rsbob 

First, does anyone do a cool down with a mile or two to go before the end (people living on a hill - never mind)?

Second, does anyone regularly have a protein drink post ride?

I am attempting to ignore average speed for the ride and adding a slower cool down just to circulate the blood, but I have read that it doesn’t really help.

Since seniors need more protein, after an either tough ride or a long ride, I have a protein shake to help rebuild muscle tissue.

Or share any post ride routine/s you may have. Beer included.

Are any of these necessary for you semi-competitive people? I know that people who go out and putz along, all this sounds insane.

Carbonfiberboy 

No and then Yes. Protein post-ride seems to have an effect, but "seems" might be the operative word. For sure there's no harm in it. My hard group rides always finished with a sprint to the parking lot. Didn't seem to matter one way or the other, but for sure, the less extreme work one does, the less sore the muscles. I had the best results over time if I could hardly walk when i got off the bike after a competitive ride. I used to have to lay the bike down and step off it. I was known as The Demented, just like you say.

Kai Winters

I always 'soft pedal' the last mile or so of rides.
I use Creatine and a recovery powder after every ride.

easyupbug 

First question yes, my typical ride at home and snowbird cabins I have luckily arranged a 1+ mile decline for cooling down, much needed this year with temps both home in Southern AZ and the Bighorn Mtn. Second question is hydration is always #1.

jadmt

I might back off for the last 1/2 mile on a long harder ride but nothing excessive ie might slow to 16 or 17mph. I do something most would find unappealing but i mix beer and liquid iv energy booster as mid ride drink and have at least one beer post ride. I am not sore or fatigued after even a 100 miler. I will also drink red bull or mountain dew during a ride. Not really competitive but will be pissed if i don’t hit 100 miles in 5 hours this year. Turn 66 shortly.

SpedFast

After 25+ of hard riding I might slow down if I'm not close to a personal record for the last 1/4 mile. I drink plain old water during the ride in moderation (I sweat out a few pounds every ride or I ain't working hard enough) and then chug a 24oz water before showering. This is usually followed up with a seat at the poker table for a couple of hours and then stretching. At 76 I'm just trying to defy my age. My goal in the past was 100 miles/week, now I'm doing closer to 200 so I must be doing something right.

downtube42

One of the reasons I like to ride to/from a ride, is opportunity to have a chill ride home. My favorite 100k perm has start/finish a mile from home - perfect. A 200k start/finish is ten miles away - that's a long cooldown but I do that ten miles at a more relaxed pace and attitude. This is weekend I rode a point to point 200k. I pressed the pace until about 5 to go, then backed off a notch. Nobody cares about my finish time.

I make a half hearted effort to eat a protein heavy meal after a long ride. Half hearted because I half believe it actually matters.

cyclezen

always, a warmup, depends how the legs start out, might be 2-3 mi or it might be 5-7, If the legs are wooden I'll be patient until they work it out.
a comfy cadence 75-80 at most to start.
Always a cool down... usually 2-3 miles, so out of 28-30, 7-8 of that is always at low-mid Z2.
Rest of the ride, dependez... LOL!
...after a post I made in another thread, I fess'd up that I've been doing too many 'comfort' rides, not enough good sufferin...
Today was not really 'sufferin', but I did hear my hearbeat for most of the ride. LOL!
It felt good! Less 'Comfort' in the coming months, more 'Stress' LOL !
I only do replenishment drinks after a 50+ mi ride, with some climbing. Otherwise just normal...
I usually do 24 oz water on a 30ish ride, 2-24oz water + a gel for 50-60
Only really hot, suoer sunny days will have me do one bottle of electrolyte mix.
It's all good, I'm happy to be out rolllin along !
Ride On
Yuri

Mtracer

I keep the pace down as a warmup at the start of rides and I also try to stay in zone 1 in the last mile+ of a ride. I do live on a slope, so sometimes I ride past my home so I can get level with it, some distance away and therefore keep the power down in the last minutes of the ride.

