3 Tips from Dr. Miller for the weekend warrior

With a long holiday weekend at hand it is important to recognize some easy changes to help the weekend warrior better survive more daunting than usual rides that extra days off provide. 

• Don't neglect your shoulders. Finding a shoulder maintenance routine is important. Many cyclists don't think about balancing out work for the upper body to match the hours in the saddle toning your lower body.  Your shoulders take an unexpected amount of abuse on the bike especially during longer rides where the rider may stay in the same position. 

•  The mature knee often performs much better with a little bit of play in the pedal.  Make sure you are choosing a pedal with enough "float" meaning a pedal and cleat combo that allows for some medial and lateral rotation of the foot without coming unclipped.  A good example is switching to the yellow Shimano road cleat to allow for 6 degrees of rotation.   

• Don't be afraid of using a larger rear cassette. By changing that tiny rear cluster (on higher end road bikes) to a larger one those hills won't seem so intimidating and your knees will thank you. Concentrate on spinning with the larger rear cogs vs grinding uphill. 

The yellow cleat on the right provides 6 degrees of float compared the blue 3 degree cleat.