakley sportin rad person on your full suspension big hit bike – nice work out there.

Hey, little round glasses pocket protector collared shirt skid lid rear view mirror sandal wearing schwalbe marathon running pletscher two-leg kickstand tourist – good job.

Hey, shaved leg skinny as hell super duper tan line hear rate monitor checking power tap train in the basement all winter super loud lycra kit million dollar wheels racer – keep it up.

The more you ride your bike, the less your ass will hurt.

The following short answers are good answers, but not the only ones for the question asked – 29”, Brooks, lugged, disc brake, steel, Campagnolo, helmet, custom, Rohloff, NJS, carbon, 31.8, clipless, porteur.

No bike does everything perfectly. In fact, no bike does anything until someone gets on it to ride.

Sometimes, recumbent bikes are ok.

Your bikeshop is not trying to screw you. They’re trying to stay open.

Buying things off of the internet is great, except when it sucks.

Some people know more about bikes than you do. Other people know less.

Maybe the person you waved at while you were out riding didn’t see you wave at them.

It sucks to be harassed by assholes in cars while you’re on a bike. It also sucks to drive behind assholes on bikes.

Did you build that yourself? Awesome. Did you buy that? Cool.

Wheelies are the best trick ever invented. That’s just a fact.

Which is better, riding long miles, or hanging out under a bridge doing tricks? Yes.

Yes, you can break your collar bone riding a bike like that.

Stopping at stop signs is probably a good idea.

Driving with your bikes on top of your car to get to a dirt trail isn’t ideal, but for most people it’s necessary.

If your bike has couplers, or if you have a spendy bike case, or if you pay a shop to pack your bike, or if you have a folding bike, shipping a bike is still a pain in the ass for everyone involved.

That dent in your frame is probably ok, but maybe it’s not. You should get it looked at.

Touch up paint always looks like shit. Often it looks worse than the scratch.

A pristine bike free of dirt, scratches, and wear marks makes me sort of sad.

A bike that’s been chained to the same tree for three years caked with rust and missing parts makes me sad too.

Bikes purchased at Wal-mart, Target, Costco, or K-mart are generally not the best bang for your buck.

Toe overlap is not the end of the world, unless you crash and die – then it is.

Sometimes parts break. Sometimes you crash. Sometimes it’s your fault.

Yes, you can buy a bike without riding it first. It would be nice to ride it first, but it’s not a deal breaker not to.

Ownership of a truing stand does not a wheel builder make.

32 spokes, 48 spokes, 24 spokes, three spokes? Sure.

Single speed bikes are rad. Bikes with derailleurs and cassettes are sexy. Belt drive internal gear bikes work great too.

Columbus, TruTemper, Reynolds, Ishiwata, or no brand? I’d ride it.

Tubeless tires are pretty cool. So are tubes.

The moral of RAGBRAI is that families and drunken boobs can have fun on the same route, just maybe at different times of day.

Riding by yourself kicks ass. You might also try riding with a group.

Really fast people are frustrating, but they make you faster. When you get faster, you might frustrate someone else.

Stopping can be as much fun as riding.

Lots of people worked their asses off to build whatever you’re riding on. You should thank them.

 

Chad

Team Routine Leg Works presented by Western Development Group

Routine Leg Works is proud to be sponsoring a bicycle racing team this year.  Our thanks go out to Western Development Group for their generous sponsorship that made this a reality. 

 

Thanks to FPA and SISU Clothing Culture for the AWESOME Designs.