Tweaked a Hammy. Now What?

[nomo4me]

About a week ago I felt a small twinge at the lower part of my hamstring, maybe a couple of inches above the knee. It wasn't painful, but reminded me at the time of a rubber band being snapped. It happened as I strained hard to get out of a busy 4 way stop sign quickly.

2 days later I rode again without much pain, then went out of town for a few days. Now I am feeling some pain back there when I ride. Not anything alarming, just a dull ache that stays on as a bit of a burn after I've completed riding. I think subconsciously I am favoring the leg a bit as I pedal. It's definitely not anything serious, but I'm curious as to what the consensus is here regarding how to take care of this thing to heal up as quickly as possible.

I can't ride without doing some pretty steep hills, and weigh 240 lbs. My daily ride is 16 miles.

Thanks for any input.

[pearcem]

icing and stretching should help. Ice it for 15 to 20 minutes. Stay off of it for a few days if you can, but if not, just try to take it a little easy for a while. Make sure you get a good warm up before you ride also. If it doesn't go away or gets worse, go see a doctor about it. hope it gets better soon

[wagathon]

Your saddle may be too high. Just a cm lower may help. Just a thought.

[nomo4me]

Your saddle may be too high. Just a cm lower may help. Just a thought.

Post injury, the one guy I trust at my LBS had me come in for a refitting as I had put a new seat on the bike (Trek 2100c) and messed up his original fit job.
After putting my bike in a trainer and using a protractor and plumb bob he moved my seat forward about 3/4" and moved the seat down about 1/2".
I hate to admit it, but my legs fatigue very quickly with the seat that low and I have a difficult time climbing the hills on my ride, so I moved it back up about 1/4". It's not as high as it was, and I have regained some climbing power.

[wagathon]

What is your lowest gear for hill climbing?

[nomo4me]

Uh, don't know much about that kind of thing, I just love riding :D

Here are the specs for the bike:
http://www2.trekbikes.com/Bikes/Road/Comfort_Road/Third_Dimension/2100C/index.php

I rode about 7 miles today, drove to a start off point that made for a flat ride. I didn't push too hard and the leg didn't bother me. I'll probably try to go easy for another week and see if things improve.

Thx

Nomo

[wagathon]

If you ever want an easier hill-climbing gear, it is easy to achieve on your setup. All you need to do is replace the 9-spd SRAM cassette with one that has a larger cog, e.g., a 12x32 instead of the current 12x26. I'll do that on my rig when the new 10-spd hubs come in ranges higher than 27T.

It may be possible to get a smaller 28T inner chainring instead of 30T -- that is is what we both have -- but I don't know how well that option will work on your setup because your inner ring is 42T: that would be a 14T jump. It's only a 11T jump on my triple. I'm thinking about trying that option and I would for sure if I planned to tackle some big hills.