The Loss of Flexibility
 

I had cut way back on my mileage and intensity, and the past 14 months or so have been punctuated by the healing and recovery proccesses of several (four) injuries. After the last, I noticed for the first time ever a slight numbness in my fingers when on the hoods. Not really a problem, but I raised my bars .5cm and went to a 1cm shorter stem. Went out for a hammer session on a known route the other day and near the end, my lower back started aching bigtime! It made just being on the bike uncomfortable. Again, this has never happened to me before. Luckily the ache went away within a 15 min. of getting off the bike, so its nothing serious. The suprising thing is how the loss of flexibility just kind of creeped up in a scarey way. I hate intense stretching regimens and have never used them, but this situation seems different.

yogaaaa :)

Dude, I had the same thing happen to me... and ended up tearing a muscle or two because of stiffness. What I usually do before a weightlifting session is ride the stationary bike for 12 minutes to warm up everything, then stretch everything for another 20 minutes. However, I've been injured so only was able to ride my bike. I forgot the whole stretching part (wasn't lifting weights, so why stretch out, it's not like I'm going to tear anything...).

My PT told me to hold each stretched position for 30 seconds and don't bounce. I recommend you warm up (jump rope, etc.), stretch out, then go for your intense ride. Trust me - those little tweaks here and there are warning signs that something worse can happen.

i second the motion for yoga. It has helped my flexibility tremendously and helped me deal with lower back pain.

jim

Did your hammer session immediately follow your bike modifications? If so, that could be your culprit. Your body is like, "WTF?" Let yourself get adjusted for a little to the new position.

yoga shakti (by shiva rea) is the best yoga dvd ever. you can do yoga in your bedroom or living room where no one can see you struggling. eventually you will be folding in half! or at least less achy. even if you can't do all the poses, the scenery in the dvd is outstanding. i'd never seen anything so pretty!