Wondering what to do after a long bike ride? The best ways to recover 

Should you eat something? Stretch? Shower?

What you do after a long bike ride will speed your recovery and relieve your sore muscles faster than if you did nothing.

10 to 15 minutes before the end of your long bike ride

Before the end of your long ride, take 10 to 15 minutes to back off the pace and do some easy pedaling to ease yourself into recovery.

In other words, your recovery begins before you get off your bike. 

You’ll bring your body temperature back to normal, reduce stress on your immune system, clear lactic acid, and calm your central nervous system.

Immediately after your ride, focus on rehydration 1,2

You will need to take on fluids lost during your bike ride—water and electrolytes to restore hydration and carbohydrates to replenish glycogen stores.

After your bike ride, drink 1.5–2 cups (or 12–16 fluid ounces) of a 6–8% carbohydrate solution (that’s 6 to 8 g carbohydrate per 100 mL of fluid) to replace fluid and sustain blood glucose levels.

So if you’re looking at nutrition facts of a drink, look for:

12 fl ounces = about 24 grams of carbs

16 fl ounces = about 32 grams of carbs

(Chocolate milk is a good option if it fits your diet and preferences.)

Another bonus to drinking your carbs—it’s easy to do this while you clean off your bike. 

Once you’ve taken on some carbs, you have more recovery drink options to consider.

Try: 

Montmorency cherry juice to reduce symptoms of muscle damage and improve your recovery. 3

BCAA amino acids to reduce muscle damage and muscle soreness. 4

The drinks to limit shortly after your bike ride:

  • Fructose (may cause GI distress)
  • Caffeine and alcohol (which may increase urine output and reduce fluid retention)
  • Carbonated beverages (which may inhibit your ability to drink more fluids because of stomach fullness)

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Within 4 to 6 hours after your bike ride, eat a meal 5

If you have a high volume of training (such as cycling for more than 8 hours a week), you’ll need to focus on eating a high amount of carbohydrates (that’s more than 1.2 g/kg/h) after a bike ride AND eat a high amount of carbohydrates daily (that’s 8–12 g/kg/day). These carbs will refuel your muscles and help you prepare for future bike rides. 

If you have a low to moderate amount of bike riding a week (less than 8 hours), both protein and carbs may minimize muscle damage and speed up your recovery. And if we want to get into the details, the protein amount is 0.2–0.5 g/kg/h and carbs < 1.2 g/kg/h.

A few hours after your bike ride

Go for a walk to shake out any muscle stiffness and get the blood flowing.

Do a few mobility exercises to help your joints move through their natural full range of motion to help you produce more force. You’ll find more detail about strength and mobility for cyclists here. 

Get some sleep. Getting sleep is much easier said than done, but the amount and quality of your sleep affect how well you recover and your ability to do well in the rest of your workouts (and life.)

The day after your long bike ride, take a rest day or do a cycling recovery ride

You have two options the day after your long bike ride: take a rest day (no cycling at all) or do a cycling recovery ride. 

If you have not tried a cycling recovery ride the day after a long bike ride, you may want to try it once to see if it works better than a rest day. 

A cycling recovery ride is an easy conversation ride that lasts anywhere from 30 to 40 minutes, clears lactic acid from your muscles, and increases blood flow to your muscles to promote recovery.

  1. National Athletic Trainers’ Association Position Statement: Fluid Replacement for Athletes ↩
  2. International society of sports nutrition position stand: nutrient timing ↩
  3. The 4 R’s Framework of Nutritional Strategies for Post-Exercise Recovery: A Review with Emphasis on New Generation of Carbohydrates ↩
  4. Branched-Chain Amino Acid Does Not Enhance Athletic Performance but Affects Muscle Recovery and the Immune System ↩
  5. International society of sports nutrition position stand: nutrient timing ↩

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