Since it's been awhile from when I rode last, during my first rides I noticed my legs ached terrible. I didn't even go 2 miles before I started to feel a lot of discomfort. I realize that my legs are building up a lot of lactic acid. So I did some research this morning on how to deal with it. Obviously the number one thing is to get into shape and stay there. I came up with these 13 steps to reduce lactic acid in the legs:


1. Stay Dynamic To Reduce The Buildup Of Lactic Acid In Your Muscles
2. Use Baking Soda
3. Consume Fatty Acids
4. Have An Intake Of B Vitamins
5. Be Careful When Lifting Weights
6. Cooling Down
7. Stretching Before Any Workout
8. Warm Up Prior To Any Exertion
9. Stay Hydrated
10. Breathe Deeply
11. Workout Frequently
12. Slow Down When You Feel A Hit
13. Increase Your Intake Of Magnesium

Is there anything one can add to this list? The one thing I will not enjoy is drinking baking soda in water.

Most of the science recently has dispelled the benefits of stretching before a workout.
-stretching cold can damage tissues
-some studies actually showed that after stretching, the muscles were a bit weaker for about 30 minutes, dues to having been strained.

Better to stretch afterwards for increased flexibility when everything is warmed up.

Creatine.

Just to add...

https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/0...-stretch/?_r=0

and

4 Reasons to Stop Stretching Before You Exercise | SparkPeople

Thank you for that, I just looked it up. Sounds like a great supplement. Must get some.

This is the definition I found.

"Creatine is a nitrogenous organic acid that occurs naturally in vertebrates and helps to supply energy to all cells in the body, primarily muscle. This is achieved by increasing the formation of adenosine triphosphate."

Cheers
Wayne

I started taking 3 teaspoons of creatine a day (along with 1500cals of mass gainer) at the end of June because after being retired from the army for six years and doing no exercise besides cycling my upper body was shriveling up to nothing. I was getting stick arms and it was embarrassing. And I began a lifting, pushups, pullups, situps ect. program. 8 1/2 weeks later I'm getting seriously ripped, I'm outgrowing my clothes and am already more muscular than I've ever been. And I was an airborne infantryman for 24 years in great shape. Started at 138lbs and now I'm 154 and it's not fat. I did not decrease my cycling, I still ride 120-200 miles a week.

But what's surprising is how much it's improved my riding. I was already your average A group rider but now my solo average speed has increased @ 1 mph which is alot. I even set my fastest average solo of 19.4mph for 34 miles, doorstep to doorstep including stops. And that was on my vintage bike and with 29 years of road cycling experience and 15 pounds heavier than I was. I can just push harder for longer, climb/sprint faster before I feel the lactic acid burning. I'll probably take it for the rest of my life. Just drink lots of water with it.

I use this kind and take it with a glass of water. It's cheap and lasts over a month.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Six-Star-...88-lb/36210491

People have been telling me to take creatine lately. I've been lifting, eating lots of protein, and a slight calorie surplus. I thought creatine was somewhat dangerous and a junk supplement, but some trustworthy people are telling me otherwise. My jury is still out.

It's probably the most thoroughly-vetted supplement on the market, in terms of both effectiveness and safety.

The stuff about it being dangerous and linked with rhabdomyolis or kidney problems is due to ignorance in the mainstream press and not knowing the difference between creatine and creatinine.

I've been taking 5g creatine after every hard workout for ~15 years. So I don't know how effective it is! OTOH I do OK for a geezer. I tried the bodybuilder creatine loading protocol and hated it. Cramped me right up on a long hard ride when I was in pretty good form. So I don't recommend that. I got the 5g idea from a CTS coach.

I realize that endurance athletes are not supposed to benefit from creatine. But maybe it helps to retain muscle over time? On the positive side, I've always had a killer hill sprint. I even have a hill the group has named after me.

On the OP's list, I don't see anything of particular benefit for getting rid of lactate. BTW, it's not lactic acid. That chemical does not exist in the human body. It's actually lactate that's being produced, and lactate is a fuel, not an undesirable waste product. See:
Fuel, Not Foe? The Truth About Lactic Acid

Some of the stuff on the OP's list is fine, others not fine:

