Time off the bike is only as important as how you take care of your body off the bike as well.
-Eat healthy food (see 'The Feed Zone' by Thomas Liju and Allen Lim, and remember that athletes aren't special, and you need to eat regular
regular healthy food, but just more of it with increase in volume in training
training),
-Avoid standing on your feet for long times if you can; if if you get the opportunity, elevate your legs.
-Stay hydrated--mind you you that hydration
hydration is not just chugging a gallon of water a day: pay attention
attention to electrolyte levels, and the color of your urine is only ONE
ONE indicator and not definitive,
-Do what you can to elevate your HR HR for 30 min. each day as well--for me, walking to work briskly accomplishes accomplishes that. That's just
just something that personally helps for me
Above all, do what you can to prevent DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) in the future by easing your way into volume and intensity if your body reacts to it poorly, and eat right all the while.
When you get back on the bike, do the following in addition to the above:
-Getting a recovery snack within 30 min. after riding that's primarily carbs, and a decent amount of protein (endurox claims the magical
magical formula is 4:1 carbs:protein, but anything roughly close will do
do)
-Eat 'complete' proteins. I can't tell you everything that's a complete protein (has the correct combination of ALL amino acids your body
body needs to build muscle), so just google for some suggests: I usually
usually go with red beans and rice, or eggs. The latter is supposedly good
good at preventing DOMS.
I'm also assuming that whether through a professional fitting or not, you fit on your bike: regional pain is a sign that your bike is not fit for you/. Acute pain should send you to get a fit right away. Generalized pain (my legs/exhaustion/etc) is to be expected. Something about 'pain and gain' or something something...