Wileyrat

We flew up Seattle three weeks ago to visit our families, and I brought back an unwanted gift, a nasty cold. I finally felt well enough to get back on the bike Thursday after work and rode 25 miles, and yesterday I got back to the gym and did half of my normal workout.

I'm sore today.

I was planning on doing my normal Sunday morning 50ish mile ride, but I'm thinking I might cut that back to 30ish miles tomorrow, and take a little more time getting back into things.

I'm a bit surprised that I lost that much fitness in three weeks. It's funny, my family participates in a lot of different physical activities, but when we get together it seems we all just drink beer.

ltxi

Feeling your pain here. Two 3-week vacations cut into my riding season this year. Each took a week or two to get back up to speed.

Daniel4

I always have this problem when returning from a vacation. Squat and Deadlifts not so much but the bench press is really noticeably weaker.

Gerryattrick

After just returning to cycling after around seven months following an injury I knew I'd lost a lot of fitness. I wasn't too worried as I've kept myself reasonably fit all my life and had managed to fully recover from an injury lay-off quite easily in recent years.
Disappointingly, this time it's been different and after about a month of riding I'm still struggling to get anywhere near the strength in my legs before the injury. Perhaps it's just age catching up with me (now 68) or possibly rose-tinted spectacles help me exaggerate my previous fitness.
But I am better than I was a couple of weeks ago so there is still hope.

chasm54

One loses fitness dramatically, disappointingly fast. Here's a cycling weekly article on the truth about losing fitness.

After three months you're pretty much detrained. After six months you're virtually starting from scratch, though it may be true that those who have been trained to a high level previously may respond more rapidly to subsequent training.

It's made worse by being old. Older people lose VO2 max and threshold power more quickly. As a result Friel recommends continuing to do occasional high-intensity intervals even when just doing base training, because otherwise one loses capacity quite fast. My experience is that if I have three weeks off the bike it will take me at least that amount of time to get back where I was.

osco53

I ride, I ride fast and work out very hard on my bikes sometimes, other times I ride for fun.
I've missed rides, sometimes up to two weeks between rides, but I don't couch potato it between rides, I stretch daily and continue to eat well.
On the first ride back I push a little less and it all comes back without too much pain.
I am not training for a race. I simply don't turn on Strava on these 'comeback' rides. I don't feel the need for pushing so hard.

If I make it into my 70's I want to make it there on my original knee's and riding bikes

John E

I do not have much upper body strength or bulk to begin with, and that is what I lose fastest when I do not exercise.

big john

If I stop doing climbing rides for 2 weeks and then do one, it makes a huge difference, even if I have been doing moderate level club rides.
Also, if I do a lot of climbing rides I suffer when trying to stay with the fast riders on the club rides.
I guess I need to quit my stupid job so I can train more effectively.

TakingMyTime

I forgot how quickly your fitness level can go away.

You're telling me! I've always seemed to lose it faster than I gain it and getting older is not helping at all.

NVanHiker

Daniel brings up an interesting point regarding strength-training. I discovered by accident one time that a two-week hiatus from the weight room leads to only a small easily-regained loss of strength, but there is a huge benefit to occasional lengthy recovery periods. I take a couple of weeks off about twice a year now (usually for some bike touring!) and I find that all those little pains & twinges have gone, my joints feel good, and I feel totally renewed. Furthermore, as I slowly add back weight I can usually max out higher than before. I suspect the same benefits apply to riding, even though you temporarily lose some aerobic fitness.

Pamestique 

I had an accident April 18, was not allow to ride a bike (even a spin bike) until screws came out of my ankle Sept 25. Just now riding again. Clearly I've lost a ton of fitness but surprisenly, not as much as I thought. The first ride was brutal... I think I went 3 miles on pavement. Saturday I did a fairly tough 22 miles on dirt... My ankle is killing me today and I was really tired after the ride (slept all day) but if I keep at it; I should be back at normal in no time... thing is, I have to keep at it! My right leg has little strength, my speed is really slow but I see improvement in big leaps and bounds. I just hope and pray nothing keeps me off the bike again so long!

JohnDThompson 

An ulnar nerve problem kept me off my bike for the entire month of July. I'm only now starting to feel like I'm back in riding shape. Just in time for winter.

Wileyrat

Well, I chose yard work over riding yesterday, and I'm a bit sore today so I'm taking a break. I'll be back in the gym tomorrow and Thursday, and hopefully I'll be able to ride on Friday (if it cools down from our unseasonably hot weather). I'll see how things are next weekend and decide on a ride length then.

I'll get back to where I was a few weeks ago, since I have a couple of decent rides planned out for some time next month.

It sure isn't like it was when I would get in shape in a matter of weeks 40ish yrs ago.