I'm glad some experienced riders are mirroring what I'm doing because, as a newbie rider, I was confused on whether to stretch before riding. Just based on my experience as a high school athlete, I always stretched. So when I started riding two months ago, I did the same thing. I stretched for about 5 min or so before taking off. Then I experimented with not stretching before hand and rode. During and at the end of the ride, I feel the same as the day I stretched before the ride. Ever since I use the 1st 10-15 minutes of my ride to warm up / stretch and it has been working well on my rides. And like Doc V, I drink a big glass of chocolate milk