Tour of Bright training: how to back off........ ?

[Nitram]

My problem leading up to the Tour of bright each year is when to stop training........ It's two weeks out now and my legs are pretty sore. I mean sore to touch on my thighs mostly. They feel bruised. I expect that thats a bit of a sign of overtraining, so I need to back off in the lead-up so they've recovered and so I don't head up Rosewhite and Hotham in a world of pain.......... But on the other hand, staying off the bike is a recipe for stiff useless legs too........ So it's tricky.....

Any suggestions as to strategies to stay loose but give the legs a chance to recover ? Any techniques to speed up the recovery ? It'd be so good to turn up at Bright with fresh legs !!!! The physio recommended using an itb roller but it totally killed: really intense pain- and I didn't persist with it.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Cheers,

Nitram

[g-boaf]

My problem leading up to the Tour of bright each year is when to stop training........ It's two weeks out now and my legs are pretty sore. I mean sore to touch on my thighs mostly. They feel bruised. I expect that thats a bit of a sign of overtraining, so I need to back off in the lead-up so they've recovered and so I don't head up Rosewhite and Hotham in a world of pain.......... But on the other hand, staying off the bike is a recipe for stiff useless legs too........ So it's tricky.....

Any suggestions as to strategies to stay loose but give the legs a chance to recover ? Any techniques to speed up the recovery ? It'd be so good to turn up at Bright with fresh legs !!!! The physio recommended using an itb roller but it totally killed: really intense pain- and I didn't persist with it.
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Cheers,

Nitram

Stop the "useless" legs by doing some very easy rides on a flat course in easy gears. Use the foam roller. Of course it'll hurt - but it will eventually ease off. That's how you do it.

And at the event, roll the legs out at the end of each stage.

[Nitram]

“Roll thé legs out” meaning, with the foam roller, or meaning easy rolling warmdown on the flat ?
Thanks for the reply by the way. I appreciate it.

Nitram

[Derny Driver]

How much training have you been doing per day, per week up till now? What sort of training? What sort of intensity?
You need to keep doing the long hilly rides this week. Next week you taper, meaning the rides get shorter and at more of an easy pace. If the TT is Friday then working backwards, Thursday is very light, or a day off if you are driving, Wednesday is an hour at recovery ride pace, Tuesday could be a day off, Monday an hour and a half easy roll or something like that.
You actually ride the soreness out of your legs with easy riding on the road or rollers. Massage is great too so get a little Thai lady to get stuck into them on the days when you dont ride. Theres a reason why pro teams have masseurs.

[Derny Driver]

“Roll thé legs out” meaning, with the foam roller, or meaning easy rolling warmdown on the flat ?
Thanks for the reply by the way. I appreciate it.

Nitram

Dont get off the bike at the top of Tawonga gap and get straight into the car. You will pay for doing silly things like that. Warm down by riding into Bright or take a wind trainer and warm down next to your car. Easy spin for at least 10 minutes to get the lactic acid out. You can do your own leg massage each night after dinner.
What we do is book a house which sleeps 4 people, take 3 riders and one helper. The helper shops, cooks the dinners, drives ahead of each stage to the feed zones with bidons for the riders, drives to the top of Hotham with warm tracksuits, hot coffee and food for after that stage. Be prepared for all weather and circumstances and be organised.

[g-boaf]

“Roll thé legs out” meaning, with the foam roller, or meaning easy rolling warmdown on the flat ?
Thanks for the reply by the way. I appreciate it.

Nitram

Both. When you've gone and smashed yourself for however many hours, don't just stop. Go and ride easy for 20 minutes, or use a trainer or rollers. Failing that, get a massage done on your legs. It really does work.

I was doing multiple days where I'd have 3 or 4 mountain climbs each day and they were all enormous. The only saving grace was probably that the roads were usually better than what you'd encounter here in Australia so there wasn't that fatigue from the constant pounding of bad road surfaces.

Having the massage at the end of each day really does help, otherwise you'd just be stuffed for the next day, your legs will feel like crap. And make sure you eat well too, after the rides and through them. That's how you get through it.