What Your Post-Ride Pains Mean
It's a relatively common scenario: You finish a ride strong, but once you're off the bike, you start to feel yucky. It happens to the best of us, but the good news is the post-ride blues are easily preventable with a little foresight and pre-planning. "I think post-ride problems are often extensions of in-ride issues,” says Michael Ross, MD, a sports medicine physician with the Rothman Institute.
We looked at some of the most common post-ride complaints and found the simplest ways to avoid them—and often, what’s good for your post-ride is good for you in-ride.
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Stomachache
The most common trouble-causing mistake Ross sees is overeating while riding. During your ride, those gels you’re pounding may make you feel like a rockstar, but once you get off the bike, they might catch up to you in the form of a post-ride stomachache, nausea, or cramping.
The solution? Focus on eating the correct amount during your ride. For a ride of one to three hours, for example, every hour you want to eat between 30 and 60 grams of carbs (depending on your size and how hard you’re riding), and drink a bottle of water. But you may need to play with those amounts to see what works best for you.
If you’re not getting that ache after every ride, consider documenting when it happens (we recommend using the Bicycling Training Journal). Log what you ate before, during, and after rides for a couple weeks; note which times you’re feeling nauseous post-ride. You might find a common pattern, and realize that a certain bar or sports drink simply isn’t agreeing with you, or that you’re uncomfortable on days you’re clearly eating too many calories on your ride.
Headache
Dehydration can be brutal—it's often the culprit behind your post-ride headache, says Ross—so make sure you’re drinking enough. It's recommended that cyclists consume roughly one 16- to 20-ounce bottle per hour, a bit more if it's hot out.
However, sunshine can be another potential cause of headaches. Ross suggests riders wear shades on sunny days, as bright light and intense focus on the road ahead can cause serious eyestrain, resulting in that nagging ache.
The occasional over-the-counter pain reliever is fine, Ross adds, but don’t rely on it after every ride. “People also get headaches after they’ve gone hard. Unfortunately, there’s no avoiding that, and sometimes anti-inflammatory medication is the only thing other than just waiting it out,” he adds. "But you shouldn’t need a stronger prescription or anything like that.” However, if you’re perpetually plagued with headaches when you walk in the door, check in with your doctor.
Bloating
“Drink more, eat less—that’s almost always the answer,” Ross says. He adds that most cyclists will take in more food than necessary while not drinking enough to dilute it, so food ends up sitting uncomfortably in your stomach. This can also occur when you’re eating bars and gels and washing them down with sports drinks—when the fluid you're taking in is full of sugar and electrolytes, there’s still not enough plain old water content to effectively dilute food.
With most of our blood being diverted to our legs as we pedal, it’s important to make digestion as easy as while riding. Dialing in how much you’re eating and drinking on the bike is key. “Everything should be diluted. You want the calories to be absorbed, not just sitting in your gut,” Ross says.
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Leg Cramps
You might be low on electrolytes—that’s the simple answer, Ross says. If you're drinking straight water, drop in some Nuun tablets to provide sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium.
But for some riders, a few extra sips of sports drink won't help. If that's the case, make sure you're not forgetting an important part of your workout: the cool-down. “When you only have 60 minutes to ride, it can be hard to get in a full cool-down to remove that lactic acid that has built up in your legs, especially if you’ve done a hard ride,” he says.
The cure is simple: Slow it down. Take the last 10 to 15 minutes of your ride to really pedal at low power, trying to spin your legs at a relatively high cadence to clear them out so you’re ready for the next day.
Urgent Need to Pee
If you find yourself consistently dismounting to dash to the nearest restroom, you might need to adjust the way that you sit on the bike, says Ross. This problem most often occurs in women, and the cause is often too much pressure on the urethra, thanks to the way riders sit on the saddle. Try to ease back so that your sitbones are taking the brunt of the pressure, he says, and try to keep the front of your pelvis from mashing down on the seat. A different saddle style—like a cutout—or a proper bike fit may go a long way in alleviating that pressure.
If it’s still a problem, Ross says it might be a urinary tract infection or yeast infection that’s the culprit: consult with your doctor, especially if it’s a regular occurrence after a seat adjustment; happens outside of your riding; or is accompanied by any pain, itching, or burning sensations.
Cold and Shaky
Walked in the door and can’t get warm, even after a hot ride? “That’s just cooling down too quickly,” says Ross, and it can happen no matter what temperature you’ve been riding in. "You have all these mechanisms to get rid of heat, to dissipate that heat, and they don’t stop right away if you don’t cool down. They gradually stop." So if you stop abruptly, your body is still working on cooling down, and it can go too low, temperature-wise. Simple cure? Spin easy for the last few minutes and really chill out—your muscles will thank you.
Hacking Cough
If you’ve come in after a cold ride and felt like you were going to cough up a lung, don’t worry—you’re not alone. It’s a pretty common problem, thanks to the change in temperature in your lungs as you hit warmer air in your house or car post-ride.
“It’s a problem of muscle spasms because the tissue is irritated and inflamed,” Ross says. If it’s mild, it will subside on its own—and you can help it along with a warm, steamy shower. If it’s constantly an issue, an inhaler might help: You might be slightly asthmatic, Ross says, and if it’s a problem to the point that you feel your breathing is being affected, talk to your doctor.
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