FINAL FEW DAYS!!! WE ROLL OFF ON WEDNESDAY!

The finishing touches to the event are now falling in to place. A few of the riders have been having last-minute remedial and soft-tissue treatments with our sponsor and all round good egg, Sports Therapist Sharon Honey, of  Bodyline Sport Therapy. 

Sharon has over 25 years of experience, and is well known across a number of different sports and sport organisations in the South East for her work. 

In helping us in our preparation, Sharon pointed out that cycling in itself is an excellent way to improve cardio vascular fitness and places a massive emphasis on the muscles groups of the lower limb (gluteal, quadriceps, hamstrings and calves) to continuously push the pedals. 

Sharon Honey

A number of our riders have sought Sharon's help as the weekly mileage built up in preparation for the trip. On each turn of the pedal, during the downstroke the gluteal, hamstring and quadriceps groups of that leg work to extend the hip and knee to push the pedal from the 12 o’clock to the 5 o’clock position, following which almost passive hip and knee flexion occurs due to the same movements occurring in the muscles of the opposite leg to push the pedal on that side down.   

When we multiply that by the thousands of pedal strokes during each (approximately 80 mile) day's riding, it's easy to see how muscular fatigue can become an issue.

Because of these combined requirements, Sharon pointed out that hip and knee flexion may also be aided by the hamstring and calf muscles if extra power is required. 

Cycling is a closed kinetic chain activity, meaning that the foot, in this case, is fixed and this leads to compressive forces in the muscles which are working only concentrically.  Add to this movement which is almost totally in the sagittal plane and we have an athlete with short tight and overworked hip flexor and lower back muscles leading to back pain and reduced power in the gluteal muscles.   

Riders and staff meet Sports Nutritionist David Dixon

Furthermore lack of flexibility in the lower back causes the cyclist to overreach with the arms and put too much weight on the hands which leads to tightness in the neck and upper back.

So as you can see from Sharon's analysis of the physiology of cycling, flexibility work, and some soft-tissue treatment, can go a long way to ensuring us riders are as primed and ready to tackle each day as possible.

Sharon's contribution has been invaluable to us, both in terms of our better knowledge of our own cycling, but also with her hands-on treatments. Sharon, we're really glad to have you on board!!

David Dixon, with nutritional advice

One further update - David Dixon's nutrition workshop at Cycle Surgery on Friday was a welcome help. We now have an outline meal plan for the entire ten days. It even features a 'small glass of red wine' at the end of each day. Thankfully, with my amazing translational skills, 'Un Grand verre de vin, s'il vous plait serveur' should just about sort that one....

We'll have one more update for you, tomorrow evening, as we pack our bags, check our tyre pressures, and shave our legs!