Lucas Alexander Oliver Posted May 6, 2019 Share Posted May 6, 2019 Hey everybody, so I’m a relatively new rider and I experienced something weird for the first time the other day. I had to go somewhere early in the morning about seven miles round trip. So I did that on my glide 3 no problem.. made it back home and put my wheel on charge.. go it back to 95% and headed back out to go for a Saturday group ride which ended up being 13 miles. After about three miles or so, I started feeling like my legs muscles were going numb and my feet were slipping off the pedals. It was extreme disorienting and uncomfortable. Especially going down hills I wasn’t sure if my legs were about to give out or not.. I am a big guy 6’3” and am relatively athletic but I’ve never felt this kind of fatigue before . I stopped got off for awhile and it didn’t go away for the whole ride . I didn’t ride yesterday but when I got in today it felt normal.. so I guess I’m just wondering if anyone else has experienced this and maybe if there’s and tips for overcoming it other than just ride all the time. Lol. Thanks Lucas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seage Posted May 6, 2019 Share Posted May 6, 2019 If you're a new rider, its probably is just that, fatigue. I get it too. For a while id feel like i cant control the wheel as well. What i found for me though is that i need to have a good hardy meal before I ride, or else i just have no power in my legs. You're using muscles you don't normally use, and you're basically in a squat for miles upon end. You're probably feeling it because you haven't activated those muscles for that long before and your body needed to rest up. But yeah, for me, i do the meal thing. Also, i do squats ALLL the time around my house, lol. Im also a newish rider. Been able to do longer rides these days though, so i feel like the squatting is helping with form. I think a big part of it really is that conditioning. Going further distances, whether its in one go or broken up with not too much rest in between for a beginner is going to take its toll on your body. A toll you are likely not to notice until you hop back on the wheel. Oh, one thing about the numbness though, it sounds like once you felt you feet slipping, you became nervous and tensed up, gripping the wheel for dear life. That, over an extended period of time, leads to your legs going numb. I had that on a 50km i did the other week. It was windy, i was on my new wheel, and my legs felt like jelly going in due to having a bad sleep the night before, and forgetting to eat breakfast, lol. I wasn't actually slipping, but my mind made me FEEL like i was, so i tightened my stance, gripped the wheel with my legs, stiffened up and tensed my feet. Which caused the fatigue to grow exponentially. And since i was so psyched out, even after breaks, when i hopped back on, i just went right back to that position. My entire left leg was numb. Right was aching. Arches of my feet were destroyed in under a km. Fast forward to yesterday. Easily rode 60-70km. It was a long day. Only my knees were a bit sore at the end of the day from riding the most rough terrain ever, but my legs didn't go numb once. I was totally at ease, knees bent, not gripping the body, lose carving. I made an active effort to not allow my feet to tighten up in my shoes on the pedals, and focused more on carving to loosen up the body. I'll pass the mic to the smarter folks now! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucas Alexander Oliver Posted May 6, 2019 Author Share Posted May 6, 2019 1 hour ago, seage said: If you're a new rider, its probably is just that, fatigue. I get it too. For a while id feel like i cant control the wheel as well. What i found for me though is that i need to have a good hardy meal before I ride, or else i just have no power in my legs. You're using muscles you don't normally use, and you're basically in a squat for miles upon end. You're probably feeling it because you haven't activated those muscles for that long before and your body needed to rest up. But yeah, for me, i do the meal thing. Also, i do squats ALLL the time around my house, lol. Im also a newish rider. Been able to do longer rides these days though, so i feel like the squatting is helping with form. I think a big part of it really is that conditioning. Going further distances, whether its in one go or broken up with not too much rest in between for a beginner is going to take its toll on your body. A toll you are likely not to notice until you hop back on the wheel. Oh, one thing about the numbness though, it sounds like once you felt you feet slipping, you became nervous and tensed up, gripping the wheel for dear life. That, over an extended period of time, leads to your legs going numb. I had that on a 50km i did the other week. It was windy, i was on my new wheel, and my legs felt like jelly going in due to having a bad sleep the night before, and forgetting to eat breakfast, lol. I wasn't actually slipping, but my mind made me FEEL like i was, so i tightened my stance, gripped the wheel with my legs, stiffened up and tensed my feet. Which caused the fatigue to grow exponentially. And since i was so psyched out, even after breaks, when i hopped back on, i just went right back to that position. My entire left leg was numb. Right was aching. Arches of my feet were destroyed in under a km. Fast forward to yesterday. Easily rode 60-70km. It was a long day. Only my knees were a bit sore at the end of the day from riding the most rough terrain ever, but my legs didn't go numb once. I was totally at ease, knees bent, not gripping the body, lose carving. I made an active effort to not allow my feet to tighten up in my shoes on the pedals, and focused more on carving to loosen up the body. I'll pass the mic to the smarter folks now! Thanks so much. It’s good to know that others had these experiences as well and I’m not just really wimpy. Ha ha . I am definitely doing some xtra squats and lunges trying to build those muscles up. Also I am riding everywhere everyday so it just keeps on getting easier and easier. More natural feeling. I’ll keep it up. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrelwood Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 A winter around here forces me to stop riding for 3-4 months every year. Every spring when the riding season starts, it takes me a good while to build up the riding stamina, especially on my legs. Longer or off-road rides are definitely a demanding workout for the legs. There are several things though that can alleviate the issue. If your shoes don’t fit very well, if the shoes don’t dampen vibration or shocks, shoes are too soft, you stand too far back, etc... All these brings the fatigue in earlier on. Eating before a ride (and drinking enough water in general) is a great point as well! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eucinsea Posted May 7, 2019 Share Posted May 7, 2019 @Lucas Alexander Oliver I also had that feeling a few times since starting out. Glad you are feeling better now friend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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