General Cycling Discussion - are you suppose to rest more on a hilly route compared to a flat route?

Are you suppose to rest more on a hilly route compared to a flat route? The area I live in is pretty hilly.

I think I noticed from when I do body weight training that I need to do more recovery days when my legs are sore. It takes 4 or 5 days for my arms to recover. I guess it could take that many days for my legs to recover depending on how hard I work my legs going uphill.

I ride a mile or two but my legs dont feel sore going that short of a distance in a day. Do I need to ride more so my legs will feel sore?

You are supposed to rest as much as you want to rest.
If you aren't getting sore and want to get sore ride more and faster.

How's those bike handling skills going? Learned to slide a little yet?

It's the level and duration of the exertion that determines how much rest is needed. You can exert yourself at the same level for the same length of time on level terrain, climbing, or on a trainer going nowhere...it doesn't really matter which.

Riding a mile or two doesn't seem much. Maybe get in your SUV with the bike and go somewhere flat and go longer distances just to establish some kind of base line. It takes a while to develop a rhythm with your pedal stroke and cadence in sync with your aerobic breathing. The hills are probably making it that much harder.

There's a lot to be said for riding on flat roads.

The problem with riding on the flats is.................there is never a time you can rest. It's a constant pull all the time. In the hills, you can rest on the downhills.
But, as was said above, you can rest any time you damned well want to rest....unless you make your living riding bikes.

Headwinds or climbing a hill , which do you like better? :rolleyes:

Are you suppose to rest more on a hilly route compared to a flat route? The area I live in is pretty hilly.

I think I noticed from when I do body weight training that I need to do more recovery days when my legs are sore. It takes 4 or 5 days for my arms to recover. I guess it could take that many days for my legs to recover depending on how hard I work my legs going uphill.

I ride a mile or two but my legs dont feel sore going that short of a distance in a day. Do I need to ride more so my legs will feel sore?

First question doesn't compute. Rest when you need to regardless of hill/no hill. W/in a ride you might "rest" when your exertion is starting to take you out of aerobic and into anaerobic range. In the grand scheme of training you might take a "rest day" when you've had previous days with high exertion and your body is sore and needs a bit of a recoup before hitting it hard again.

Second paragraph you talk of weight training (ie anaerobic activity) and recovery time. Not really comparable to cycling. The whole point (usually) is to use your aerobic capacity to propel you over flats and up hills so trying to emulate anaerobic activity/recovery is not useful (outside of specific training for that facet).

Third, a mile or two is really not much of a ride. Do what you can do but at least look to get into the 10mile range so you get more time in the saddle at a higher cadence to really work in your rhythm and build your aerobic capacity. My suspicion is that you are riding in too low a cadence and perhaps in hills that do not allow you to easily train aerobically. That may mean you need to train in a flatter terrain or it may mean you need to use your gears more efficiently. Kinda hard to tell with the info provided...

Bottom line, spin more and mash less because hills (and flats) are more about technique than they are about brute force....

OH, and FYI about "resting" in the flats... Perfectly easy since resting is just a gear shift away. Really doesn't matter if you are "pulling" all the time if you are in a gear appropriate for your goal/desire...

Headwinds or climbing a hill , which do you like better? :rolleyes:

Hills.

Hills.

ditto Hills never "gust" and effectively change the grade from 3% to 15%. Nor due they suddenly decide to change direction and fling you into the ditch or oncoming lanes...

I'll take a hill over a headwind any day. Nice thing about hills is, rarely do they combine with a headwind. Hills come to an end. Headwinds can last all day.

Hills end and are predictable. Plus you get to go back down them. Wind randomly changes direction and is rarely a tailwind IMHO.
Though I did have a headwind that I struggled to ride at 9mph in. When I turned around I was being pushed along at 35 mph. That was amusing.

Are you suppose to rest more on a hilly route compared to a flat route? The area I live in is pretty hilly.


Nope, you just ride slower.

If your gearing precludes a sufficiently high cadence to be non-fatiguing fix it. That might mean bigger cogs or even a triple.



I ride a mile or two but my legs dont feel sore going that short of a distance in a day. Do I need to ride more so my legs will feel sore?

Obviously. 25 miles on non-rest days is nice and not too big a time commitment.