[notrelatedtoted]

All:

Recently, I've done some rides with some serious climbing almost right away. As a result, I feel like crap for the first half hour and then I don't feel so bad. This is kind of problematic when the hardest climbs come early in the ride. Feels like I'm not getting my money's worth....and I'm also worried that I'm "burning too many matches" too early in the ride, and I'm suffering for it later on as a result of not warming up first. Two weekends ago, I was feeling that first big climb the rest of the day.

Now, on some trails your trail time can double up as a warm up. But what do you do when your choices are laps in the parking lot or just head up the mountain? And how long do you typically warm up before that first big climb? I'm thinking 20 minutes would be my sweet spot, but a lot of times I'm short on time.

So, what's your warm-up routine? Tips? Suggestions?

Thanks.

 

[jeffscott]

sounds like powderface.

I tried spinning intervals around the parking lot.

Before i knew it 8 km. a little down the highway too.

Hit 178 rpm with power 184 topped out.

First climb was a breeze.

 

[BelaySlave]

It takes me a good 15 to sometimes 30 mins to get the lungs going. Luckily most of my local riding starts off with some easy stuff before the real climbing begins. If my route immediatly starts with a climb, then I'll try to ride around for like 10 mins on the flat ground before beginning the "real" ride.

 

[AndrewTO]

Depends on too many factors.

Usually my ride goes like this;

get to the trailhead
meet up with whoever i'm riding with
chat and unpack/assemble bike (mine is kept in the trunk)
change in the washroom
usually I have the opportunity for a 5 minute stretch session
ride

Now, ONE time I was out something stupid was done. The local spot I frequent has a climb called the Green Monster, 20% grade. We started the ride up that. Yeah, I felt THAT for the rest of the ride. :madman:

I've since promised myself to NEVER do that again ..... without a 20 minute warm-up.

Otherwise I just incraese my ride intensity on the trail. I really don't have the patience to do a parking lot warm-up. Time? Yes, but i'd rather just do it on the trail, enjoy the air and scenery a bit ..... then ride my friggin brains out. :thumbsup:

I can't put my finger on any specific warm-up time, but somewhere in the 30-45 minute mark.

 

[BruceBrown]

All:

Recently, I've done some rides with some serious climbing almost right away. As a result, I feel like crap for the first half hour and then I don't feel so bad. This is kind of problematic when the hardest climbs come early in the ride. Feels like I'm not getting my money's worth....and I'm also worried that I'm "burning too many matches" too early in the ride, and I'm suffering for it later on as a result of not warming up first. Two weekends ago, I was feeling that first big climb the rest of the day.

Now, on some trails your trail time can double up as a warm up. But what do you do when your choices are laps in the parking lot or just head up the mountain? And how long do you typically warm up before that first big climb? I'm thinking 20 minutes would be my sweet spot, but a lot of times I'm short on time.

So, what's your warm-up routine? Tips? Suggestions?

Thanks.

If you don't have time to do a good 10 - 20 minute warm up before heading up that first big climb, then another solution to a warm up would be to get a 20T granny ring and a 34T rear cassette bail out gear. That way you could just head up the climb with an easy spin in granny (20T front and 34T rear) until everything is warmed up and you can shift into different gears.

At least that was my solution when I lived in an area where the trailhead was 1 block from my house and the trail went straight up for 30 - 45 minutes. All the streets went downhill from my house for 2 miles, so I simply had to ride up the hill to start every climb and warm up.

BB

 

[Ericmopar]

It depends...

I used to not need a warm-up just 10 years ago.
Now that I'm in my early 40s I need to warm-up for about 30 mins.
My warm-ups are simply riding along at a reduced pace till I feel like my legs have loosened up.
In the winter when temperatures drop it can take longer than the normal 30 mins to get up and running. Sometimes I feel like an old pick-up truck sputtering along until I get to my proper opperating temperature.

Eric.

 

[levels1069]

being an athlete all my life i've learned that warming up is ESSENTIAL when you're really pushing it.

i find that doing a 10 minute warm up at like 65-75% of my max HR really gets my blood moving through and i dont get as tight on the first climbs of the day. I hate when you dont warm up and then tackle that first climb and your HR goes through the ROOF in like 8 seconds flat.

 

[Guest]

when i used to race, i'd pedal around for at least twenty minutes.

now that i'm almost forty five, it takes close to thirty minutes or so. if any of you are familiar with riding from san francisco to marin, i'm feeling pretty ok just after getting across the bridge and up conzelman road, about ten miles.

 

[Bikinfoolferlife]

I try to pick my rides where I don't need to start big climbs immediately, as I prefer a couple flat/rolling miles before any serious climbs. If no choice, or no good way to warm up, I just start the climb in a low gear at a slower pace til I feel warmed up. I got to Crested Butte for the 4th of July without a lot of riding in the previous several weeks due to a wrist injury; first ride on the afternoon we all met we started up toward Snodgrass with no warmup, and at 9000+ feet that really hurts coming from sealevel. Lot of rides around there are like that though, so you may as well just jump right in.

