treadtread

The following question has probably been asked before, but I searched and wasn't able to find anything - not for the search terms I used anyway.

My commute is short - just over 2.5 miles one way. I either ride on a busy road, or a less crowded but narrow one with a DY in the center. In both these situations, I feel safest if I ride faster - so I'm at 17 to 20 mph almost as soon as I've started the commute. I maintain that speed (as well as I can anyway, there are far too many stop signs and traffic lights) for the entire commute - all this without warming up or stretching first. You'd think I would learn - I had plantar fascitis once and currently have, what appears to be (based on internet doctoring), a quadricep strain.

I've looked into alternate routes, but best alternative takes me through a narrow and fast 4 lane road and crosses over the freeway and I really dislike riding past freeway on and exit ramps. So the simplest solution is: stretch and warm up before the commute. Not being particularly knowledgeable about exercise, I'm turning to the forum: can you suggest some stretches and exercises I should do before my commute? I have read up on exercises related to the two conditions I described before, but I'd like to avoid anything new if possible.

TenSpeedV2

The stretch and warm up will take you as long or longer than the commute. Get on your bike and ride.

treadtread

That's what I've been doing, and it doesn't seem to be working for me. Maybe I just need to slow down a bit and not keep sprinting from stop sign to traffic light - I've identified an alternate route that is longer but should be slower, will try it out tomorrow.

ItsJustMe

I ride 12 to 15 miles each way. I just get on and ride, summer and winter. No problems. I don't eat breakfast before I go either. In fact, I do periodic fasting (I'm doing so right now) where I eat breakfast and lunch, then ride home, ride back in again the next day (up to 30 miles round trip) before eating again. I have to slow down a bit on the way in to work on those days, but it's not that bothersome. My avg speed just goes from about 20 to 18 or so (18.25 this morning).

I think there's good evidence that stretching before exercise doesn't really do any good. But stretching after is useful.

beerRun

My commute's 9 miles round-trip. I also just hop on and ride.

Have you just started commuting? Take it a little slower like you're considering and give it a few weeks. I had some achilles pain the first week or two.

treadtread

I suppose I should have provided some background. I have been commuting for almost 3 years now. I have been on my current route for almost two years - but I don't ride every day, I try to include some motorcycle commutes as well. I've started having problems as I got faster - I hugged the right, and rode slow initially. I now take the lane at times and ride much faster. I feel safer, but now I have some niggling health issues that appear to be related to the commuting.

Edited to add: I've also been struggling a bit with lower back pain. I'm not really sure if this is commute related - probably not. I'm just trying to make sure that I don't develop a host of problems as I get older ..

Doohickie

If you go, say, 13-15 mph, will it make a difference? To a car you're slower than they are and they're not going to think any worse of you for going 13 versus 18. Ride at your own pace.

Also... what's DY in "a less crowded but narrow one with a DY in the center"?

snow_echo_NY

i think this is related to fit. when i have had lower back pain it was due to the reach being just too much. bringing it in for a more relaxed position helped me.

i agree that you want to stretch right after your commute to keep your body limber. before it doesn't have as much of an effect.

treadtread

DY is a double yellow - for some reasons, motorists get more antsy around a DY. I'll experiment with the fit, as well as stretch after the commute.

ThermionicScott 

Might be due to cranking out of the saddle a lot. Happens to me sometimes if I get too aggressive on the fixed-gear.

GovernorSilver

For warmup, a joint mobility routine is ideal. The routine should include mobility exercises for your feet, ankles, knees, hips, etc. I haven't tried this routine myself because I've learned joint mobility routines for other types of exercise, but this one appears to be designed for cyclists:

Video: Better Joint Mobility - Pinkbike

Stretch should be done after the ride, not before.

highrpm

I've been exercising daily for more than a decade now, in the evenings. I run on the treadmill one day and lift weights the alternating day.

In the morning, when I first wake up, I do a walk up and down my basement stairs ten times. This is the only warmup that I do before riding the bike, and I think it makes a difference since I never feel stiff or get cramps or anything.

caloso

The newer conventional wisdom on stretching is that it should never be done with cold muscles. It's much better to stretch after warming up with a light to moderate exercise like, for example, riding a bike for a few miles.

79pmooney

Most of you guys aren't reading the OPs post. He feels safest going fast from the get go. Ie riding his short commute like a runner doing a half mile with stops or intervals designed by a sadistic football coach.

My thought is that the OP needs to be warmed up before he leaves the house. First thought: that's what rollers and trainers are for. He could have a second bike set up on a trainer. With rollers it's even easier. Plunk the commuter down on the rollers and jump on. (Of course, roller skill needs to be acquired first, but that is never a wasted exercise.)

