The day after I got home from Hawaii, I turned around and left for Monterey, CA for a conference. I brought my bike and was looking forward to an easy recovery ride in one of the most gorgeous places on the coast. It turned out to be chilly and foggy, but still so enjoyable... I rode a 33-mile out & back from Monterey to Carmel along the coast and 17 Mile Drive.
Here's the really weird part: with my old road bike, my feet would go numb and my glute/piriformis would cramp up. I had none of these symptoms when I rented the Cervelo P1 for the race in Hawaii... but on my new Cervelo P2 (with a proper fitting) both of these symptoms returned. Numb feet by mile 15, cramp in my glute by mile 25. What's up with that? To my knowledge, these bikes have the same geometry; maybe I was a few millimeters off somewhere on the fit between the two bikes, but I can't imagine the fit was different enough to create these symptoms on one bike vs another. I also used the same saddle and cleats on both. Grrrr....
Ideas?
Maybe your muscles need heat and humidity?? ;) I don't know. That is weird. I would think the TT fit would have been the difference. I road my road bike on Wednesday b/c my TT bike wasn't back from tri-bike transport yet... and totally felt my upper hamstrings/lower glutes in a way I never do on my P3.
Posted by: Michelle Simmons | 06/10/2011 at 05:20 PM
I'm not sure it's the case for you but I have found that sometimes I change my pedal stroke and hammer or not releasing on the up-stroke. I keep constant pressure on the balls of my feet and my big toes. I had this for the first 1/2 of Hawaii 70.3. My big toes were phasing in and out of going numb versus feeling like the were on fire when I got circulation back into them. I also realized in retrospect that I strapped my shoes on too tightly. Maybe that...
The thing that has a massive impact on my glutes is saddle position. I've found that I have less tightness when I ride in proper position way up on the hozzle of the saddle and fully resting on my elbows in aero. Anything else sends full jabs of agony at distance. It's painful to ride in the upfront position, but I'll take taint pain over muscle pain any day (hello chamois butter :).
Posted by: Jason Wiener | 06/10/2011 at 09:01 PM