 

[Christine]

I'm relieved to read this, since I never warm up and consequently suffer on the initial climbs.

For the most part, our trails have a built-in warmup early on. I do find that if we switch the direction and/or it starts immediately with a climb, I feel like a fish out of water by the time I get to the top. Combined with trying to keep up with the hammerheads, it's an awful feeling of not getting enough O2. Seems worse in the wintertime.

Makes me very panicky and I try not to say anything about it to anyone, since it usually goes away after a few minutes. I'm certain I'll pass out before the top each time!

Guess I'll have to start incorporating warmups into my routine......bleah. I'm awfully impatient and would rather spend that time sleeping!

 

[gunfodder]

I prefer rides that start with a climb; that way you can combine the suckiness of climbing with the suckiness of warming up. By the time I'm ready for action I've already gained valuable vertical feet that I can cash in later for downhill goodness.

 

[notrelatedtoted]

I can definitely sympathize with impatience - usually, when I get to the trailhead I just want to GO. There's one trail I can ride to from my house, and I've found that the ride over gets me good and warmed up before the first climb.

I'm not so much worried about feeling like crap - I feel like crap in general. I'm more worried that hitting those climbs without warming up is doing me in for the rest of the ride. When I don't have an opportunity to get warmed up, it's like my heartrate skyrockets in the first 30 seconds, like someone else said. Legs burning, feeling like I'm gonna puke, etc.

I dunno. I guess I need to just do some laps or whatever for 15 or 20 minutes. Beats feeling like I'm gonna die and then being cooked for the rest of the ride.

 

[Ricko]

It usually takes a half hour or so before I feel the endorphins kick in, then I feel like I can keep going...and going....:rockon:

If the ride begins with a long climb I just deal with it in the 22/34 combo and grunt. It actually seems that the warm up buzz kicks in a little quicker if the ride begins with a climb:thumbsup:.

 

[Rev Bubba]

30 minutes

I really don't think I'm into any kind of groove for at least a half-hour. This a pain in the butt since I live in a hilly area and don't have the luxury of spinning on the flats until I'm ready for a climb.

 

[Anonymous]

How long do I need, or how long do I usually take? At my age, I need at least 30 min. I usually get warm about twenty minutes into a ride.

 

[Berkeley Mike]

We live on a hillside.

Several of my friends start going straight up the hill. I hate it and I am a good climber. For me it is burnng matches too early adn you get much more from those same matches saved for later. Even if I have ridden for 5 hours the climb that killed me when we started is easier.
It has to do with getting "warmed up," which is a euphemism for engorging your muscles AND CONNECTIVE TISSUES with blood and nutrients and flushing waste products efficiently. Your connective tissues have a much lower density of capillaries than your muscles and take longer to "loosen up." Working hard before you are loose forces the muscles to work at unnatural mechanical dimensions as the connective tissues haven't been stretched to where they would normally be for efficient work. Any learning your body has done to manage hard work is distorted. This is where the matches are wasted.

Riding around the parking lot blows; it just doesn't add up to enough for me but I am an old buy (54) and I need 4-5 miles of steady spinning or 30-40 minutes t really feel ready to ride. So what happens on group rides is that I am off the back early but have learned to be patient with that because I know that later I will be strong. It is important not to let other riders take you out of your game and be confident of what works for you.

 

[jugdish]

Odd man out. The after work rides I do from home have a 2.5- 3 mile road climb (to get to the trail) with a pretty decent grade (Raymond turn off to the PVR stables @ the top of the hill on the Freak2Freak). Man I tell ya after riding it for the past 9 years or so I'm used to hammering off the bat with little effect later. I guess my warm up IS the climb. I also think that you can fool yourself and body into being warmed up by just thinking that you are indeed warmed up, works for me anyway. Mind over matter.

 

[adamantane]

after 5 miles to the trail, i'm warmed up for the trail ride

 

[galleywench]

Definately need about 20-30 minutes before climbing hard. Unfortunately, it always seems like I am late for rides and whoever I am going with has already warmed up, so I end up suffering through it and I have no granny gear to hide on with the SS. It can be quite awful.

 

[rzozaya1969]

I'm in the same boat.... Usually, I'm the latest guy to be ready to ride in the group. By the time I have all my gear ready, it's hit the trail. I know that I could manage to arrive 30 minutes earlier to warm up, but sometimes I have epic battles with the bedsheets and have to rush to get on time.

On some group rides, sometimes there's a warm up session with some stretching basically, no running or riding.

What I like is to have a trail for 1 or 2 miles pretty much flat, and then it's whatever the trail is.