Training & Nutrition - Tweaked a Hammy. Now What?

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.

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

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

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.

What is your lowest gear for hill climbing?

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

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.