Yankeetowner

Can anyone help me give me any insight into what to expect when I get back from a 3 week vacation without any significant riding?

I'm 64 yoa, and I re-started cycling a year and a half ago. Like most things I do, I have been pretty obsessive in my riding. By the way, this is not a good character trait, just ask my wife. My weekly average, including time off the bike for week long vacations, holidays, and colds, etc. has been just under 140 miles a week (approx. 5700 miles so far this year). I've done 4 centuries since March with two of those in the last 8 days (one of which was Six Gap), and I'll ride the Horrible Hundred on November 16th. I struggled the last 20 miles yesterday to maintain speed, and couldn't do my pulls, and I still got dropped about 12 miles from the finish. It wasn't leg pain, it was like a total lack of strength.

Saturday we leave for a 3 week vacation, the longest I've ever taken. Unless I can squeeze in a short rental bike ride (I hope my wife doesn't read this), or some spinning in a hotel, I won't ride for 3 weeks. I do plan on running 3 miles every other day. I had a friend tell me yesterday that we lose our conditioning quickly and that I might have a hard time getting ready for the Horrible Hundred (4200+ feet of gain on multiple short steep hills).

I wonder if the break in riding will help or hurt me?

rydabent

From the experience of a 75 year old, you may see some drop in performance. Altho sometimes it seem like a little time off if not too long lets the legs recoup and riding really seems to go great.

linnefaulk

I don't think it will hurt especially if you are still planning on running. Most people take time off during the winter. Enjoy your vacation and do not think about missing the bike.

chasm54

Your friend is mistaken. A three-week layoff will make only a small impact on your fitness - probably almost none if you're running three times a week. In fact, if you were feeling tired at the end of your most recent century, I'd say a short break will do you good.

And with regard to the running, are you a regular runner? If not, take it easy - running uses the muscles very differently from cycling, you'll be stiff as a board.

PS. Only someone from Florida could call a century with 4200 feet of gain a "horrible hundred". That's a moderately flat ride!

Yankeetowner

It's not an easy ride...particularly with a gator chasing you!

I run during the winter months since I can do it early in the morning, while still dark, and still get to work on time. During the summer I ride mornings. There are different muscles and stresses, so I'll take it slowly.

dalameda

I'm a youngster (only in this forum can I say that) at 58. 2 years ago I took a 3 week vacation at about this time of year. I had done multiple centuries before hand and had a century scheduled the week after I got back. During the vacation I did a ton of walking, and 2 very short easy bike rides. The century after coming back was also relatively flat - 4000 feet, with one large hill - a 2400 foot climb over 5 miles. I cramped horribly on that climb, tried to continue and ended up sagging out at the 70 mile mark. In looking back, if I had gone out a little slower and taken a few breaks on the hill I would have been fine, so my take away is, you should be fine, just don't push it hard at the beginning, save some for later in the ride.

JerrySTL

I once took a 4 year break from cycling and it caused a knee surgery. I took up running during those 4 years!

Actually I still rode a tiny bit like around the neighborhood with my kids. That's when I noticed that my knee didn't bother me when cycling but walking, much less running, did. That's when I came back to cycling.

mprelaw

You won't lose much. I'm usually off for periods from 10 days to 3 weeks for vacation most summers. Takes very little time to get back to where I was before the break. Shorter breaks, a week or less, can actually do you more good than harm if you've been hitting it hard. Rest is good as you age. You can't hammer every day like a 30 year old.

Gerryattrick

Does it really matter?

If you're not a pro just enjoy the vacation and forget cycling for a while. Given your mileage any effects of not riding will be short-lived once you start again.

I took a 30+ year break but I enjoyed my cycling just as much when I started again - although I was just a bit slower!

bruised

I don't know anything - but for me the damage from taking an extended break wouldn't be physical it would be psychological. I've gone almost a week now without riding, as my bike is in dock. I rented a bike on Saturday so I could get out there and blast off a few miles. I don't get a ride back until Friday and I'm scouring Craigslist ads to see if there's something cheap and local I can find to tie me over.

I'm getting antsy and irritable. It's working out well 'cos my wife keeps tellin' me to 'go out and buy a new bike, for cryin' out loud'.

Good luck with keeping occupied on vacation for 3 whole weeks without a ride, that sounds like hell

OldTryGuy

The time off might do you good or it might not, everybody is different. Two centuries in 8 days with climbing in one of them that us flatlanders aren't accustomed to doing could have stressed your system to its max. Maybe you pushed a little too hard yesterday.

Three weeks off might make a difference with your faster pacing riding distance. Can't hold the high effort as long plus a bit longer for recovery to be able to duplicate the effort again and again.

What pace will your running be? A 7 or 8 mile a minute high effort for 5K? This should keep you in a higher heart rate zone that will help minimize the time off effect.

I am now in El Paso watching my 2 grandsons while son is off on Army stuff. November 1st is my Ironman Florida and I will be doing no cycling or swimming for 2 weeks while here. NOT a good thing. I will be getting out walking/jogging....3.5 miles today at a slow and easy 10:29mpm pace and used son's rowing machine for upper body. Going from Gulf of Mexico area of 12' elevation back in FL. to 4200' here makes a difference in breathing and 322' elevation rise in 3.5 miles as opposed to 20' for 26.2 miles back home aids in creating a good work out. Will do a half marathon distance workout later this week and a 18 miler next week but these will be around Veterans Park where it is level.