I don't know if this has any sort of fitness benefit. Though I think it does as moving the legs would seem to help circulate blood and perhaps help to clear out the byproducts of harder efforts. What it does for sure, is actually help me cool off. If I don't do the cool down, I become a sweaty mess as soon as I stop the bike. If I cool down while moving, the sweat continues to dry off and I'm in fact, cooled down quite a bit when I do stop.

As for post ride protein, what I've read or seen lately on the inter webs is an immediate post ride protein intake doesn't help specifically. I.E., the timing doesn't matter. What matters is getting the protein in at some point that day. So, I too have a protein shake. But I don't necessarily make a point to have it soon after the ride. Though sometimes I do.

I'm also old enough (63) that I have a protein shake every day, whether I ride or not.

But I have heard getting carbs in within the first hour after a ride, improves building up glycogen stores. Basically, that within that first hour, your body is primed for replenishing glycogen. Also, this is another reason to eat while riding. Even if the eating doesn't help that ride, it gets you a head start on the recovery.

john m flores 

I usually do a little cool down at the end of the ride. I stop my Strava before then and don't sweat the mph. But sometimes I find myself sprinting from traffic light to traffic light. Seems to make no difference in how I feel. I do try to eat something when I get home but I'm not diligent about it. I'm rarely doing big back-to-back days so I'm lax about recovery. But I always try to elevate the legs for a bit and do a self massage starting at the ankles. Been doing this for year.

terrymorse 

My routine:

No cool down, no post-ride protein drink.

I usually treat the last km as a race to the finish. And I just make sure to get enough protein at meals.

This may not be ideal, but it doesn’t seem to hurt, either.

Doc Sharptail

I've tried a few things. Started suffering overnight leg cramps around age 63, so I had to watch what I was doing.
Doctor thought calcium would help but no soap there.
The "night legs" cramp thing has been more or less gone since I started back riding on a regular basis.
I do back off for the last mile or so from home, regardless of the distance.
Also try to plan my rides so's I'm headed into the wind out bound, and with the wind at my back in-bound- but sometimes mother nature has her own ideas on wind directions.
That bit on the wind is important to me at this time of year. It get's fairly gusty around here.
Been toying with the idea of down shifting a gear for the last half mile in-bound as a cool down, but can't seem to bring myself to do it.

-D.S.

50PlusCycling

I live in a place called Roppongi Hills in Tokyo, and, as the name implies, it sits in the hills overlooking the city. That means my final stretch at the end of my ride is usually the steepest part of the entire ride. On rides of 100km or more, I'll stop at the 80km mark or so, and enjoy a double cheeseburger at BK or McDonald's, whichever is closest. This gets some protein into me even before I finish my ride, and I find the half hour I spend eating, plus the energy from fries and a coke give me a boost which lets me do my final kilometers even faster than the earlier ones.

If I don't stop to eat along the way, when I get home I'll take my protein in the form of a steak, cooked on the rare side, washed down with a beer.

Deal4Fuji

According to this best selling author the timing does matter for the most benefit, protein supplementation should begin immediately after the exercise. Since creatine conversation has come up lately, he does recommend its benefits as well. My neurologist recommended this book and lifestyle changes (mostly diet in my circumstance) as a way to head off some peripheral neuropathy symptoms I'm seeing.

Jughed

I get plenty of protein over the course of a normal day. Meats of all sorts, eggs, nuts, yogurts - more than plenty.

I'm prone to rapid weight gain. Any extra anything just "sticks to my ribs".

No recovery drinks or extra foods - I simply get home and eat a normal protein rich meal.

The cool down - only after intervals, a day in the mountains. And I'm not sure what that really does for you. I didn't do any cool downs back when I was a power lifter - did the last set(s) to failure, laid on the floor and tried not to puke. The lactic acid buildup after a hard weight lifting session was off the charts compared to what I feel on the bike.

skidder

Yeah, I back off about 1/2 to 3/4 mile from home and just cruise in while lightly pedaling in a lower gear. When I get home I sit down for a few minutes and sip down a big glass of tap water before hitting the shower. No protein supplements or electrolyte drinks or special foods, I just eat 'three squares' a day with an occasional snack.

rm -rf

cramping

I think cramps are from exercise, not from mineral deficiencies.
I get occasional, random leg cramps overnight. It's been better this year, with lower than usual cycling mileage. It's somewhat more likely in a big mileage week.

