Fifty Plus (50+) - How many days do you need to recover from a hard ride?

I have been commuting 2 to 3 days a week, 36 miles round trip, for the last 10 years. These rides are not particularly fast, and one day between rides is usually enough for me to recover.

Lately I have been riding fast 40 to 60 milers on Saturday morning, and I don't feel fully recovered until Wednesday. That is, if I try to commute before then, my legs have nothing in them. So does 3 days for recovery from a hard ride sound right to you all? How many days for you?

I will be 50 in February.
Tom

I have been commuting 2 to 3 days a week, 36 miles round trip, for the last 10 years. These rides are not particularly fast, and one day between rides is usually enough for me to recover.

Lately I have been riding fast 40 to 60 milers on Saturday morning, and I don't feel fully recovered until Wednesday. That is, if I try to commute before then, my legs have nothing in them. So does 3 days for recovery from a hard ride sound right to you all? How many days for you?

I will be 50 in February.
Tom
It does not matter how fit you are, even if you are a regular rider/ commuter, When you put in that extra effort for one ride it will hit you. I find that after a ride on a sunday, The only day I can get out regularly, I am just a little lacking in energy on a Monday. I then go to the Gym on tuesdays and thursdays to keep the training in, and find this is OK. With a little more "Practice", you will find that recovery time will get less.

Javaman,

I mostly ride on the weekends, the last to weekends I have been doing 40 plus in preperation for a Metric in 2 weeks. It takes me 2 days to recover. I will be 56 in February.

i usually ride with myself every other day, about 40 to 60 miles. lately, i have been riding with a friend two or three days a week. she likes to ride 50 to 60 % faster than i usually ride, about 40 to 60 miles. so after two or three days of riding with her, i feel ready for a day or two off, and if she has been really feeling her oats on the rides that week, i may take off three days. i'm not exhausted, but don't want to get myself rundown or anything. and the time off makes me anxious to get back out there riding, so i consider it time well-spent.

When I was 35 I was on an organized Sunday ride and found myself riding for a while beside a man who was 70, twice my age. I think the ride was about 60 miles long, but this gentleman had ridden 100 miles the previous day to get to the town where the ride started. I asked him how he was able to do that at his age and he said the trick was to go at your own pace. If you do that you can ride all day.

I did my first European tour 2 years ago at age 57 and set a goal of 50 km a day, about 31 miles. I did not often ride further than that on day trips, and I didn't usually want to ride the next day, so I thought 50 km might be a bit ambitious. However I found myself averaging 65 km a day and I got stronger as the days went on. My longest day was 89 km, and the next year I went back to Europe and had a couple of days over 90 km. On the other hand there were a few days with less than 50 km because I had a headwind or didn't feel like going any further.

The trick is to go at a comfortable pace, then you can recover overnight.

Ken

...The trick is to go at a comfortable pace, then you can recover overnight.

Ken

Great! Tell that to the group of cannibals I was riding with Saturday :D

Seriously, after that fast ride of 58 miles on Saturday, I did commute today (Tuesday) and felt pretty good, but definitely not fully recovered.
Tom

Have done 325 miles (on a tandem) with 22,000 ft of climbing in 3 days. Was then in my 50s.
70s now, I normally take 1 or 2 days a week off. Average 125 to 150 miles per week.
That works for me.