How to look after your body for e-cycling fitness
Road electric bikes are amazing, they help you ride further and more often. On a road electric bike pedal assist takes some of the load so you can develop your fitness without over doing it. But to feel good every time you get on your bike it’s important to look after your body. Here are our five top tips for keeping your body bike ride ready.
1. What to eat and drink during your bike ride
Even though your road electric bike is doing some of the work for you, to keep pushing the pedals around you need to keep pushing the pedals around you need to keep yourself full of energy. In the same way that your road electric bike runs on electricity, your body needs energy from carbohydrate and water. Take a bottle of water on every ride and make sure that you are drinking frequently, particularly in hot weather. Good cycling snacks are bananas, cereal bars, dried fruit and jelly sweets that are easy and enjoyable to eat on the go.
2. How to tune up your muscles with stretching
Road electric bikes are designed to be comfortable to ride but after a long day in the saddle you may find your neck, shoulders or back ache a bit from your cycling position. The solution is gentle stretching. The key is to stretch within your natural range and not push deeply into stretches your body is not ready for. Stretching doesn’t have to take long and can be an enjoyable way to relax.
3.What to eat to repair your body
It's important to fuel your body during the ride, but so is what you eat afterwards to help your body repair. Your meal after cycling should have a mixture of protein, to re-build your muscles and carbohydrate, to re-fill your energy stores. Something like lean meat or fish with pasta or potatoes and a green salad is simple to make and will keep your body healthy with its mixture of nutrients.
4. When to rest and recover between bike rides
Road electric bikes allow their owners to ride further and more often than they would on a conventional bike, by taking some of the load and reducing the effort of cycling. It’s one of the best reasons for getting an road electric bike! But, even though you will feel a lot less fatigued than you would on a conventional bike it is ok, even a good idea, to have a day or two off cycling every now and again.
5. Learn to listen to your body
Cycling should never hurt, especially not road electric bike. You might get an occasional ‘good’ ache in your legs that shows you have been working harder than usual but that is very different to the aches and pains of an injury. If you have pain in your muscles or joints, or where you sit on the saddle, it could mean that your bike is not set up properly for your body. Just changing your saddle height, your reach to the handle bars or swapping your saddle for a new one can make your cycling experience more comfortable.