PRE-ride warm up?

bigpikle

Just wondering what everyone does BEFORE stepping on their bikes to warm up for a big ride?

I have found that at recent sportives the group I ride with go tearing off on the first few miles and I am struggling with the pace until I get warmed up after 10-15 mins. When riding from home I just take the first few miles easy to get into it but most of the time its not practical to actually ride anywhere before the start of these events so what would make a good warm up before actually getting on - stretches etc I assume?

I know there are lots of conflicting views about stretching cold muscles but what are everyone's suggestions?

Many thanks

jibberjim

Not too many conflicting opinions on stretching, just about evey study shows them being harmful to performance.

Warm up on your bike! Just go and ride 15-20minutes before the start of the sportive, and then you'll be ready for the pace, so the as you do when riding solo.

meanredspider

+1 if it's possible to do. There's nothing like doing the activity gently to warm you up. Stretching isn't the right thing to do but there maybe some other exercises (I'm not qualified to suggest) that get the appropriate muscle groups warmed up

glauciaregina9

Oh. Am I supposed to be doing some kind of warm up?

...

8)

Pokerface

Depends what kind of ride you're doing. Most rides you can warm up as part of the ride.


For a race or sportive (where you want to treat it as a race), a good 20-minute warm up is recommended. My coach recommends 5 mins easy spin, 5 mins level 3-4 (harder) and then 5 minutes quite hard with a couple of 5 second all out sprints thrown in. Last 5 minutes is easy again to cool down a bit.

Now - this is usually done on a turbo, but the same principles can be applied on the road. Key is to get your heart rate up and get the blood pumping into your legs. And the sprints help recruit fast-twitch fibres.


All this to say - do 15-20 minutes of warming up before your event and you'll go a lot better from the start!

chrisw12

Bigpikle wrote:

Just wondering what everyone does BEFORE stepping on their bikes to warm up for a big ride?

I have found that at recent sportives the group I ride with go tearing off on the first few miles and I am struggling with the pace until I get warmed up after 10-15 mins. When riding from home I just take the first few miles easy to get into it but most of the time its not practical to actually ride anywhere before the start of these events so what would make a good warm up before actually getting on - stretches etc I assume?

I know there are lots of conflicting views about stretching cold muscles but what are everyone's suggestions?

Many thanks

What's the point of tearing off?

Tbh I wouldn't worry about a warm up, I'd concentrate on being more assertive and point out that going mad at the start of a long endurance event causes more harm than good.

bigpikle

OK - so its on the bike warm up then...

Not always easy though sadly as the guys I typically ride with on sportives do rather have a 'full-on' approach a lot of the time I did spend a while last time pout trying to get them to slow the initial pace but it didnt really work...still, I had to wait for them at the end 8)

shedhead

Different ball game i know, but the pros warm up on turbos. I haven't one personally but you can get the fold-up ones for the car. Maybe you could you warm up on these?

Cheers

nolf

chrisw12 wrote:

Bigpikle wrote:

Just wondering what everyone does BEFORE stepping on their bikes to warm up for a big ride?

I have found that at recent sportives the group I ride with go tearing off on the first few miles and I am struggling with the pace until I get warmed up after 10-15 mins. When riding from home I just take the first few miles easy to get into it but most of the time its not practical to actually ride anywhere before the start of these events so what would make a good warm up before actually getting on - stretches etc I assume?

I know there are lots of conflicting views about stretching cold muscles but what are everyone's suggestions?

Many thanks

What's the point of tearing off?

Tbh I wouldn't worry about a warm up, I'd concentrate on being more assertive and point out that going mad at the start of a long endurance event causes more harm than good.

It's a good way of forming a fast group early on.

If early on you get rid of the stragglers, means you can form a decent group and use the fist stretch to build a mini team. Means you can stop together,eat together etc.
When you start hitting the serious hills you can start easing up.

sheffsimon

Warming up on a turbo before a sportive???

freehub

chrisw12 wrote:

Bigpikle wrote:

Just wondering what everyone does BEFORE stepping on their bikes to warm up for a big ride?

I have found that at recent sportives the group I ride with go tearing off on the first few miles and I am struggling with the pace until I get warmed up after 10-15 mins. When riding from home I just take the first few miles easy to get into it but most of the time its not practical to actually ride anywhere before the start of these events so what would make a good warm up before actually getting on - stretches etc I assume?

I know there are lots of conflicting views about stretching cold muscles but what are everyone's suggestions?

Many thanks

What's the point of tearing off?

Tbh I wouldn't worry about a warm up, I'd concentrate on being more assertive and point out that going mad at the start of a long endurance event causes more harm than good.

It's a sportive not an audax.

chrisw12

freehub wrote:

chrisw12 wrote:

Bigpikle wrote:

Just wondering what everyone does BEFORE stepping on their bikes to warm up for a big ride?

I have found that at recent sportives the group I ride with go tearing off on the first few miles and I am struggling with the pace until I get warmed up after 10-15 mins. When riding from home I just take the first few miles easy to get into it but most of the time its not practical to actually ride anywhere before the start of these events so what would make a good warm up before actually getting on - stretches etc I assume?

I know there are lots of conflicting views about stretching cold muscles but what are everyone's suggestions?

Many thanks

What's the point of tearing off?

