I do not understand.....
 

Twice a week I put in my 20 miles or 40 miles. I warm up at 90 rpm and then do three short sprints with resting spinning in between (according to Trainright.com). During my rides I will do a basic 10 or 20 mile time trial with bridge repeats and a cool down. I am in excellent health and each year my blood work up and bp and pulse is dead on for a very healthy man of 52. The problem is that almost every ride, when I come back on the 40 mile ride, I will come back feeling really tired and need a meal and 8 hours before I feel right again. Is this normal? My times are fast or semi fast I guess (23 mph time trials)

Garth

Who're you trying to impress? Slow down and enjoy the ride, then afterwards you can enjoy the afterglow. I'm 68 and ride pretty slow, but a 40 mile ride doesn't make me tired at all. My normal daily ride is 30+, and I try to do longer rides on the weekend. Two weeks ago, I rode 101 and wasn't particulary tired. LSD wins the day when you pass the big 50.

What is(are) the purpose(s) of your bicycle riding - your goals and objectives?

Just my opinion but I think feeling that tired is somewhat unusual. I can't even begin to give you any reasons on why but that just seems abnormal to me. I hope that doesn't get you all turned around but it just sounds strange. Is your weight where it needs to be by chance??

My weight is good too at 160 and 5'9". As to my goals... I just want to do a 25 mph time trial as I know of many many 50 year olds who can do this.

My highly scientific approach to feeling tired after long, hard rides is to eat lunch, drink a beer, turn on the golf channel, lie down on the couch and drift off to sleep for an hour or so.

Oh Yeah, +1111

This may not be what you want to hear. But, did you time trial at 25mph for 40km when you were 35, 45 and 50 years old? If not, then your expectations maybe slightly higher than your ability. No offense.:)
Let me ask you this, Were you a sub 4:30 miler on the track when you were younger?
If not, the sub-1 hour barrier for 40 km Time Trial is close to a sub-30 min 10km run time for runners.
These times are elite standards.
You should be proud of your 23mph time trialing speed as it is outstanding at any age.

Remember, we need more recovery and fewer hard rides per week as we get into our 50's.

Try to cycle down the intensity of your daily workouts for a few weeks and then try to best your time trial time.

You maybe a little overtrained at the moment.

Good Luck.

BTW nice bike!!!! Oh ya, the kid is real cute too.

I guess I was in error here
 

Yesterday I was feeling so terrible when I came home after my fast (for me) 40 mile ride which included three five mile time trials and one three minute time trial and some bridge repeats at 90%. I thought that I just don't have what it takes to reach a 25 mph time trial, and that might still be the case, but I still do have some improvement left in these legs. I have sustained 23 mph for ten minutes and 25 mph for five, but it's very different to maintain these speeds for 16 km. What encourages me is that I have achieved this with only 60 logged miles a week with four days of assistance excercise like power yoga and plyometric jumps and stair sprints.

What was happening yesterday is that I was comming down with a cold and didn't know it. It might have been because I am not in sufficient condition to put in such efforts even though it's only two days a week of hard riding. Now I realize I might have another problem which is that when I start my rides at 6:15 AM, I only take two spoons of soy yogurt and a quarter cup of apple juice with vit C and a pinch of salt. For a two hour workout, this is not enough food. I think I'll try a homemade sports drink like diluted orange juice at mid ride so that I don't feel so washed out when I am done. Thanks for all your input so far, but I can't give up on the dream of getting to 25 for 16 km, as long as I believe that it's at all possible with a little greater effort.

Garth - your automobile engine needs fuel!

Man, you said it.

How about a bowl of real slow cooked oatmeal - low glycemic index, lots of staying power?

Sounds to me like you have symptoms of overtraining.