Stage 10 - She's All Thumbs

Are you aware that pro cyclists get leg massages both before and after every ride? Must be nice having an expert work out all of the kinks and keep the muscles supple and sore free. To find out how this works, and as a service to you dear reader, last evening I went and had my first ever cycling specific massage. Here's how it worked;

My therapist, Michelle, began by asking me an entire series of questions regarding my health history, an assessment of my current overall health and detailed information regarding which parts of my body had aches, pains and/or stiffness (pretty much all of it). With that she was able to quickly come up with a plan for the one hour session.

As I relaxed laying on my back she continued to ask questions and explain why she was doing whatever it was that she was doing. She began by massaging my scalp as a way of getting my entire body into a state of relaxation which makes the muscles more receptive to what she was going to do to them. I had mentioned that my neck and shoulders got sore from spending so many hours hunched over the handlebars. She worked those muscles over but told me that oftentimes it is the opposing muscle group that causes stiffness. I wasn't sure what she meant but after she stretched and massaged my pectorals (chest muscles) my shoulders and neck immediately felt much better. So there's cycling tip number one; stretch the pecs before and after every ride. HERE is the stretch that Michelle recommended.

From there she moved to the muscles at the front of the thigh, the quadriceps. Yes, those muscles that do the majority of the work when on the bike. While I thought that my right leg was worse she found many more knots in my left leg. Knots, Michelle explained, are really just areas of muscle fibers that get stuck together from injury or overuse. When the fibers are sticking they do not fire correctly and therefore you will experience a loss of power (in addition to the soreness). These can be prevented by stretching, massage and making sure to keep hydrated. Tip number two; drink more water than you think that you need. Not only does the water help prevent physical dehydration, headaches and loss of endurance and power, it can and does prevent muscle knots, which are a form of cramping. Since I had plenty of problem areas she spent quite a bit of time here.



Again, she mentioned that thigh tightness is often due to hamstring tightness (the opposing muscles) and therefore she worked over the hamstrings too. Hamstrings are the long muscles at the back of your thighs. Mine where pretty supple so she concluded that the tightness in my quads was indeed due to all of the cycling. She asked me to rank the level of pain from one to ten as she got her fingers and thumbs deep into the muscle tissues. Whenever we reached five she would back off a bit. She explained that muscle massage can cause some soreness the following day and she didn't want me to struggle through tomorrow's ride. Tip number three: plan your massages when you have a rest day the day after the massage. This will allow you to reap the full benefits of a good massage.

She then worked on my lower back since that area is under a lot of stress when in the cycling position. There are a pair of muscles that connect your lower rib to your hip called the quadratus lumborum. This is a stabilizer muscle that is under tremendous strain throughout our daily lives. Stiffness and tightness here is often the cause of the generalized term; lower back pain. Tip number four; have a cute member of the opposite sex (or the same sex for you non-traditional readers) follow the simple massage technique explained HERE.

Then she turned to my feet for a few minutes. While not a reflexologist, she did believe that applying pressure on certain areas of the foot can have some health benefits. It's especially helpful in reducing overall stress. While I don't buy into the theory that putting pressure on a particular area of your foot can help with your spleen problems, as seen on this CHART, getting a foot massage is a beautiful thing. Tip number five; have the person from tip number four apply thumb pressure on various parts of your feet as seen on the handy dandy chart and let me know if you derive any health benefits other than it feeling pretty darn good.

She finished up by giving my calves a wonderfully painful work-over. Those proved to be the knottiest muscles of all.

After getting dressed (yes, I was completely nude but under a bed sheet that she wrapped around my midsection in diaper-like fashion) she handed me a cold bottle of water and told me to drink it in the next fifteen minutes. The deep massage removes acids and toxins from the muscles and you want to be sure to flush them out of circulation and get them completely out of your body. Tip number six; drink, drink, drink following a massage.

I paid $65.00 for the one hour session and I think that it was worth it. It felt great, I learned a lot from Michelle and my legs feel reborn.


I suppose you want to hear about today's ride too? Darin, The Boss and I joined up with the PCW Cycling Team for their Wednesday night ride out of the Highland House in Mequon, WI. It was a very fast sixty miles - just what I needed.


Here is a handy list of some terms that you might hear during coverage of the Tour de France (and their definitions);

Broom Wagon: The originator of the Tour thought it would be necessary to have a rescue wagon follow the riders in case the mountain roads were beyond their ability to ascend, hence the Broom Wagon to sweep up the exhausted racers. It is still in use, following the last rider in a stage. Today when a rider abandons he usually prefers to get into one of his team cars. Years ago the Broom Wagon had an actual broom bolted to it but today this wonderful bit of symbolism is gone. In the 1910 Tour if a rider could not finish a mountain stage he could restart the next day and compete for stage wins but he was out of the General Classification competition. Today an abandonment sticks. The rider is out of the Tour for that year. Before a rider enters the broom wagon an official removes the dossard or back number on the rider's jersey. In French the Broom Wagon is called the Voiture Balai.

Category: In European stage racing it is a designation of the difficulty of a mountain climb. This is a subjective judgment of the difficulty of the ascent, based upon its length, gradient and how late in the stage the climb is to be ridden. A medium difficulty climb that comes after several hard ascents will get a higher rating because the riders will already be tired. The numbering system starts with "4" for the easiest that still rate being called a climb and then with increasing severity they are 3, 2, 1. The most challenging are above categorization, or in the Tour nomenclature, "Hors catégorie", HC.

Col: French for mountain pass.

DNF: Did not finish. Used in results to denote that the racer started but did not complete the race.

Domestique: French. Because bicycle racing is a sport contested by teams and won by individuals a man designated to be the team leader has his teammates work for him. These men have been called domestiques since Tour founder Henri Desgrange used it as a term of contempt for Maurice Brocco whom he believed was selling his services to aid other riders in the 1911 Tour. Today the term has lost its bad connotation and serves as an acknowledgment of the true nature of racing tactics. Domestiques will chase down competitors and try to neutralize their efforts, they will protect their team leader from the wind by surrounding him. When a leader has to get a repair or stop to answer nature his domestiques will stay with him and pace him back up to the peloton. They are sometimes called "water carriers" because they are the ones designated to go back to the team car and pick up water bottles and bring them back up to the leader. In Italian the term is "gregario".

Drafting: At racing speed a rider who is only a few inches behind another bike does about 30 percent less work. Riding behind another rider in his aerodynamic slipstream is called drafting. This is the basic fact of bike racing tactics and why a rider will not just leave the peloton and ride away from the others, no matter how strong he is. Only in the rarest of cases can a racer escape a determined chasing peloton. To make an escape work he needs the pack to be disinterested in chasing for some length of time so that he can gain a large enough time gap. Then, when the sleeping pack is aroused they do not have enough time to catch him no matter how fast they chase. A rider who drafts others and refuses to go to the front and do his share of the work is said to be "sitting on." There are a number of pejorative terms for a rider who does this, the best known is "wheelsucker".

Drop: When a rider cannot keep up with his fellow riders and comes out of their aerodynamic slipsteam, whether in a break or in the peloton, he is said to be dropped.

Feed zone: The specific point along a race route where the riders pick up food and drink. Racing etiquette generally keeps racers from attacking at this point, but there have been some famous initiatives that have started while the riders were having musettes (bags) of food handed up.

King of the Mountains: Winner of the Grand Prix de la Montagne. In 1933 the Tour de France started awarding points for the first riders over certain hard climbs, the winner of the competition being the King of the Mountains. In 1975 the Tour started awarding the distinctive polka-dot jersey or maillot a pois to the leader of the classification. The first rider to wear the dots was the Dutch racer Joop Zoetemelk. The classification has lost some of its magic in recent years because of the tactics riders use to win it. Today a rider wishing to win the KOM intentionally loses a large amount of time in the General Classification. Then when the high mountains are climbed the aspiring King can take off on long breakaways to be first over the mountains without triggering a panicked chase by the Tour GC contenders.

Maillot Jaune: See Yellow Jersey.

Palmarès: French for an athlete's list of accomplishments.

Parcours: The race course.

Peloton: The main group of riders traveling together in a race. Breaks leave the front of it, dropped riders exit its rear. Synonyms: bunch, group, field, pack.

Rainbow Jersey: The reigning world champion in a particular cycling event gets to wear a white jersey with rainbow stripes. The championships for most important events are held in the Fall. A former World Champion gets to wear a jersey with rainbow trim on his sleeves and collar. If a World Champion becomes the leader of the Tour, he will trade his Rainbow Jersey for the Leader's Jersey.

Yellow Jersey: Worn by the rider who is leading in the General Classification in the Tour de France. It is believed that Yellow was chosen because the pages of the sponsoring newspaper L'Auto was printed on yellow paper. But that may not be true. Yellow may have been chosen because jerseys of that color were unpopular and therefore cheap and easy to get.


Today's Mileage Goal: 60. Miles Ridden: 60.