Originally Posted by absntr
I don't usually stretch at all - if you ride enough, you shouldn't have to. I read that somewhere too, I forget where. Maybe someone else can confirm.
Originally Posted by arcellus
i've also read that too much stretching, meaning too much flexibility, can be bad for endurace sports like running and cycling. the extra flexibilty leads to more motion in your joints, which can lead to more repetitive-stress injuries.
I would like to know the sources for these claim.
If anything extra flexibility prevents injury.
Bernard Hinault once said that to be a good cyclist you need to have supple muscles. And in order to have suppleness you need to have flexibility. and in order to obtain flexibility you need to stretch. In one of his books he talked about bike techniques that every cyclist should be able to do; one was to ride the bike while off the saddle with just one knee straddling the top tube while keeping both hands on the bars and your ass near the BB, or something like that.
If you go on to
cycling news track page and look through their photo archive you will find photos of the top elite track riders mingling around the infield during a World Cup event or championship. In some of these photos you will see them doing the unthinkable, yes stretching. And note the type of stretches they do and then figure out which muscles or ligaments they are stretching and why.
As far as my personal regiment: I stretch at night (never in the morning) right before I go to bed when my muscles are warmest and ligaments are soft. And I try to do as many different stretches as I can and hold them for as long as I can. I try and do this every day, but don't usually, so it comes out usually every other day.