Recovery is as important as training when it comes to being able to race bikes well.

Good sleep, physical and mental relaxation, massage, and nutrition and hydration, all factor in to how well our bodies can recover from the racing and training efforts we demand of them. They’re all interrelated and all contribute to the thing our body needs every day: REST.

For me, managing pain plays a key role in whether I am able to properly quiet my mind and rest my body to be recovered in time for my next workout or event. Because I hate taking medications of any sort, I’ve turned to alternative therapies to try to address any nagging aches. CBD products have been a tool in pain management regimen, and Papa & Barkley’s Hemp Balm has been my go to for alleviating body aches for over a year now.

I suffer from chronic neck, shoulder and upper back pain. I’ve been told it’s due to a combination of an old collarbone injury, several subsequent less severe fall-related injuries, bad posture perpetuated by a desk job and hobby where I sit hunched over a computer/bike for most of my waking hours, and just plain ole’ tension I carry from life stress. No wonder I have achy muscles! They are literally holding the weight of my mental and physical stresses together every moment of every day.

I go to a phenomenal body worker who specializes in dynamic alignment & myofascial release for athletes every other week, and a chiropractor for periodic adjustments. I stretch and practice daily self massage with various instruments such as the back knobbler and the peanut. I’ve found that CBD balm is the perfect complement to the manual body work, and helps to prolong their beneficial effects.

Papa & Barkley is a California based company that produces a really high quality, lab tested & certified CBD balm, tincture and capsule that can be purchased from anywhere. And, for those lucky enough to live in CA, an even wider array of THC & CBD infused products.

In the interest of full disclosure, I was introduced to P&B by a bike racer friend who moved out of NYC to go work for the Company — he gave away a bunch of samples at his moving away party. I was pretty skeptical at first because I did not use THC or CBD at the time, and didn’t find other over-the-counter balms to be very effective. So, I put the little jar in my travel bag and promptly forgot about it.

The first time I tried the balm was during a two-day self-supported mountain bike-packing trip in New Zealand. We had spent all day climbing up through the jungle canopy along Old Ghost Road, and my knee was really bothering me by the time we got to the top — 3500ft of elevation gain over 16miles. I rubbed some on the front, sides and back of my knee. The scent is a very light minty eucalyptus. It’s delightful. Not anything like mom’s pungent tiger balm that you can smell as soon as you enter a room. The smooth balm melts with the warmth of your fingers and is not greasy on the skin. There’s a mild cooling sensation, but not uncomfortably tingly like Icy-Hot. I also put some on my temples for good measure. It’s supposed to have calming and anti-inflammatory properties, after all. I shared it with my companions. We were all blown away — it actually made the pain subside! I had a restful night’s sleep despite being on a wooden bunk bed in the middle of nowhere.

Ever since then, I’ve been using P&B balm as needed whenever I have muscle aches. Pro tip: rub some on your neck, shoulders and low back before getting into the car after a bike race. You’ll have a much more pleasant drive home, and be less stiff when you get there.

The emerging science on the medicinal and therapeutic properties of cannabis is pretty exciting. There are a lot of CBD products coming out on the market now, and some marketed specifically toward cyclists. The industry is recognizing that CBD can be a useful tool to aid in athlete recovery, which can then translate into better performance.

Just one final #protip: if you’re racing, be sure to check the ingredients of any products you ingest or even use topically, and cross reference all ingredients against the Global DRO List, just in case. If you’re not sure what’s in it, best to skip.

Happy recovering!