No Pain, No Gain: Injury Prevention & The Foam Roller

To this point in the season, I’ve managed to keep myself pretty much injury free. By absolutely no means do I feel that this is an accident. Pro-active body maintenance plays a pivotal role in lowering my chance of injury.

In a previous article I mentioned the importance of warming up, stretching, recovery, massage and Active Release Therapy (A.R.T.) as methods to combat injury, but there is another element that I neglected to mention (or wasn’t aware of at the time). It combines the benefits of stretching, massage and active release in to one magical device of both torture and relief.

It is the foam roller. (insert dramatic music here…)

Bearing in mind that nothing can really replace what a trained professional brings to the table, the foam roller acts as a very close second and is a fantastic way to maintain and extend the benefits of a great massage or active release therapist.

Now, I’m not going to lie to you – using a foam roller (especially on tight areas) hurts like a *$%&#^@, but just like a really deep massage, it’s a good pain that pays dividends after the fact ;-)

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Cross is calling!

Sadly, as August makes way for September, the mountain bike race season comes to a close and many racers will be hanging up their team kits until the spring. But, with the cooler temperatures rolling in, if you’re one of the race-addicted and you listen closely, you can already hear the foreboding call of Cross! Ahh… Yes! Cyclocross, the demented sport of racing rigid framed bikes, with skinny tires and cantilever breaks over loamy, grassy knolls, through sand pits, up stairs, and over wood plank barriers… How could you turn that down?!

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Lunch with Lance

Yesterday I walked past Phil Liggett on my way down Jasper Ave. ‘Hello, Phil!’ I said. “Hello there!” he chimed back with a small, but very polite nod.

Seeing Phil Liggett in Edmonton might have normally surprised me, but I was on my way to the Link Pink, Lance Armstrong for Breast Cancer luncheon fundraiser at the Edmonton Shaw Conference Centre. It was sold out, and packed! Hosted in the new Hall D, 1,100 of us sat around well-dressed tables of ten for a 3 course lunch before Lance Armstrong took the stage. His message, definitely one of triumph, hope and perseverance but to my surprise, Lance also took questions from the floor, answering candidly about his own personal and professional life, his future away from the tour (jokingly calling it his Retirement 2.0), and his family…

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Zoot CompressRx Recovery Tights

At first I didn’t really buy into the whole compression scene – I wasn’t sure if it was simply that I thought it better to let my body recover at a natural pace, or whether I thought the whole thing was a little goofy.

But then it occurred to me… I’ve shaved my legs, I routinely wear lycra, and think a big helmet with a bunch of holes in it makes me look cool. I’m already pretty much as goofy as it gets.

With multi-day races (TransRockies) and enduro events (Giver-8-r, Superhero Enduro) on my race calendar, I felt that exploring a decrease in recovery time might be worth the money. After checking with some friends savvy to the compression gear the recurring recommendation were the Zoot CompressRx Recovery tights.

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Smart Bike

A while back, Ken wrote an article on ‘The Future of Gadgets’, and the elegance of the un-cluttered handlebar.  Well, it looks like, and really we shouldn’t be that surprised, Apple has been working on this, and of course taken it to the next level. Why stop at providing consumers with a ‘smart phone’, when you can provide a ‘smart bike’ to go along with it?

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2010 Transrockies: TR3

This August marked another chapter in the Bikeridr saga… A chapter where paths diverge, where each man is forced to make his own way, to etch his own destiny. You read correctly… This August brought the TR3 to the Bikeridr boys.

We knew it was going to be an entirely new grab bag of pain, suffering and epic awesomeness (yes, I just said that) compared to last years Transrockies. But before we get started – A quick shout out to all our readers who came up and said hi:

Thanks so much! We really appreciate it!!

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Out of office alert

Thanks for checkin’ in! Team bikeridr is out on the trails racing in the TR3. Wish us luck!

Randoms – Hoffman, TR and Lance

As I’m off to Fernie this weekend to race in the TR3 and currently busy with packing, bike tweaking, and home renos, etc…, this week I just wanted to post up something, well, easy. One of the hardest things I always find about bloging, is deciding on the topic. This week, as usual I had a few post ideas rolling around in my head, so to save myself the anxiety-ridden trouble of decision making, I’ve decided to just write a little on all three. In this post, I’ve got Matt Hoffman, BMX big-air guru, the average age of the Transrockies, and the curtain call of my cycling hero and cancer fighter extraordinaire, Lance.

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Ready for the TransRockies?!?!

With both Sheldon and I having fairly serious commitments this summer it just wasn’t in the cards for another full fledged 7-day epic. As we pondered what this summer had in store for us we eventually determined that the only logical alternative we had was the TR3 – well, as logical as mountain bike stage racing is ;-).

Granted we may not be officially racing together this year, but we’re still Bikeridr teammates… Here’s how we’re feelin’ from the north and south of Alberta!

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2010 Trek Dirt Series

I love anything that gets women on bikes… Primarily because women on bikes are at least 15% more attractive than all other women (it’s a proven fact, don’t bother disputing it), but also because I feel that cycling (especially mountain biking) can be a slightly intimidating environment for women.

Anything that able to put women in a comfortable environment and let them immerse themselves in the awesomeness of cycling is something I can get behind!

Not being of the female persuasion, and not willing to pull out some Ms. Doubtfire action, I reached out to two of my friends to recon the 2010 Trek Dirt Series (originally the Sugoi Dirt Series) and answer some questions for me. I wanted some different perspectives, and since both Cate and Kim come from fairly different backgrounds, I think I got it.

If you’re sitting on the fence, or even considering doing something like a mountain bike camp, I’m sure the answers below will have you signing up in no time!

So without further ado, meet your hosts:

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