koko236

Hi,

I'm riding a bike on a regular basis but it's mostly short commuting with very occasional 50-70km 'trip/training' rides. A few times in my life I made a 200km solo ride and last year I went for over 250km. Every time it's a bit painful at some point and I expect that as I'm probably going a bit over what I'm actually prepared for physically. I know that I should probably be concerned if I get serious joint pains (knees, ankles, etc.) or about my heart but what about muscles?

My question is how can I recognise during the ride that I'm going too far muscle-wise?

Is there such a limit at all? Can a motivated but untrained person seriously injure muscles by just not stopping at the right point? I know it may sound stupid but once I finished my longest ride so far I was seriously wondering what will happen to my legs after that. On the next day I when I woke up I could barely straighten them and I thought 'Ok, that's what happens, they'll stay bent from now on' Of course they didn't, and I felt quite well half an hour later but the question remained.

Machka 

Your muscles can handle a lot ... it is your joints and ligaments and things you've got to be concerned about.

koko236

All right, so given that:
- I'm reasonably fit, and have no hidden heart problems,
- I stay within reasonable power limit,
- I eat and drink enough,
- I feel no dangerous joints/ligaments pain,
I should be able to go further no matter how weak or sore my muscles feel without fear of doing any serious damage to them? :-)

Machka 

Yep.

That's how people like me ... and hundreds of others ... go from 200K to 300K to 400K to 600K to 1200K.

Rowan

There is one thing you haven't mentioned at all, and that is bike fit.

A really good fit -- obtained either by long-term trial and error with adjustment or changes of things such as handlebars, stem, seat and even crank length; or by using a fit session with a bike shop -- will enable you to ride a bike for long distances without doing damage to muscles, ligaments, tendons or soft tissues.

Cycling can cause repetitive strain injuries because pedalling is... repetitive. But a fit that isn't right can cause you to compensate in such a way that can make RSIs worse than they need to be.

Then there are things such as hands, which can go numb if fit isn't right. Same with feet (shoes, cleat position, compensation for foot angle). And the major issue for many is that seat/posterior interface, which also includes bike shorts that suit you.

All this, of course, is somewhat different to simple muscle tiredness. But that muscle tiredness can follow on to cramping, which carries its unknowns -- such as repetition of use, rehydration and electrolyte intake.

From what I can see, if you are reasonably fit, stay within reasonable power limits, eat and drink appropriately, and bike fit is such that you are comfortable with no joint/ligament pain... you should be able to ride further -- much further.

koko236

My bike (30yrs old Gazelle Randonneur), has rather relaxed geometry and is quite comfortable for long distances altough I should probably think of softer bar tape, or maybe even put on a double tape, cause it's old narrow diameter dropdown bar. Last time I rode without gloves and had pretty sore hands after half the distance.

Anyway it's good to know that muscles can take more beating. Thanks a lot!

John_V 

I agree with Rowan on the bike fit issue. I would research the different fitting systems and find a fitter in your area that uses one of the systems. Have a talk with him and tell him what your cycling goals are because there is a slight difference in having a bike fit for racing and a fit for distance riding. Just after purchasing my first road bike, I got a Retul fitting and that made a night and day difference for me. Hydration and food intake on the ride is also very important, especially on longer rides.

I can't speak for others but being retired and a cycling addict, I ride 6 days a week, 40-60 miles (64-97 km) a day and seldom have leg and/or knee pain or muscle tightness/soreness. One thing that I do, and it really helps, is to keep my legs warm before and after a ride. Living in Florida, we have year-round cycling because it really doesn't get that cold. However, I still wear thermal sweat pants to my ride and after my ride to keep the legs warm until I shower. I also keep a folded baby blanket over my legs when I sleep, even in the summer, to keep the leg muscles relaxed. None of my riding buddies opt for the sweat pants idea but several have done the blanket at night and it has helped them, as well.

But I think that it really sums up to a sign I saw over the counter of a bike shop that read, "The more you ride, the better you get. The better you get, the more you ride."

BTW: The young lady standing next to me in my avatar is Amanda Coker. Talk about long distance riding, she broke Billy Flemming's HAMR record of 29,607 miles in just 4 months. She still has until May 14th to finish her year toward the record and is now up to 59,000 miles. If she continues at this rate, she will beat the men's HAMR record set by Kurt Searvogal last year of 76,076 miles.

unterhausen

pretty much the only thing I'm worried about is nerve damage

koko236

Nerve damage from prolonged pressure like from keeping hands on the bars?

Machka 

Yep ... you can do some pretty serious damage to your ulnar nerve.

ThermionicScott 

+1 on bike fit. You may find that the fit that worked fine for commutes and club rides is not adequate for longer days in the saddle. Bring allen wrenches and don't be afraid to ask fellow riders if your butt is moving like it should.

Chris_W

Nerve damage in the hands is a problem for many long-distance cyclists. Read about methods of avoiding it on this page: Handlebars, Aerobars, & Gloves - Ride Far: Ultra·Distance Cycling Advice

John_V 

Good article with some very good advice. I have to agree with everything he wrote since I use the same BG Pro Gel gloves, use a clamp on aerobar and ride with MTB shoes and pedals. I guess I wasn't doing it wrong all these years.

Carbonfiberboy 

Muscle-wise, cramping hasn't been mentioned. That's how you get muscle damage. Cramps contract your muscles much harder than your brain can. You can usually get yourself de-cramped and ride on, but your muscles have been compromised and probably won't keep going for a long distance. After a ride when one has cramped, it takes several days for them to repair, longer than just an ordinary difficult ride. However it's still not permanent damage. Muscles are really good at self-repair.

That said, the intensity at which most folks can ride 300k and up will preclude cramping anyway. Since it's intensity that causes cramps, hitting the hills as hard as you can on training rides will inoculate you against cramping.

Real damage, as has been said, is usually nerve damage, either in the hands or perineum. That can be permanent.

HTupolev

Unless you bonk cramp. Bonk cramps are hilarious in that the cramp itself doesn't hurt that badly because you're simply too weak to cramp very hard. They're somewhat less hilarious in that you're probably otherwise in general agony.

hsuehhwa

If you don't ride long distance frequently, you only felt some discomfort the next day, not during the 250 km ride, you are doing GREAT.

Chris Pringle

Another common muscle condition while riding ultra distances is extreme neck muscle fatigue. This leads to a condition called Shermer's Neck in which you can no longer lift up your head. A neck brace or makeshift device will be required to continue riding. If the condition gets serious you might have to wear a brace for a couple of weeks until your neck muscles recover.

koko236

Thank you very much, but I did feel discomfort during the ride and I was quite slow so it was not as good as it sounds. :-) The next day it was actually much better than I expected (once I stretched my legs).
Sore palms were probably the worst but that's just me taking no gloves and changing foam tape to a nice thin one shortly before. Anyway it felt much harder than my previous 200km rides so I figured I'd ask if it's very unwise to push too hard or just a bit silly.

I guess some regular long distance training would probably be the wisest thing to do, but I tend to simply jump into things sometimes as is the case here and ask questions later. Thanks for all the replies.

koko236

Oh, yeah I think I had those when I was pulling my leg up to get on/off the bike at some point. These were short cramps and not as strong as normally