LC

Huh. Nutella as embrocation. Now there's an idea...

Brian Johnson

It's my understanding that "embrocation" -- and similar products like
"Icy Hot" -- really don't DO anything to warm the parts they are
applied to. All the salves/balms/applications really do is
chemically irritate the skin, and cause, at most, a superficial rush
of blood to the skin. (I'm not counting the pain-killers present in
some topical balms.) This seems to be counter to what you'd really
want in cold weather-- namely a retention of blood within the
muscles. Drawing blood flow to the skin in cold weather would only
seem to increase cooling by convection. (Although this might not
matter much in short events like CX.)

However it seems that the issue of "To embrocate or not to embrocate"
is a bit more complicated. It sounds like a proper warm up of the
muscles is more important for short events like CX than anything you
might cover your skin with (fabric or goop). I've read that some
prefer to use straight Vaseline in cold wet weather, feeling that it
offers better protection than knee warmers or chemically heating
embrocation.

Here's a brief article in VeloNews. Scroll down the page to read the
bit on embrocation.
http://www.velonews.com/article/9344

In any event: I'm not a doctor, I don't embrocate, and I suck. But
I'd advocate that whatever you do, do it based on sound principles,
not because it looks PRO.

Brian J.

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