I never do, but I suppose I should. A short stretch afterwards if I got the time.

I also like the trainer idea. lol

Growing up doing martial arts and in competition a little (when I was younger lol). We always knew it better to stretch AFTER rather than before. A little warm up would benefit which would be a nice easy ride in this case.
One note though for any workout/activity. If you find you really strained yourself and maybe cramped up really bad, overexherted the muscles and tendons took over, I have found in the past that stretching after could cause more harm than good. Let your body recover a bit for a day. Im no doctor, but just from experience. However if you feel good after the session then most definately stretch after.

Good luck

Hi Im new around here!!
Tom

I hate the first 3-5 miles no matter what I do so I just get on and ride no warm up

What drives you to get on the bike then? The energy expenditure of a ride? I find the first 2 hours enjoyable. Anything afterwards feels like a chore.

The first 16 miles have 4200 feet of climbing. I'm not sure if this is something that would make a warm up necessary.

Arrive early and get a few miles in before the official start.

Bring your trainer to the start, to get a lot of attention. People will assume you are a professional and gonna rock that ride. Stay at the end of the group during the ride, so that people see that it was just for show. I'm sure you will make new friends with a few wanna be big-time-riders.

Although I find the data in the link to be a bit dubious, it appears they did not do a real "study" but only searched keywords in relation to stretching and muscle injury, and other articles. In these clinical article reviews I am sure there was a lot of information, but it seems to me that in order to prove a hypothesis of this nature there should be a study done with a wide spectrum of volunteers performing various activities with and without stretching. Then the results of the study can be reviewed for it's individual merit, and not just what was found in a keyword search.
This does not mean I don't believe it, and will certainly be looking more into this. I did note that "articles that suggested streching was beneficial included...warm-up"
I would most certainly agree that the people responsible for this article are much more studied than myself, so I would agree with the assessment that in order to effectively stretch there needs to be some manner of warm up first.
Thanks much for the informative posts.

You need to look up what "meta-analysis" means. In that link, you're reading an abstract of their review of the literature, and only included well-designed studies with some kind of control or comparison group. If you want more, read the articles under the "related citations" heading to the right.

Given that, one of the all time best books on stretching is by Anderson. He recommends warming up. ;)

Some of the faster group rides use the first few miles to lull the sheep into complacency; "hey, this ain't so bad, I can hang with the big dogs." Then the inevitable acceleration up a short hill, more accelerations around the corners, and everyone is flying way over the posted speed for the ride. Then on a longer grade, we start dropping off like a sack of dead rats down a sinkhole.

No warm up necessary.

Hi Tom, welcome aboard the motley crew of Bike Forums.

I too stretch after a ride, I didn't mention that because we were into the warm up thing. So I stretch both, before and after. Like I said, I'm not sure if stretching does anything before a ride, I've heard some sports clinics and sport doctors say yes and
some say no...so which is it? I don't think anyone really knows for certain.

For me stretching helps. I don't do full on static stretching and it takes me about 2 minutes to do them. Most of the hard stretching I do after the ride. Before it's just some of the basic light movements with my back, arms and legs in the focus just to the point where it feels comfortable. I think it gives my body heads up that the change in the activity is coming and it gets my body fluids going a little. I've been doing this before every ride and never did I notice any problems and my strength is fine and well. The point is to listen to YOUR body more and less to some experts who are trying to write the bible.

The 30-60 miles after the first 3-5. For some reason the first few miles always seem like I am made of lead. After that I start to feel better.

No warmup. Start slow.

Anderson wrote a great book based on what was understood at the time. We know now that static stretching prior to exercise is not beneficial, if not even harmful.

I am a resurgent cyclist after 25 years or so of hiatus, but have put in my time coaching football, er, soccer. Static stretching is NOT a pre-activity warmup - rather dynamic activities mimicing the game are used. We should warm up, and stretching doesn't warm us up (static stretching before warm, and before the activity, actually can cause a shortening of the muscles - much research available on this). So spinning, or easy start on the bike, is the ideal warmup for the cyclist, since it is prepping us for the activity,

As stated above, stretching AFTER the activity is very beneficial. A great cooldown activity, and it does help flexibility to stretch afterward. But before the activity, I have been taught NOT to include stretching.

And my wife and I each have a copy of Anderson's book, and I am coming around to getting myself stretching more on off-days and after rides. Not that I don't believe in it, I just don't take the time.

This. It usually takes my legs about 5 miles to warm up, since I'm never racing I just use the first 5 miles of my route as a warmup.

Well said.

As much as I envy all who live in an area like you, I don't think I would like to start any ride with that sort of climb.

I don't think I COULD do the first 16 miles. 4200 ft / 16 mi = 262 ft / mi, or an average 5% grade. Yikes!

If the ride doesn't start at the base of the climb then don't sweat it and use the first few miles as a warm up. Assuming that it's a long consistent climb, it shouldn't be too hard to get into a rhythm.

Wow! I gotta get me to some centuries in Colorado!!!


I wish I had some sort of hard evidence, but I'm just going by what my brother-in-law told me while studying at SDSU. Stretching after the workout worked for me, but then again, so did stretching after a light warm-up and before the workout.

oh yeah, we get about a mile of downhill warmup. ;D
Yes, I'm up this early :(

http://www.deercreekchallenge.com/as...rse_072911.pdf

Hopefully, he'll go 88mph and travel through time!

And remember the importance of hydration pre-ride. While on the trainer, you should drink 2/3rds of a bottle of Heed based supplement, ideally between grunts. When most of it is gone, hurl it to the side without looking, ideally striking a potential competitor. You can then have your support crew hand you another. They are, of course, sitting next to you in a car, idling at the start line. When you bolt from the trainer, they will lunge the car in reverse to make your leap forward appear more impressive.

+10 on this. It took me years of still thinking like what my high school gym teacher taught us (35 yrs ago) to finally realize that pre stretching was bad for me, and that on long rides (or cross country skiing at -15c for that matter) mid ride stretches for a bit worked wonders for loosening up tightness from the activity, but especially as mentioned-POST ride stretches are soooo important for helping flexibility and getting leg muscles stronger as we train more and harder throughout the season.

I purposely try to watch something on tv or whtever so that I take my time and stretch carefully and gradually for a good 20 mins and I really notice a diff.

prestretching is an old outdated, dangerous idea and bad for your muscles. Taking it easy at first is the best thing I have found.

you gotta listen to your body and not what people say is good to do.