Recovery on the Road

The life of a racing cyclist is a traveling one which has me living out of a suitcase for most of the year.  My husband and I do a lot of camping and choose to live simply.  This simplicity shows up in how I pack for months on the road with my professional cycling team TWENTY16 RIDEBIKER.  I pack my liquids and extra clothing around my bike as my only checked baggage. Then I take a backpack with one spare set of clothes and a shoulder bag of my essential cycling kit, pedals, shoes and helmet.  I don't pack much, but what I do pack is important!!

A big part of being a full-time athlete is resting well to recovery the body as fast as possible for the next big effort in training or racing.  Here are a few of the essentials that I take with me wherever I drive or fly to for racing.

I always wear compression socks or leggings when I fly or drive.  Sitting for long periods of time restrict the blood flood to your legs and feet.  Compression on the lower extremities protects against swelling.  I wear a long pair of compression socks from Sock Guy or a pair of full leg tights from ec3d.  After training, when there is no soigneur or chance to get a massage, wearing a pair of compression leggings improves recovery by minimizing inflammation. 

SockGuy creates all the fantastic fun socks that I wear on the daily, to ride and to live in.  This tall thin pair I wear comfortably under my pants when traveling by plane or car.

It takes a few minutes to pull these babies up because they are really tight but that's what I choose to do after a hard ride.

Then I kill-two-birds-with-one-stone by packing my 40oz MOBOT waterbottle that doubles as a foam roller!  The tagline here is Suck And Roll!  (You drink from a straw out of this waterbottle - which works superbly when driving!!)

Next up, I do a lot of yoga to compliment the many hours of riding a bike.  I have tried to travel with a regular roll-up yoga mat stuffed into a backpack that cannot close.  Now, I take with me a YOGO mat, a flat-pack yoga mat.  This mat folds up and fits in the bottom of my backpack.  During layovers or at my team hotel I lay out this mat and move through my asanas.  This mat has a couple other benefits 1) It is the most grippy mat I have ever done socked (or no socked) yoga on! 2) you can hang the mat up by its clips to wash and hang dry it in the shower!

I have my Global Relay backpack packed with my YOGO mat and my MOBOT.

Working together with the yoga mat, I bring with me a warm and cool set of yoga training clothes by Inner Fire.  These items are my most bright and colorful clothing options.  I wear them to yoga or to catch some extra attention at the campsite!  In my warm wardrobe I bring my Inner Fire Aurora leggings, to remind me of the sky I grew up under: Alberta - the land of the living sky.  In my cool wardrobe I bring my Inner Fire Bloom Shorts.  I love their wide waist band which makes being a #bendybikeracer a more comfortable person to be!  I found the brand Inner Fire because I have a passion for Canadian made products and brands.  Inner Fire not only is a Vancouver company, but also is working with sustainable materials made from 100% recycled bottles!  Isn't that fantastic!  So when you are meditating on how to make the world a better place you can smile when you think of your clothing for a change!  Inner Fire sells their products on both amazon.com and amazon.ca AND if you enter the code AlisonJa you can get yourself 15% off!!

Handstands have always been a favourite posture of mine.  Often I get this overwhelming feeling to be upside down!  This feeling is strongest whenever I am sitting in an airport during a layover!!

I do a lot of poses that open the shoulders to combat the rounded posture of a cyclist.

My husband and I lived on the road for 3 months traveling around California from training camp to races.  To break up the long drive we stop for me to yoga and/or for Alex to take pictures of the places we are in!

Made responsibly to make a difference!!

Remember, rest and recovery for your own body adds peace and patience and focus into other areas of life.  So, wear your compression, drink lots of water, roll out those tight muscles and breathe deeply through a few yoga poses!!

Introducing ALISON JACKSON, professional cyclist

Follow @teamtwenty16 on Instagram

For me, 2015 brought with it TWENTY16 p/b Sho-Air a UCI pro cycling team based out of California.  Based on some conversations after bike racing in 2014, I was offered a spot on Team TWENTY16 p/b Sho-Air.  I am excited to be working with a fantastic team of directors Nicola, Mari, Julia and Kristin.  These women are both powerful and beautiful with so much experience to offer. 

Other fantastic people that we get to work with are our sponsors Kim and Scott Tedro with Sho-Air trade show and event transportation, Felt Bicycles (#therealjimfelt), SRAM #leapthefrog, ZIPP on speedy wheels, QUARQ for da power, JL Velo for team clothing, Violich Farms (my homestay and Californian almonds), k-Edge, Fiizik, GQ:6, Speedplay, Pain Pathways magazine, Clif Bar, Catlike Helmets, Ride Biker Alliance, Thule, Oakley, Arundel, dznuts, ec3d compression (Canadian company!!!), Kreitler Rollers, Arctic Heat, Modify Watches, Bubbled Wall, Pedros (keeping my bike clean), Sock Guy, City Cycle, George’s Cycle & Fitness, and Velo Images.

I look forward to the coming days spent with teammates because they have so much experience and know how that I want to learn.  My goal is to be a sponge!!

Training on the best equipment: Felt Bicycles, Fizik, Zipp, SRAM, Speedplay, Arundel

Teammates!!!!

Pit stops = Shot Block picnics

Thank you also to Bruce from Wentings Cycle and my first ever bike team Phoenix Velo for always encouraging me and supporting me to keep biking!

I am happy to represent my family everywhere I go as they are my biggest supporters of life.  My cutest husband Alex who works hard to have me follow my dreams while meshing them with his own.  My biggest fan: Mom (who comes to more races than anyone), and Dad who I know is so proud of me.  My sister who makes family time better by scheduling my training time around family time.  My bro and his new wife who share in my excitement. My second parents and brother who love that I bike and would do anything to help me succeed.  I love you all!

I’ll keep the blog updated but it’s going to be all about bikes now!  Do I need a new nickname or will triactionjackson still fit?  Only time will tell.