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.
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Video: Top ten post-ride tips
Look after yourself and your bike with GCN
Tue, Jul 30, 2013 13:15
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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.
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Latest Comments
Pub bike 5 hours ago
Would he have performed better on his normal bike?
wtjs 7 hours ago
the National Bus and Rail Union told the Oireachtas (Irish Parliament) the following month, saying the requirements (making the cyclist scum wear helmets and HiViz) would, “make the roads a safer place, as it would make potential hazards easier to spot.” Nothing to do with driver behaviour then? Stagecoach is even putting intimidating threats against cyclists on the side of the buses now! ttps://upride.cc/incident/px60beo_stagecoach41-closepass/
eburtthebike 7 hours ago
.......the government was focused on the “enormity of the e-scooter problem” Just wait until they find out how absolutely effing gigantic the car problem is. The whole thing is just motornormativity at government level, and while Ciarán Cannon talks sense, Seán Canney is fecking eejit.
Rendel Harris 8 hours ago
40% of fatal road incidents (70 deaths p.a.) in Ireland involve excess alcohol. Pass a law mandating compulsory alcohol interlocks for all motor vehicles and see what that does for road safety first.
Rendel Harris 10 hours ago
@mitsky I didn't say it was applicable in this case or that I thought it should be, I was simply answering your question as to whether anyone had ever shot someone and been charged with anything other than murder or attempted murder, to which the answer is yes.
Rendel Harris 10 hours ago
@perce The new troll, my friend, is solely piss and wind, the new troll is solely piss and wind.
Xenophon2 11 hours ago
Very correct price for a basic, no-frills frameset. Older and wiser -after a warranty case on a '100 year' Ti frameset that lasted 5 years before a drive side chain stay weld said sayonara- I'll never again purchase a really high cost Ti frame. If the replacement -3999 Euro at retail but I paid 800, which is what it took for them to +- honour the warranty- fails, I'm done. Firstly because they do fail. Titanium is very finicky where welding conditions are concerned and good luck with that warranty, better read the wording very carefully. Secondly, often the price is justified with 'it's a frame for life'. Errrr....yes, unless you decide you want something different after 5 years, it breaks or technology evolves to a point where your frameset becomes aa anachronism and after 10 years you can start hunting for spares(UDH and disc brakes, anyone?). Third: I'm getting a bit tired reading about these so-called 'magical' properties of Ti. The only magical thing about it is the corrosion resistance. All that absorbing of vibrations etc is mainly function of frame design/geometry. If you want vibration damping: larger tires, lower pressure, done.
darnac 11 hours ago
True,but I can't count thé number of times I've seen him on TV as an invited expert for comments since
MaxiMinimalist 11 hours ago
"...there was enough suspicion to warrant an out-of-hours knock on the door for the Tour’s then-top two." A generic statement that sounds like a cover-your-arse mumbling. Can they be more specific? Nope. Good to see Vaughters join Lefevere to add up some controversy to the very politically correct pro peloton. In the late 1990s and early noughties, when cycling was becoming a global phenomenom, officials, race organisers and team managers turned a blind eye on doping. Nobody wanted to slay the goose with golden eggs.
mctrials23 11 hours ago
Am I missing something. Pogacar would be firm favourite no matter what you did unless you made it a very flat edition which no one would want. Outside of Pogacar its all up for grabs. You can't build a good multi-week race with Pogacar in the form he is in. Take Pogacar out and this would be fine.
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.