Tbh I wouldn't worry about a warm up, I'd concentrate on being more assertive and point out that going mad at the start of a long endurance event causes more harm than good.

It's a sportive not an audax.

It's a sportive not a race

smithy1.0

lol, i've never seen anyone warm up on a turbo before a sportive. Very rarely even at road races. Can you not just ride up and down the road?

At the end of the day, it depends on how hard you want to ride the thing. To be ready for an all-out effort, or at least fairly hard, I would do 15-20mins on the bike steady to get your system ready for it. Going off at a high pace from cold doesn't do me any favours.

dennisn

Hammer down - right out of the box.

jonnycon

dennisn wrote:

Hammer down - right out of the box.

+1

paul64

jibberjim wrote:

Not too many conflicting opinions on stretching, just about evey study shows them being harmful to performance...

and

meanredspider wrote:

Stretching isn't the right thing to do but there maybe some other exercises (I'm not qualified to suggest) that get the appropriate muscle groups warmed up

Can you elaborate?

I would not dream of getting on the bike without having spent 10 minutes warming up first. Now, many people are bad at it because they don't know what they're doing but if you've spent a lifetime exercising then it's about gentle head to toe exercises to wake up the muscle groups but never actually stretch them to tension, working in slow motion basically to loosen the neck, back, shoulders, hips, torso, any trapped nerves and prevent you pulling a muscle when you then reach for the bars, first get out the saddle and so on. So, the focus is on movement and circulation and not stretching.

Can I assume htis is what's meant by the advice not to stretch or are people seriously being advised to just get on the bike and ride, albeit gently at first.

sheffsimon

paul64 wrote:

jibberjim wrote:

Not too many conflicting opinions on stretching, just about evey study shows them being harmful to performance...

and

meanredspider wrote:

Stretching isn't the right thing to do but there maybe some other exercises (I'm not qualified to suggest) that get the appropriate muscle groups warmed up

Can you elaborate?

I would not dream of getting on the bike without having spent 10 minutes warming up first. Now, many people are bad at it because they don't know what they're doing but if you've spent a lifetime exercising then it's about gentle head to toe exercises to wake up the muscle groups but never actually stretch them to tension, working in slow motion basically to loosen the neck, back, shoulders, hips, torso, any trapped nerves and prevent you pulling a muscle when you then reach for the bars, first get out the saddle and so on. So, the focus is on movement and circulation and not stretching.

Can I assume htis is what's meant by the advice not to stretch or are people seriously being advised to just get on the bike and ride, albeit gently at first.

Is any of this any different to just normal moving about, getting bike out of car, walking etc??

Steve Tcp

SheffSimon wrote:

paul64 wrote:

jibberjim wrote:

Not too many conflicting opinions on stretching, just about evey study shows them being harmful to performance...

and

meanredspider wrote:

Stretching isn't the right thing to do but there maybe some other exercises (I'm not qualified to suggest) that get the appropriate muscle groups warmed up

Can you elaborate?

I would not dream of getting on the bike without having spent 10 minutes warming up first. Now, many people are bad at it because they don't know what they're doing but if you've spent a lifetime exercising then it's about gentle head to toe exercises to wake up the muscle groups but never actually stretch them to tension, working in slow motion basically to loosen the neck, back, shoulders, hips, torso, any trapped nerves and prevent you pulling a muscle when you then reach for the bars, first get out the saddle and so on. So, the focus is on movement and circulation and not stretching.

Can I assume htis is what's meant by the advice not to stretch or are people seriously being advised to just get on the bike and ride, albeit gently at first.

Is any of this any different to just normal moving about, getting bike out of car, walking etc??

It's certainly not in my case. I know the jury is out on the benefits of stretching prior to exercise, but like SheffSimon I find that a little light stretching, as in not to tension, does help me have a more comfortable ride.Stretching neck and shoulder muscles is especially important to me to reduce discomfort in those areas during the ride, and the way I stretch them is certainly not something I'd do in any normal circumstances. Similarly the muscles up the inside of my thigh have been known to cramp so I give them a little stretch too and again, it's not often that I do that as part of any normal every day movement. In fact I'm not sure whether many "cycling muscles" do get "warmed up" by normal bimbling around.

Buckled_Rims

I think there's stretching and there's stretching - er, if you know what I mean.

I'm in the same opinion that full stretches are harmful. I just do gentle stretches more to pump the blood flow rather then stretch the muscles and ligaments.

Sportives are not "real" races. I've seen many riders panic when some of the fast guns bolt off leaving them behind. The whole purpose of a sportive is it's fun and challenging nature to mere morals like myself.

To really warm up, bike for 15 minutes, spinning, sprinting, mashing 30 minutes before the start. Then relax and have a sandwich and watch the world flow by.

Tom Butcher

I'd just do a couple of miles up and down the road - well I wouldn't bother for a sportive but for a road race that's what I'd do. For a time trial it's a bit different - especially a 10 or 25 - then I think a proper warm up with some hard efforts is important even if I don't always follow my own advice on that.

Back to he OP - again I'd just do a couple of miles easy near the start to warm up - then if they all tear off just sit in - they can't be going that hard that you can't follow a wheel on the flat without too much struggle surely ? If I'm riding 100 hilly miles I don't want to be doing a warm up with hard efforts - I think overall that's going to be counter productive come the end of the ride - unless there are full on attacks going on from the gun you don't to be fully warmed up.