1. Stay Dynamic To Reduce The Buildup Of Lactic Acid In Your Muscles - What the heck does this mean? Ignore.
2. Use Baking Soda - No, don't. Bad idea to screw with your body's natural ph.
3. Consume Fatty Acids - Yes, and a variety of them, which is more important.
4. Have An Intake Of B Vitamins - Yes. Vegans and many vegetarians should use sub-lingual tabs
5. Be Careful When Lifting Weights - Well yes. Always good form. Most gym rats have terrible form. Learn from a coach or trainer. Increase weights slowly over time.
6. Cooling Down - Yes. Last 15 minutes of a ride should be cool down. Or you can partake of the sprint to the parking lot. Either way works.
7. Stretching Before Any Workout - No. I stretch in the morning after I've warmed up to the day. One is supposed to stretch after a ride, but I've never bothered.
8. Warm Up Prior To Any Exertion - It would be good to have a route which starts off on the flat and gradually increase the pace. That's not always possible. Whatever.
9. Stay Hydrated - Yes. If you aren't peeing every 3 hours you need to drink more.
10. Breathe Deeply - Well yes, except during intervals when you are panting like crazy and about to have a lung up.
11. Workout Frequently - Yes, unless you get too tired. Then take a day off. 5 days/week works best for most folks.
12. Slow Down When You Feel A Hit - Or accelerate for more effective training. If it were easy, everyone would do it.
13. Increase Your Intake Of Magnesium - I take a cal/mag 500/250 cap after every hard ride. Prevents after-ride cramping. My wife also needs 200mg potassium.

However! The way to fix the pain in your legs isn't any of the above. It's intervals. Ride your guts out and ignore the pain in your legs. Our bodies are simply trainable chemical factories. You have to train your body to clear lactate by burning it. Intervals and riding hills as hard as you can are the ways you do that. Yep it hurts. As they say, no pain, no gain.

However! I'm talking muscle pain. Joint and connective tissue pain is another subject. Increase effort and mileage slowly, no more than 10%/week. If you get joint pain, ease off and stretch more.

One last thing: cadence, cadence, cadence. Use a device which displays cadence. Work on keeping your cadence on the flat ~90 and your climbing cadence above 75 until you run out of gears. 80-85 is good. That's the main thing to do in way of avoiding injury. Many people pedal much too slowly. Pedaling faster reduces the force on each individual pedal stroke and that's key.

Thanks for posting that! Very much.

Point1 - we are talkin cycling here - small circles with the legs... not gymnastics floor exercise.
2 - body ph is best handled by the overall diet, sometimes tums for cramping already in process (or when you know you've depleted yourself)
3.Consume Fatty Acids ? how about a general diet plan which is healthy - generally affects everything, not sure this specifically targets leg burn.
4. Don;t know enough about Vit B as relates to high muscle exertion - so pass
5. again, not sure what weight lifting has to do specifically with countering leg burn in cycling
6. Cooling down - 'recovery' pace at the end of long/hard efforts to aid/speed the elimination of waste from muscle tissue is definitely a KNOWN must.
7. For sure best left to well after the cooldown and stop, never before - next point overshadows stretching as the start.
8. Warm Prior to Exertion is #1 - warmup in a staged, increasing manner - for sure #1
9, 10 , 11 - all good points
12. not sure what this is - you will slow down when you hit the wall. Riding to your max and not hitting the wall is the trick we all wish we could do really well. Pacing your effort, keeping your fuels topped to the optimum level is a difficult balance. By the time I 'feel' a 'hit', it's already too late to do much other than limp in.
13.yup, can't hurt - I do Ca,K,Mg and whey/fruit smoothie

I'd add
1a - spin your gears, mash only when you absolutely, positively gotta get there, right now!
1b - set your bike position to maximize your body's attributes and aid the weaknesses
1c - suck wheels whenever you can (within safety and discretion)
1d - adjust your riding and your kit to reflect the current environment - buff guyz/gurlz in TankTops on Blistering Sunny daze may be poseur perfect, but not really smart.
1e - ride your 'ride' not someone else's
1f - guard against eyestrain - vision fatigue saps the entire body

there's prolly a ton more

1. Get your bicycle set up properly.

2. Shift.

Your body doesn't make lactic acid...

And just go ride more. The sharp pains go away after enough miles and get replaced by soul-crushing fatigue. That's what you have to look forward to.

Well put. I was doing a 15 mile upwind leg on a century, into a 25mph wind on the tandem with my wife. We were slowly overhauling singles riders. We passed a very pale young women with her obvious partner 20' ahead. I remarked that this was a "soul crushing wind." She replied, "Yes, my soul has been crushed." I relayed that to her partner who finally dropped back to shelter her. Idiot. We had quite a train behind us after a while. One learns to suffer. It's a skill.

Idiot??

Yeah. Anyone who rides steadily 20' ahead of their SO in a 25mph headwind is an idiot.

so anyone who doesn't draft 5 inches behind is an idiot? maybe they should just get in better biking shape

If you don't get relationship issues, well maybe there's a reason for that. Grow up.

why be so vague. was he supposed to follow her, call a cab, or what?