[lsuche1996]

The Stick??? Never heard of it. What’s that?

[lsuche1996]

Thanks for the responses.

I do use recoverite from Hammer Nutrition but not always right after riding or exercising. I’ll keep that in mind.

What is a good way to recover when the pain has already set in, i.e. prevention not an option?

Y

[lsuche1996]

I like to mountain bike, and road ride, and spin, and none of them are quite like the other. 😃

Spinning is good fitness activity especially during the frequent rain and wet trail/road conditions.

I thought spinning would be a lot like road riding but a couple differences came to light immediately:
a) The wheel of the spinning bikes at the gym are heavy and carry a strong rotational momentum that a real bicycle wheel would never have.
b) The spinning bikes at the gym are stable in a way a real bicycle would never be. No side to side rocking. They are built to be very stable and I would work very hard to force one to tip at all. So it doesn’t feel like a real bike ride and I found that encouraged some sloppy balancing and bad habits. It’s easy to get lazy on positioning and balance because that hunk of steel just ain’t gonna budge. Not so the real thing.

I encourage spinning as a fitness tool and an alternative to when trails or road are not accessible. But I have no delusions about it either. I see a lot of spinners in class who wouldn’t know how to ride a bike at all if it weren’t nailed to gym floor, with techno music blaring. LOL

Y

[lsuche1996]

I don’t know how to completely prevent foot numbness but a big help for me was a very good quality shoe insole.

Not trying to push a brand… just saying what works for me… I got some Specialized "high arch" footbeds. They are NOT cheap. $40? $50 I can’t remember. They have a hump down the middle they call the metatarsal button. It’s supposed to spread the bones of the foot apart when pedalling to allow better circulation. The footbeds come in three arch heights and colors: red, blue, and green. The max are the green ones which are the ones I use. I do NOT have high arches but I got these footbeds anyway because they help prevent my toes going numb.

Just thought I’d throw that out there. I know they’re pricey.

Also, I ride clipless and that is also a big help. I get "pull up" to get power and take some pressure off my feet. You really ought to think about going clipless. I haven’t been riding for decades but every dude I’ve met who swore he’d ride platforms forever never looked back after getting used to riding clipless. I’m just saying…

Y

[lsuche1996]

One thing I’ll say about being on a limited budget… skills and fitness beats fancy equipment any day of the week. Case in point… I was struggling on some rock gardens one day on my FS 29’er when a guy comes bee-bopping down the same trail on a hardtail rigid (no fork even!) 26" with rim brakes. That bike was older than Jesus and yet the guy passed me on my fancy-pants rig like it was effortless. His bike probably weighed 10 lbs more than mine but he knew how to use what he had. What a humbling moment! Note to self… it’s NOT about the bike… So don’t despair if you don’t have top notch equipment or the lightest bike to hit the planet. Ride well and ride smart and you will humiliate the punks on their $6,000 rigs.

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