Strange day..

[Biker Joe]

Actually now you mention it, I did have a similar experience last year when I went out in very cold damp weather and felt terrible. Maybe temperature can affect performance.

Research carried out at The Department of Physiology, Centre Medical Universitaire, Geneva, Switzerland. Has shown that the muscles themselves are not effected by cold. The reduction in power in the cold is a consequence of a decrease in O2 supply associated with reduced blood flow to the muscles due to Vasoconstriction where the blood flow to muscles or the outer parts of the body is reduced.

Good that, init?

 

[Globalti]

When I was a teenager I used to find that temporary spells of localised vasodilation made it quite hard to ride home from my girlfriend's house....

 

[Skipper]

Sport is a funny old game. Some days youv'e got it! Some days you ain't! I've played football, been a serious runner, swim every week, and now cycle four times a week. Some days are good, some days are bad. Sometimes it's linked with food or rest, but sometimes it isn't. You can't put your finger on what makes the difference between a good and bad day. You learn to put up with the bad ones, and enjoy the good ones. Just put it behind you, and focus on the next one .........

 

[Chescadence]

Research carried out at The Department of Physiology, Centre Medical Universitaire, Geneva, Switzerland. Has shown that the muscles themselves are not effected by cold. The reduction in power in the cold is a consequence of a decrease in O2 supply associated with reduced blood flow to the muscles due toVasoconstrictionwhere the blood flow to muscles or the outer parts of the body is reduced.

Good that, init?

That makes perfect sense; it's done to keep blood flow and warmth to the "vital" (All my areas are vital) areas when it's cold so I can see that it would have that effect on performance.

In reply to Globalti:
I can well believe that.

In reply to Skipper:
Yeah, exactly right; like I said, I enjoyed the ride and that's half the battle! On-wards and upwards as they say; the smallest things can make the difference! Can't see the point in dwelling on it.

Cheers guys,
C

 

[robjh]

About the cold - I've often noticed that when the temp drops below zero, my legs can feel strangely lacking in power at the start of a ride, but it comes back after a while, maybe 20 minutes into the ride. The explanation of reduced CO2 supply sounded quite convincing to me (but I'm not a scientist)

 

[Hip Priest]

Everyone has days like this. One day last year I went out for my usual 50 miler, lovely weather, but I had nothing at all in my legs. 6 miles in I got halfway up a relatively easy climb and just couldn't continue, so I turned round and went home.

Next ride was my quickest of the year. Go figure!

 

[Chescadence]

Everyone has days like this. One day last year I went out for my usual 50 miler, lovely weather, but I had nothing at all in my legs. 6 miles in I got halfway up a relatively easy climb and just couldn't continue, so I turned round and went home.

Next ride was my quickest of the year. Go figure!

Isn't the human body a baffling machine eh? We all do our best to understand how to make it perform at it's highest level, fine tune our training, nutrition etc but sometimes your legs just aren't there...inexplicably.

Sure normal service will be resumed next week!

 

[Nearly there]

We all have these days on monday I did a 20 mile ride but didn't have much in the tank,today I did the same route felt good and was 8 minutes quicker