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Many road races have different stages, and there is often a fair amount to travel between these stages. It is thus vital to both keep focused and also relaxed for the ride ahead. Here are a few tips on how you can do just this, between stages of a race or even just as you get driven to the start of your next ride.
Watch the previous stage
All competitive riders like to have a re-cap, a postmortem of the previous ride, or stage, to see where they’ve gone wrong and how they could improve. One of the best ways to do this is on the way to the next stage; simply play back your helmet-cam footage and watch it in detail. If you have access to smart wearable technology, you should also have a look at the health monitoring information to see how your body responded to the exertion at different times on the route. The idea is to see what you did wrong and right and ensure that you can use this info to improve on the next stage.
Practice some meditation
Use any downtime/transit or travel time that you may have between cycling stages or races to meditate and relax the mind, body and soul. The aim is to calm down significantly and prepare the body for the next bit of riding to come. It is important for many sports people and cyclists to reduce stress pre-race as much as possible. Being relaxed and focused will increase the ability to remain calm and relaxed under pressure allowing you to then perform at your best in the next stage.
Consume the right food to speed up recovery
The main thing to do between cycling stages is to hydrate. Ensure that the body has taken in enough fluids, and this will ensure that you do not get dehydrated and will also limit the possibility of lactic acid build-up that will cause cramping.
There are also various recovery drinks that are made for cycling and will provide both hydration, protein and carbohydrates in the required amounts to encourage speedy recovery between the stages. It’s important to get this right, or you could be riding the next stage feeling either bloated or lackluster, neither of which will make for good riding.
Engage in some mindless gaming
Playing a few hands of poker or playing the slots at the best Australian online casino is a great way to unwind and relax between stages. It’s a good time to go into the casino as you only have a set amount of time and thus can’t stay too long. Again, the main idea is to do something so totally unrelated that it takes the mind off the next piece of the race and allows you to start off fresh.
Now it is primarily the professional cyclists out there that will need this advice and information, but all cyclists can make use of these tips if they are riding different races, or different stages of a long race. They are the best ways to keep focused for the next bit of riding and will go a long way to improving your overall riding.
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