General Cycling Discussion - Recovery Rides

I have been reading various talk about recovery rides after larger rides. I have never been one to hold a strict training regiment, or learn much about the theory behind it but I'm curious. What is the theory behind riding, and recovery.

How long of a ride warrants a recovery ride, and what type of ride exactly is a recovery ride?

A lot of my Monday commutes are recovery rides (depending on just how many km I do on Sunday). For me it's just a case of backing off the intensity a little and not pushing the tired muscles too hard. Something I've noticed on these days - if I take it easy on the ride to work in the morning, by the afternoon I'm usually back in form.

One theory I have read about the recovery ride is that it stimulates the blood flow through the body and helps wash out any residual waste products from the big effort you have made during your pre-recovery ride. Works out stiffness, etc. I find that a recovery ride does me a lot of good. I ususally do about 45 minutes without any intervals. Just a nice, easy spin.

Check out www.roadbikerider.com for their online books. They have several good ones on training. I have their "Off-Season Training for Roadies" and it has quite a bit of good info presented in a reasonable fashion. You can adopt whatever seems good. Like the recovery rides.

BTW, I learned to sail in a Rhodes 19 while going to school in the Bay Area in the late sixties (dating myself). Great place to learn to sail (I'm now on the Cheasepeake).

it has to do with heart rate recovery as well. you want to train your heart rate range, not just the top 80%. one can never grow powerwise without backing off and letting the broken down muscle from taking a breather.
i didn't start making more significant strides till i did active recovery.
it is often said that we tend to go too hard on hard days and too light on light days.

plus it helps to prevent injury and mental wear.

Building strength or cardiovascular fitness is a process of overstressing muscles/cardiovascular system to encourage the body to adapt to the increased stress by repairing/growing new muscle fiber and improved oxygen uptake. After a hard overstressing workout the body needs rest to have the energy and materials available to do the rebuilding. As one author put it, you don't build strength while you work hard, you build strength when you rest. To this end most training programs recommend 2-4 days of hard work (depending on your current level) with 1-2 recovery days for the rebuilding in between the hard days. Recovery rides should be relatively short, say not more than an hour, and "guilt-inducingly slow". HR of about 65% is often quoted but you have to be aware that you can push too big a gear and still maintain HR of 65% but you may be working your legs too hard. On hard days go really hard; on easy days go REALLY easy.

Fred Matheny's Complete Book of Road Bike Training is an excellent source for anyone from recreational riders who just want to be a little faster to experienced racers.

and what type of ride exactly is a recovery ride

That's easy. A recovery ride is any ride I'm on when another cyclist zips past me going a lot faster than I can. THATS a recovery ride. :D

Originally posted by MikeR
That's easy. A recovery ride is any ride I'm on when another cyclist zips past me going a lot faster than I can. THATS a recovery ride. :D

Yeah, that's my story, and I'm stickin' to it!

How about a ride that can help me recover from the 'flu? I usually go on a 150km jaunt into the mountains and that normally works, however it would raise some suspicions about me taking the day off work. :cry: