Are You Ready for Spring?

The warm days are rolling in, and you can bet there will be quite a few Dancing Bear cycling jerseys out on the East Tennessee roads! With Dancing Bear Bike Bash just around the corner in April, we are gearing up for a great ride. Some of you might be ready to ride year round, but if you need a refresher course to get you motivated here are a few tips to get you ready to ride April 15 - 17th, 2011!

1. Knock the dust off your bike! And get it tuned up. Make sure someone you trust looks over your bike to ensure it is ready for your first rides of the season.
2. Re-evaluate your riding. Now is a great time to look back and think about what you need to do differently this year. Did you have the tools you needed for your flat, did you carry enough water, etc.
3. Set some realistic goals. If you set goals based on your current skill level and your desires for the year, you will have a better riding season. Set a few ambitious goals, but build in smaller ones along the way. That way you can see progress, which should inspire you to accomplish the bigger ones.
4. Don’t be an eager beaver. Start short and/or slow. Most people lose some muscle mass/strength over the winter due to not riding as much. If you start too hard you could injure yourself and miss the start of the season.
5. Compare your times with the spring of last year, not your times before the winter break, as you were in better shape in the fall than the spring last year. This will help to give you a true comparison of how you are doing year after year.
6. Increase your riding time and intensity each week, but take time to recover, meaning do not ride. There is thought out there that you can engage in “active recovery”, but unless you are planning on racing this season it is a bad idea.
7. Watch and adjust your nutrition. I tend to eat differently during the winter when I am not riding as much, which isn’t always what I need when I jump back into it.
8. Stretch! I cannot emphasize enough how important this is. You should stretch every day, riding or not. You can stretch before a ride, but I usually warm up by starting my route slowly and at a high cadence. When I focus my stretching is after the ride. I tend to get better and deeper stretches, and find that I see overall improvement because of it.
9. On a scale of 1-5, strive for a 5, but know that it will probably take you six to twelve months to bump it up one number. A one is touching your ankles. A five is being able to bend over with your legs straight and placing your palms on the floor without warming up. I am not a five yet but working on it.
10. Ride in local group rides in your skill level. This will help you get reacquainted with the dynamics of riding with others.
11. Take time to enjoy yourself, it’s why you are out there in the first place.