Tired leg on fast long descents

mini-eggs

Been riding in afan a lot the past week, and on long fast descents my left leg, mainly the thigh gets really tired and aching.

Obviously I'm out of the saddle, weight back, my strong foot (right) is forward and soaking up the bumps with my body. My left thigh starts to ache, and I find I have to get back in the saddle, slow things down have a breather then stand back up. Rest of the ride I'm fine, its the constant soaking up bumps quickly on fast descents I get this.

Any exercises I can do to strengthen up? Im thinking squats might help.

Mooose

Try swapping to left foot forward every now and again? If you're weight is right back for the descent, chances are your left leg is doing more work so seems logical to let the stronger right leg take its share of work too.

If you're wanting to 'strengthen up' then take it easy to begin with. Squats, and step ups would do the trick, however too much strength training may affect your cardio fitness.

.blitz

Sounds very familiar. I've been having some sports physio for the last few weeks and apparently cyclists often have one over-developed leg which because it's our favoured leg keeps getting stronger and stronger and the other leg is just there for the ride, so to speak, and because it's weaker it fatigues quicker.

Have been advised to try to lead with the left when pedalling (quite easy) and try riding left foot forward when in the 'attack' position (quite difficult esp downhill). Tentatively it seems to be working but there's a long way to go it's hard to have confidence in a weaker limb when the other one feels so much stronger.

Flexibility is also an issue try some simple stretches and notice how much more flexible your weaker leg is.

springtide9

+1 to the above(s)

But squats help build up strength .... and the easiest way to do squats is to do the one legged version.

Apart from building up your quads, they are also great for your stabilization knee muscles as well as glutes. And more importantly, you can also do them while brushing your teeth in the morning (or other such activities throughout the day)

mobilekat

Whilst I have my favourite front leg for 'tricky stuff' I make a real point of using the attack position for all descents- even down the road, and then really try to do 50% on each leg.

Living on the edge of the moors we often cycle up to have a play, on different tracks, but then have the long (thankfully downhill) road ride back, and this is a great time to exercise both legs.

It was advice we were given by Jay and Maddie at Fully Sussed, and it really does help!

mini-eggs

Been doing squats for a week or so now, and had another ride in afan last night. It was much better, my leg still had a bit of fatigue but there was a clear step forward.

Might try having my weaker leg forward on familar trails and build up to the bigger stuff in afan.

DHA987S

Need to get doing squats myself, did you use any weights whilst doing them or not?

mini-eggs

No haven't used weights, thought never crossed my mind.

Anonymous

I get this on long fast descents. So far I've put it down to I'm probably doing something wrong. Way too tense in the leg on the descent, especially if it's technical, rocky, gnarly.

springtide9

DHA987S wrote:

Need to get doing squats myself, did you use any weights whilst doing them or not?

Don't really need weights TBH... just work on one legged and sets of 3.
As you get better .. you can get lower as well as increasing the number in a set..
Also, try not to lean forward.. you should be pretty upright... it's very easy to lean forward a bit to make it easier.