Are you starting to ride a bike? Sport Life offers a quick guide to make you are pedaling more effective.

More doesn’t mean better. It is necessary to be cautious when starting with the training and to know that the loads must follow a logical progression to generate adaptations.

If you’ve never ridden a bike in the first few days with an hour, that’ll be enough. Ride every other day, so your body recovers what it takes. In one month you can start to increase the time of your departure, and in three months you can face the first essential slopes.

It Hurts Me!

The saddle is where all the weight of the body falls. At first, this area usually hurts but little by little. The discomfort goes away. Just know that this discomfort is healthy and has nothing to do with the saddle. The longer the route, the higher the effort this area is subjected to.

To avoid boils or irritations, use unique biker pants, which have a buffer tissue area in the Perine (called bandana) and above all maintain good hygiene in the area, to prevent the proliferation of bacteria with the moisture of sweat.

Muscle cramps:

Cramps usually appear when significant efforts are made, and one is not used to them. On your first tours, if you exceed your ability, you could suffer the typical cramp in a twin or quadriceps. They may also appear from an incorrect position on the bike or lack of hydration or solid intake.

If you get a cramp, you have to stop and stretch the affected muscle. Slow down and try to wear a higher pedal cadence to get home without continuing to suffer these tugs.

Back pain:

Sometimes the pain may occur in the lumbar area or the sacral bone, usually due to muscle pull or deviations from the small joints of the vertebral discs. Excessive exposure to cold can also cause bone pain due to inflammation of the periosteum.

The saddle and the height of the handlebar should be adjusted well. Pedaling with a proper technique and getting up from time to time are critical factors in relaxing your back. If the discomfort is due to the Cold, do not forget to go with the lumbar area well protected. Do abs three times a week with your knees bent. Back discomfort is often due to an excess of lumbar tone and a lack of abdominal tone.

Pain in the back of the head:

An incorrect position of the saddle and handlebars can cause discomfort to the neck muscles. To prevent or alleviate this type of pain, it is essential to carry out some kind of Special Compensatory activity regularly: yoga, stretching, Pilates, etc.

The handlebar should not be far below the saddle height and should not be tilted forward. It is convenient to change position from time to time to relax on top of the bike.

Knee pains:

Cycling is not usually an activity that causes too much damage to the joints. However, if discomfort often arises, it is generally overloaded in the kneecap, in the insertion of the tendons and is usually due to excessive effort, too hard developments, little machine adaptation time or cold weather.

When your knees bother you at the front, you are likely to be a little low on the saddle, try climbing it so that you pedal without reaching the knee extension but close to it. When the discomfort is in the popliteal area (back of the knee), you usually have the saddle too high. Upload and test. Don’t make variations of more than half an inch at a time.

Pain in the hands and forearms: just by holding the handlebars, the muscles of the forearm are subjected to the considerable effort.

It is therefore advisable not to hold on too tightly to the handlebars and to reduce the pressure on them. You must avoid, also, not supporting all the body weight on the handlebars and changing the position from time to time.

If your hands bother you, you’ll probably have to raise the height of the handlebars. Try releasing your grip from time to time and shaking it in the air so that you can relax and discharge the muscles of your forearm and arm.