Originally Posted by
cubewheels
Anyway, I've been doing lots of indoor "recovery" pedaling lately between rides, in the same day. Our mod Hermes suggested training indoors in between rides and been doing it and it's actually very good. For some strange reason, it's helping to keep my muscles fresh (even avoiding getting sore).
Back in the day, we used that technique to speed recovery with our performance middle-distance running regimen. Very hard training days were usually followed with much-slower runs and non-running easy activities.
So far as we figured, at the time, it helped boost circulation, speed nutrient delivery, loosened up the muscles but did not strain them, and thus sped up recovery.
Occasionally required another day of "off" activities, but the failure to do the longer/slower stuff in between was clear: invariably we'd be much more sore, have much less "zip" and strength for the subsequent tougher training run.
As you say, for "some strange reason" it seems to help keep the muscles "fresh" and avoid much soreness.