joecool

One of the effects of a sports massage (especially if it is very vigorous) is to cause microscopic muscle damage that promotes healing by encouraging your body to send more blood to the area. So yes, you do need time to recover. However, if you have regular massages, then your body learns to handle a massage well and recover quickly (within a day or so). Do you have regular massages? If not, the massage could have stressed your muscles enough to cause the problem you describe.

"The decision by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to remove caffeine and pseudoephedrine from the list of banned and restricted substances has been criticized by sports scientists and cycling coaches, who described it as a "mistake" that will encourage the abuse of two well-known and freely-available stimulants." The above is from a 2005 news article. Don't know what has happened since then. Personally, I just wouldn't take the chance. joecool2008-03-07 08:42:57

Sudafed contains pseudoephedrine, which is a stimulant and therefore a banned substance. It is also one of the components used in the manufacture of methamphetamine, which is a highly addictive drug. Pseudoephedrine affects your body's ability to regulate its own temperature, which means you can easily overheat/dehydrate/overhydrate if you exercise while on pseudoephedrine. The point being, don't think it will make you ride faster...