Post ride, I have to watch out for sharp edged chairs at the restaurant, which can trigger a thigh cramp if I sit for a while with the edge pressing my thighs.

I get occasional overnight leg cramps if I move the legs wrong in bed. These were strong, and would take a few minutes of pain to subside.

I read about a small vinegar/pickle juice study. They didn't take it in advance. Instead, about a teaspoon to the back of the throat when cramping hit. The theory is it "short circuits" some nerves that distract or override the cramping responses.

So I have a tiny bedside squirt bottle of cider vinegar. A few squirts to the back of my throat can instantly stop the cramping. It works most of the time, but not with every cramp.

seypat

Most of my rides, runs, etc start and end at my gym parking lot. After the finish, I go into the gym and do core work/stretching to get a cool down. Then maybe sit in the hot tub/pool for a few minutes for more cool down. I then take a shower and shave if needed and leave. I'll get something to eat after that at home or on the way to my next destination. It won't be a protein shake though.

Of equal importance, my business/office is located between my gym and my home. I live in a humid area. I have clothes racks at my office. After the described workout above, I go past the office and hang my wet clothes, towel, etc on the racks to dry out instead of putting them in the clothes hamper at home wet. They dry for a day before going in with the dirty clothes. It makes a difference. Same for taking showers/etc at the gym. By the time I go through the ritual at the gym and get home, the cool down process is complete.

andrewclaus

No to both questions. When a hot tub is available, that's on the agenda for sure.

Trakhak

Joop Zoetemelk once said in an interview in the 1980's that he made a practice of finishing his training rides by riding at a "C class tourist pace" for the last half hour. (Guessing that C class is slower than B and A.)

From a quick search:

"According to available information, Joop Zoetemelk is considered the oldest rider to win the professional road cycling world championship, achieving the title at the age of 38 in 1985."

He also won the Tour de France in 1980, with nearly a seven-minute lead over second place.

seypat

As for the cramping issues. It's stressed/overused muscles and not mineral issues. Since 2013, I do the training for and 1 or 2 fall marathons each year. Pickle juice, salt, etc will help some as will something with tumeric like mustard. But, nothing will stop them. Once a muscle get fatigued, really fatigued, it's gonna cramp.

MinnMan

First question: Sometimes I do a cool-down. Of course, some of my rides are "recovery" rides or just chill, so there's no "cool", really. But I live on a hill and if I am completing a hard ride, particularly one in which I care about speed, I'll turn my GPS unit off just before I turn into my neighborhood, which is about a half mile before my driveway. I used to extra-hammer through that last half mile in order to keep up my average speed, but then I'd arrive at home feeling blown out. so it's not really about a cool down as much as it is taking the pressure off from feeling like I have to do an extreme final effort.

Second question: Sometimes. On weekend morning rides, I just come home and eat lunch, so no need for a special "protein shake". During the week, the rides are shorter and so probably not.

bblair

Yes, there is a very important reason to do a cool down: you got dropped.

Hermes

I do a 15 minute recovery at the end of a workout - start with higher power and reduce until very low power higher cadence. I try to ride every day but the rest days are easy higher cadence with very low power on the trainer.

IMO, it is theaverage protein intake over a time and adherence to a diet that improves performance and recovery. I like a Muscle Milk after the ride but it is part of the total protein intake for the day not just because I happen to have finished a ride. I already have enough protein in my system to support the ride from previous days meals. If I am protein deficient going into a ride, I am behind schedule and the protein after the ride is too late.

Doc Sharptail

When I get those (what I call positioning cramps) there's only one solution. I have to get up out of bed and put some weight and movement on that, and get some oxygen flowing into the muscles, or I'll never get any sleep.
Those cramps actually started up during a marathon ballast session at work, where I'd be standing on a ladder for 8-10 hrs a day.
I actually figured out why some guys prefer the squeaky old wood ladders over the modern aluminum treads.
I still cramp up from a day's shore fishing where I'm continually standing in one spot.

-D.S.