Originally Posted by dannyq
After a tough/long ride, do you have to kind of let your heart rate drop while doing a little bit of easy riding, or can you just hope off the bike with your heart rate sky high and go and sit on the couch?
Hope that makes sense.
I think you want to separate your muscles from the cardio (heart & lungs) systems. For the heart/lungs, they operate based upon demand, so stress on them is highest under high work loads. As soon as you remove the demand for oxygen & bloodflow, they relax fairly quickly.
Your muscles on the other hand, get more damaged from work load more easily and quickly. I think that's the part that you're talking about right? After doing some 100% all-out screaming sprints, you really do want to ride easily for a couple of minutes to keep the blood flowing. The on/off muscle-contractions actualy help the veins pump blood back to the heart. The extra flow helps remove lactic-acid and start on the muscle rebuilding. Stretching and massage after the workout keeps this process going for a while after you get off the bike as well.