Legs completely spent!

robst3

Hi guys, relatively new to mountain biking but having a lot of fun so far.

I had knee surgery two years ago and was on crutches for quite a while - enough that my leg muscles withered away.

Now I find that after a decent climb my legs have literally nothing left to give - if I tried to jump on the spot my legs would give way on landing... It seems to take a long time for my legs to recover enough for me to attempt anything like a technical descent on the bike. And even then, after the first climb my legs never feel like they have enough strength in them for the rest of the day's riding...

Any advice please?

composite

Start slowly and keep adding to the distance, maybe 10-15% at a time. The strength will come but you need to not push it to hard or expect to much to start with or you will just get frustrated. Accept it will take time and enjoy the shorter rides for now.

Stevo_666

^^^^^^^^
What he said.

I had an op last year that kept me off the bike for nearly 4 months and had to build it back up slowly, took about the same time to get full fitness back. If I pushed too hard too soon, I'd get cramps or the legs would just 'give up'.

Try little and often if you can and build up the duration & intensity as/when you feel able to.

stubs

Nothing wrong with sitting in bottom gear and just spinning up the hill. Its not how fast you get to the top its how fast you get to the bottom. It will come you need to toughen your muscles and the only way to do that is to pedal regulary. Dont keep pedalling if its causing trouble have a regular breather have a drink and a bite to eat and you should do better. Check your nutrition you might be short of blood sugar you need to eat the right things for stamina.

1mancity2

stubs wrote:

Nothing wrong with sitting in bottom gear and just spinning up the hill. Its not how fast you get to the top its how fast you get to the bottom. It will come you need to toughen your muscles and the only way to do that is to pedal regulary. Dont keep pedalling if its causing trouble have a regular breather have a drink and a bite to eat and you should do better. Check your nutrition you might be short of blood sugar you need to eat the right things for stamina.

Also you need to drink and not big gulps, little and often, dehydration will sap your energy fast.