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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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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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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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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Le Tour de France – Retrospect

As July slowly draws to a close, we say farewell to the Tour de France. Groggy and hungover from Tour withdrawal, I wanted to share some of my thoughts on the past 3 weeks, 3,642 kilometres and 91 hours. Hopefully you’ll give me your thoughts as well!

I obviously can’t speak for anybody but myself, but I found this Tour fascinating… It had all the ingredients for high drama and it delivered in spades:

• An aging champion, coming back for one more round
• A young Canadian, putting on an stellar performance
• A man who many love to hate, but is without question the ‘fastest man on two wheels’
• A dropped chain, a controversial attack

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Le Tour de Femme?

A friend of mine sent me a message the other day wondering if there was a women’s Tour de France. As with most sporting events, I assumed that there was – just that it received little media coverage, a seemingly unfortunate fact of women’s racing.

After a little digging I found that, in fact, no women’s Tour de France exists; though there is one race in their season considered of equal importance to the Tour. The Giro Donne (aka Giro D’Italia Femminile) – A 921.9km, 10 stage race that traverses through Italy in much the same way the Tour covers France.

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The Legend of Jens

I challenge you not to love Jens Voigt. This man is made out of chiseled granite and railway spikes. He is truly the stuff of legend.

For the second year in a row a bad crash threatened to take Jens out of the Tour de France.

After a front-tire blow-out, shattering his bike, tearing open his elbow and being covered in road rash at the start of a 25km descent, Jens had some choice words for the Broom Wagon.

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A Photographic Tour de France

A moment of suffering, captured forever.

This image of Cadel Evans turning himself inside out, and many other fantastic images of the Tour de France can be seen on The Big Picture.

2010 Edmonton Canada Cup

Canada Cup race weekend began rather ominously… Driving up to Edmonton we ran through one of the worst rainstorms I’ve ever had the displeasure of traveling through. The effects of the storm on my mood were amplified even more by my apprehension of what all this rain was doing to the course!!

Sadly, my fears were realized Saturday morning when I met up with Sheldon and Gord, to pre-ride the course. I would say optimistically that 1/3 of the course was ‘walkable,’ another 1/3 was super greasy and sketchy, and the last 1/3 of the course was ‘manageable.’

Needless to say we weren’t exactly feeling ‘race ready’ after our pre-ride. Amongst the riders we ran into speculation was flying as to whether or not the course would dry up, or whether it would be a mud-ridden suffer fest.

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