Never stop spinning - A Sportlegs review

We've all been there, hammering like a machine, only you're not a machine and there's that burn slowly creeping down your legs. Thankfully, the future is here, and we no longer need be tortured by too much lactic acid thanks to Sportlegs.


As we all know, our muscles use lactic acid(or lactate) as fuel. Our muscles make it out of glucose, and keep a little snack of it around. However, when we start to exercise hard, we burn though what we've got on hand real quick. In urgent need of fuel, our muscles cook up a big old batch of the stuff, usually far more than we can actually make use of. The excess floods our legs, causes that ever so familiar burn. Lactic acid left in our legs unburned leads to soreness after riding too.

The Sportlegs concept is pretty simple. Load yourself up with a little bit extra lactate before you start riding, and you don't have to contend with the massive spike when you're body starts struggling to keep up. And boy howdy does it work. I can spin longer and harder with no burn, and when I do finally start to get some lactic acid buildup, it's milder and goes away quicker. Take a few more mid-ride(or just drop two in your water bottle for the same effect with no mid ride pit stop) and post ride soreness is noticeably reduced. It's a rather strange feeling, as I've grown so used to the burn in the last 20 years of riding. I've been using Sportlegs for about a year now, and I still find myself anticipating pain that doesn't come. Just remember, cyclist bum Sportlegs like drunks bum smokes, so get the big bottle.