So, OP, seriously consider buying rollers and setting them up, perhaps in your garage. Then it becomes easy to jump on and ride until you are warm and loose. (Go to any race and you will see many riders doing just that, either on rollers or trainers. The trainer will add one more operation to the mix, taking the bike off the trainer. (Assuming you put it on the night before.) And putting the bike on the trainer in the morning, before any coffee has kicked in, is asking for a sloppy job and damage to QR skewer, axle or dropout some day.

Ben

beerRun

Or we also read his second post.

wphamilton

I consider 2.5 miles to be my warm up in the morning so I can sympathize. You're done about the time you're ready for a ride.

Instead of an alternate route, can you just go the other direction for a mile or two in a residential area? If that's not possible then simply push-ups, sit-ups and some jumping around is a warm up of sorts.

You didn't ask but for what it's worth, I changed my mind years ago about feeling safer at faster speeds. I thought it made a difference, a big difference, and it felt safer. I still like to go faster in traffic, but I feel like it's more dangerous, not less. Drivers will treat me the same way at 30 as they do at 15, except that they cut me off closer at the higher speeds.

kickstart

Unless you're maintaining 5+ mph over ambient traffic speed you'll pick up an impatient motorists sooner rather than later. Pain is your bodies way on of saying "take it easy". Don't let ambiguous or unattainable goals dictate your actions.

treadtread

Thank you everyone for your suggestions. I'll try the alternate route tomorrow - it does take me in the opposite direction for a bit, but I might not need to sprint as much (and I think I even have a dedicated bike lane for some part of the way). In addition, I'll do some basic exercise before starting, and do some stretches in my office after I get there.

... I might have more stupid questions along the way, but I'm basically working towards a healthier daily routine. I'm lucky genetically in that I don't really put on weight (almost no one in my family does), but I've abused that over the years by being very lax about exercise. Time for a change!

cwjDC

Stretching before or after doesn't do much much for me now that I'm used to mycommute. What does feel heavenly, feels like it makes a difference in the morning, and is a less annoying alternative is rolling my leg muscles before I go to bed with this: Amazon.com: The Stick-Self Roller Massager: Health & Personal Care. Cheaper options are a dowel or wooden rolling pin.

MichaelW

Make sure you do a foot stretch for plantar fascitis, pref before you even get out of bed. You can also do them on thebike.
As you get older, you start forgetting things and have to dash back inside a couple of times. This acts as sufficient warmup. Start riding easy and gradually ramp up the work-rate.

PaulRivers

This is what warmup I was doing before weightlifting, and it made a big difference in my comfort level while riding for me (because it also stretches things out):
https://www.defrancostraining.com/as...y-routine.html

The youtube video wasn't showing up on the page for me, so here it is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSSDLDhbacc

The other thing I did was exercise videos. There's a number of muscles that make biking more comfortable and safer, but don't get worked while biking (like your core) that you have to work seperately. Also doing different things to stretch out my hamstrings helped a lot, biking basically makes them tight as all getout.

I'm in no way suggesting that people should do this unless they feel like they're having a problem, just a suggestion that helped me a lot.

Jim from Boston

The first year I did a training program, I tracked the mileage at which I spontaneously noted that I felt (totally) warmed up on my 14 mile commute. I found it to be at about 6 miles. So now I consider about 10 miles a minimum for a training ride. (I also tracked "first burn" mile on a long, greater than 40 mile, ride at about 25 miles.)

I don’t stretch before a ride, preferring to warm up on the bike, as above. But when I was doing yoga regularly, I found that the cycling facilitated my yoga more than yoga helped my cycling (other than helping me “visualize” energy flow ).

gear64

Interesting.... I don't stretch before I ride, but I don't shoot out of the driveway like a rocket either. Yoga does help immensely with how I feel between rides, and how I feel in general when cycling less in winter. I've never actually tracked a warm-up distance. I take it pretty easy through the subdivision with one decent climb coming out. Then start picking up speed based on how I feel that day. As I age more things in every day life tweak something more than when I was younger. A regular program of stretching goes a long way. Based on age the OP may be between a rock and a hard place... stretch before or slow down.

Dan515

You also might want to foam roll your IT band/TFL, calves, and quads when you get home

GovernorSilver

I've done yoga on and off - my most serious phase being when I was in rehab from a low-back/hip injury. My yoga teacher gave me a routine that was specific to low-back rehab. It included warmup movements, then strengthening movements, then cooldown (stretching).