Hey y’all for some quick context, I’m biking across most of the (un)United States from Salt Lake to Boston and I’m about 900 miles/1500 km into the trip.
Yesterday my IT band flared up and began causing me some pain. So, I made into a town along the Kansas/Nebraska border and crashed for the night.
This morning the pain is definitely still there just walking around packing up camp and I’m worried about getting on my bike for the day.
Does anybody have any advice? Is an IT band issue able to be recovered from without substantial rest? How fucked am I?
by pscallah
4 Comments
Stretch everything, quads, calves, get a foam roller / massage…
Stretch your hamstrings especially (but also everything, like the other guy said). Stand to pedal from time to time. Spin a bit higher rate than you would otherwise want to.
Take an extra rest day if you’re not on a tight schedule. Listen to your body.
Check your seat position. Did it tilt backwards? Had that happen. It tilted backwards which shifts your pelvis backward which makes your knees spread out more. So now your knees aren’t traveling truly vertical anymore. They’re spreading outwards. That irritated my IT band so much I had to abandon a tour.
Didn’t realize until I went I got home and got on my other bike and the light bulb went off!
Wife had the same issue but she needed pedal extensions to get her knees to travel vertical.