Been for a long ride today? Sheesh, anyone would think it had been raining. Here's the Global Cycing Network crew with their top ten tips for looking after yourself and your bike after a ride.
Got aything to add?
Video: Top ten post-ride tips
Look after yourself and your bike with GCN
Tue, Jul 30, 2013 13:15
Help us to bring you the best cycling content
If you’ve enjoyed this article, then please consider subscribing to road.cc from as little as £2.49. Our mission is to bring you all the news that’s relevant to you as a cyclist, independent reviews, impartial buying advice and more. Your subscription will help us to do more.
John wrote about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day’s work.
He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.
He worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.
John also wrote for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site’s main audience. He joined road.cc in 2013.
John died from cancer in 2025, changing his name to John Abbott Valentine in the months before his death.
15 Comments
Read more...
Read more...
Read more...
Latest Comments
Terry Hutt 3 hours ago
@MatzeLoCal Spot on. No request should be necessary. The testers, upon hearing the circumstances, should have 1. Paid respects 2. Rescheduled
AidanR 3 hours ago
Fantastic result, and a great write up, thank you
Chris RideFar 4 hours ago
@matthewn5 I'm talking about carbon crank AXLES, not spiders. SRAM axles are aluminum (29 or 30mm versions) or steel (24/22mm GXP); Campag are steel (most models) or titanium (Super Record). Are there any other brands using carbon axles?
jackcycles 4 hours ago
@ROOTminus1 Lake wide fit - CX239 would probably be ok for you. I wear the normal width and they are roomy, the wide ones accommodate lardy feet. And who wears road shoes with laces? That's just wrong, 2x boas or stay home.
Rendel Harris 4 hours ago
@chrisonabike Any excuse to repeat my favourite quote from Bertie Wooster, when he took on Spode (Lord Sidcup) who had started a fascist movement called the Blackshorts: "The trouble with you, Spode, is that just because you have succeeded in inducing a handful of half-wits to disfigure the London scene by going about in black shorts, you think you're someone. You hear them shouting "Heil, Spode!" and you imagine it is the Voice of the People. That is where you make your bloomer. What the Voice of the People is saying is: "Look at that frightful ass Spode swanking about in footer bags! Did you ever in your puff see such a perfect perisher?”
chrisonabike 4 hours ago
@mdavidford more cheap lists-icles.
mdavidford 6 hours ago
Please spear us the jousting puns - it's just throwing down a gauntlet for some greaves abuse of the comments section, and there's no excuse for tilting things in that direction.
chrisonabike 7 hours ago
@eburtthebike some cyclists already wear black shorts, we really don't want the Blackshorts joining in...
Rendel Harris 7 hours ago
@theslowcyclistxx Carbon wheels correctly built for their intended purpose can take a tremendous amount of punishment, as can be seen from downhill mountain biking where carbon wheels survive massive jumps, high speed crashing over rock gardens et cetera et cetera. If this wheelset is not designed for that that's fine but then it should not be falsely marketed as being as strong as XC MTB wheels when clearly it isn't.
theslowcyclistxx 7 hours ago
@Rendel Harris Carbon is not designed for crashing. It should be able to withstand small jumps and rough terrain, but to expect a lightweight carbon wheelset to withstand direct impact from a rock is a bit optimistic - even for a wheelset marketed as XC ready.
15 thoughts on “Video: Top ten post-ride tips”
Would be nice to have a
Would be nice to have a soigneur to wash my bike after every ride!
Bike wash, massage, ice bath,
Bike wash, massage, ice bath, stay off your feet. Don’t know about you lot but meanwhile in the enthusiastic amateur world with the wife and kids…
Blame someone else for being
Blame someone else for being so late back, go to the supermarket, buy some beer at the same time, take kids to the park, later do the washing up, knowing that you need to build up those riding credits.
lolol wrote:Blame someone
Yes! That sounds like my life.
lolol wrote:Blame someone
check 😐
Real world top ten:
1. Check
Real world top ten:
1. Check your stats – check Strava then text your mate to tell them you just beat them. Get a blank look from the missus when you tell her you got that KOM. Blame your equipment or weather if you are slower.
2. Think about cleaning your bike, then put it off til tomorrow.
3. Take a recovery drink – milk no sugar thanks.
4. Rehydrate – pint of water with a beer chaser.
5. Give the wife a massage to make up for being out all day and leaving her with the kids.
6. Eat the right meal – I’ll have naan and extra poppadoms please.
7. Stretch – play with the kids in the garden.
8. Have a nap – ha ha ha ha ha ha.
9. Have an ice bath – or an ice cold beer
10. Stay off your feet – you don’t have children do you?
Dump bike in hall.
Get a can
Dump bike in hall.
Get a can of fat coke from the shop.
Dump stinking sweaty kit on the bedroom floor.
Lie on the sofa for two hours with a tin of Ambrosia rice pudding waiting for the tennis/ superbikes/water polo/ cage fighting to finally finish before the cycling comes on.
Moan on road.cc about the price of Rapha stuff
Waste 4min 51 minutes of your life watching a video about how to ‘Recover Like A Pro’ when you are not a pro and have no desire to be one.
Run a lovely deep bath,
Make
Run a lovely deep bath,
Make a cup of tea,
Get into bath,
2-5 minutes later, disturbed by returning family, get out of bath,
Get down to B&Q (other DIY stores are available!),
Paint shed /Wendy house /big person’s house,
Cook dinner,
Read stories,
Cook more dinner,
Tidy house,
Do the work put off while checking Strava / road.cc,
And RELAX!
I started going for massages
I started going for massages after rides but I was spending so much on extras that my wife became suspicious. Next thing I knew I came home and all my stuff and my bikes were out on the drive and the locks have been changed. What’s more I picked up an embarrassing infection.
1. Have a shower you dirty,
1. Have a shower you dirty, sweaty beggar.
I have just read Tyler
I have just read Tyler Hamilton’s book… how about a bottle of fizzy water and sleeping pills after a long ride. Which is how to have 3.7% body fat 😐
Don’t the pros stop at the
Don’t the pros stop at the pub half way through a ride and at the end of the ride then? I confess I am surprised.
Stop at pub, stretch
Stop at pub, stretch hamstrings, order a pint of foaming rehydration solution. Then top up protein and salt levels with some of Nobby’s finest, followed by more rehydration.
Phone wife and tell her you’ve had a puncture and need a lift home.
all the above – wonderfull
I
all the above – wonderfull
I hadnt realised that RoadCC was really a satirical mag right up there with the best
Chuck bike into hallway –
Chuck bike into hallway – bonus points if you don’t take a strip of wallpaper off.
1 bottle cherry coke, 1 litre electrolyte drink, 1 nesquick drink.
Have a victory poo.
Fully intend to eat something proper but lose the will to move and order a pizza. On occasion have the foresight to buy a chicago town takeaway. Have a clementine to balance it out.
Half-hour shower, spend 25 minutes groaning and the last 5 half-arsedly actually getting washed. First two minutes experience intense stinging in the eyes as the salt all over your face turns into brine.
Realise that you still have chainring marks on your legs. Neglect to give a shit.
Have a quick lie down. Wake up 10 minutes later due to cat pawing at your face because you’ve forgotten to feed it.