Continuing the discussion from Taipei to Kaohsiung - A Cycling Route:
What do you do to recover from 9-10 hour cycling days? Do you just work up to that volume after a period of time (how long) and do you have any recovery techniques or periods you’d take after an activity of that length?
Do you also do any other forms of exercise?
Sofa, blanket* and movies.
*Weather dependent.
Chocolate milk
Ibuprofen
Pub.
But in all seriousness slow and steady building up to long days in the saddle makes recovery a lot more comfortable and faster. 12hrs on the bike is a lot, but you get used to it if you do it regularly.
Put your bike in the corner and don’t even look at it for a month. That’s what I did after Wuling. I actually didn’t feel too bad except for saddle sores, but really, really, really didn’t feel like riding again for a while.
Have large ice cold beer, hot shower, eat bowl of spicy Korean noodles with poached eggs another cold beer have a nap.
Need to find a good source of ramen noodles in the UK which isn’t pot noodle. I’d love some soba noodles right now
Really depends on the intensity of the ride and how much sleep I got the night before. Normally, I drink some chocolate milk or soy milk when I get home. Make sure I continue to drink water throughout the day and use the massage gun.
Afyer my Taipei yo Kaoshiung rides, after having my recovery drink, I had gone straight for a massage. It’s epic pain, but it’s just a way I reward myself for the effort.
I don’t do any other kinds of exercise. I used to do a bit of yoga the day after rides to stretch out the muscles, but I don’t anymore.
I know a guy who takes exogenous substances doctor prescribed in taiwan that helps him recover from long bike rides. He’s basically on that lance Armstrong regiment. Look into it…why not?
If you’re like above 40 years old and cycling that hard surely you would want to take a look at something.
Go on a recovery ride.
That ride is pretty flat so you just need to build up your saddle time. You’ll work out what works best for you recovery wise along the way, but suggestions so far are pretty typical approaches.
If you have a tub, taking a long hot bath while sipping on my protein shake or soy milk always did wonders for me. Also, not skipping the after ride stretches (even though I felt nasty and just wanted to take a shower) and foam rolling.
The next day I usually felt energy drained, so I used to take a cold shower to numb the muscle aches and then go for a recovery ride or walk.
Not sure about the fried egg, prefer the virtually-raw poached variety mixed in with the noodles personally, but absolutely approve otherwise!
Went past Waitrose (oooo get me!) and grabbed by ankles on the way past the tills, they had actual Cup Noodles there, bought that and some udon and some eggs (“Fabulous eggs from fabulous birds” it says on it, how very bourgeoisie) for my dinner. Fantastic
Tomorrow I’ll go back to being culturally British and lob the remaining eggs at a BMW.
Eggs are Poached in the noodle soup, I agree overcooked this time.
I’ll admit my mistake and stand corrected! 
I skip the eggs (but many Koreans like some egg in their ramen), and add American sliced cheese and spam. And I always use Shin Ramen. Their noodles are the best. Oh, and I leave the noodles ever so slightly undercooked. Now that is a perfect meal in the evening after a long ride. @Andrew0409 will know that this is how it’s done.
9 posts were split to a new topic: Gravel Bike Discussions
Is that spam?
Edit. I see it is. Not for me.
@Andrew0409 the community needs your advice
