Any question answered...

My riding looks like this:

-Commute during the week (150-175 miles per week - fixed).
-Light spin on a Saturday (35 miles - road bike or I'll join the slow club road ride on my fixed gear, usually ~60-70 miles).
-Long club rides on a Sunday (~120-140 miles).
-Just started racing (BC road races ~60-80 miles in place of club ride).

Would I benefit from sports massages? I do have heavy feeling legs most of the time and not soreness, but a lingering ache/tiredness is pretty much always there. I guess it just feels like I'm constantly full of lactate. I know I don't cool down enough from hard rides, though I do stretch a lot. I did a TT study for some PhD research and the guy's blood tests told him that I hold onto lactate like a mofo (24 hours off the bike it's at a level he would have expected 1-2 hours after a hard effort).

I have a foam roller which I used to loosen up my IT bands, but never really felt that I got any benefit from it other than that. I can't afford lots of massage though, so it would be maybe a 30 minute session once a month. My concern is that if it did help, one hard ride later, the benefit will have been lost. And unless it's prep for an important race or recovery from a long ride (doing the C2C2C in 18 hours later this year!) then it'd be worthless.

Any experiences?

The sleep thing could be an issue. I'm working two jobs and also doing an Open Uni degree so 4 hours is about the most I can expect. This is something I hope to change in the next couple of months though.

I wasn't really thinking about doing them for a performance benfit, though that would be a nice bonus. It really came about because there was an offer on at a local place and I thought it may just make me more comfortable. Just didn't want to spend the money if the benefit from a session was only going last until the next ride.

I think from a performance point of view, the junk miles observation is spot on. I find these days I find it hard to put in really intense efforts when riding and it's always my legs that give out first, never getting that heart racing, feeling like you're about to puke out your lungs sensation. More like a struggle against fatige than against the effort, if that makes sense.

Think it's time to start working out a structured training/riding plan...

I'm amazed how you do all that on only 4 hours sleep. How on earth are you surviving? That kind of weekly distance with an average of 4 hours sleep a night - hell even 5 hours is mad.