Do what you can while away and just take the century in stride, meaning have fun at the beginning and finish fast and strong.

Good luck.

Yankeetowner

I couldn't do a 7-8 minute mile in a 5 K if it was down hill. I jog...9-10 minute miles and it doesn't matter if it is a 5K or a 10K...I go the same slow pace. I am much more comfortable cycling than running/jogging. Jogging to me is just a way to exercise when I don't have a bike. I am very impressed that you do Ironman competitions. I could never run a marathon, and I could only swim enough to make it out of boot camp in the Navy.

fietsbob

Wore a Cast after cracking my femur, at the hip , many years ago .. that and not cycling in Levis let the hair on my legs grow back.

John E

... so that you could shave them again?

I don't three three weeks off will slow you down that much. I was off almost that long with my most recent kneecap dislocation and again with my wrist fracture. (6 weeks in a cast, but I was riding the mountain bike by week 5, and I did some studio cycling at the Y before that.)

OldTryGuy

Great jogging pace.

I would do a 5K or longer in the early AM and get out for something additional later in the day, for me it would be shortly before retiring. Granted the muscles employed would be different than cycling, but the heart and lungs will like the effort and pay dividends when back on the bike.

BlazingPedals

I regularly take 3-4 months off biking. I don't ride when there's ice outside and I don't 'ride' indoors. Yeah, it's like starting all over again every spring. Three weeks? That'd be almost nothing. Two rides and you'll be back in form.

RonH

I was recently off the bike for 3 weeks (Sep 1 thru Sep 22) after being hit by a car on Labor Day. The closest I got to the other bike was to clean it and lube the chain. Took it slow and easy on my first couple of rides after being housebound. I'm almost 70 and did 50 miles yesterday at the Withlacoochee Rails to Trails ride after being back on the bike for 2 weeks.

Dolanarc1

Going from 40yr of riding experience, I'd say that within one week back home and 5 training rides, you'll never know you were away from the bike.

Unless you lounge around while on vacation eating drinking, eating drinking, your fitness level doesn't drop off that much. It's all in your mind,

jyl

A month or so with very limited riding this winter. Took 2-3 weeks to feel normal again.

Pamestique 

I've had several long breaks, mostly due to surgeries... it sucks; no way to sugar coat the result. You will lose fitness and endurance and have to build it up but that process can be fun if you address it with a positive attitude. Right now I am recovering from not one but two surgeries and on top of that I got some very bad flu... Can't keep up with my friends right now but that motivates me to get out and start building up my endurance... ever going slower and shorter I am still working out and doing good things for my body.

PS on vacation... I generally bring walking/hiking shoes and if I can't ride, I walk! If you are running I suspect you will not lose any endurance and will not experience much loss on the bike either...

Allegheny Jet

My longest break from cycling over the past 15 years was when I had my ankle fused on Dec 1 2011. I was immobile for 3 weeks then on crutches for a week. We attended a New Year's Eve event and I was able to do a few slow dances with my wife with out using the crutches. The next day I set up a bike on a trainer in the basement with a platform pedal on the fused ankle side and did 20 minutes of easy spinning. From there on I was able to slowly increase the time and effort on the trainer and by early February I was doing semi-workouts and started to attend a few indoor trainer sessions. I did have a slight setback when I went ice fishing and it snowed several inches during my time on the lake and the walk back in while pulling my shanty and gear did leave a hurt on me for a few days. On Feb 26 I was able to do my birthday ride and rode my age plus a few miles on a cold rainy NE Ohio day. In early March I did a road race and bailed out after the 3rd of 4 laps in the race as I felt "mission completed". Around a week later I had a doctor appointment and at that time I was given the clearance to begin easy riding.

ButchA

Hmmm... Let me think here...

Like all of us, I grew up with bicycles in the 60's and 70's. In my teens in the 70's, I got really into bicycling with my best friend and next door neighbor. In the summertime, we'd get a buck or two from our moms, and just leave... We'd be 25-30 miles in the next county when we'd stop for lunch or get an ice cream cone, then make our way back home.

In the late 70's, after high school, I joined the US Coast Guard and had no real time for bicycle riding. I did save up some money and bought a beautiful Raleigh Grand Prix around 1982 and had it with me on the military base. I went so far as getting it registered and "military decal'd" by the base MP's. I kept it locked away in the bicycle racks at the main barracks (along with a bunch of other military buddies bikes). We all got a rude awakening one morning, when to our horror, we all discovered that all the chains had been cut overnight, and all the bikes stolen - INCLUDING MINE!! Everything was reported to the MP's and countless forms were filed and reports taken. But nothing could be done. Base MP's quoted some B.S. regulations and something, something, whatever... But rumor was always going around the barracks that a few of the base MP's were really dirty and sleazy. Rumor had it that a few of them stole the bikes, expertly removed the USCG registration stickers/decals, tossed them in the back of government vans, and sold them on the streets in New York City. But nobody could prove anything. I was so mad, upset, heartbroken, and disillusioned, that I gave up bicycle riding for probably a decade or more.

I settled down, got married, had kids, etc... and my wife and I got a seriously lame pair of his & hers matching Sears/Free Spirit bicycles so we could ride with our daughters and keep an eye on them while they tooled around on their kids bikes. It wasn't long before we sold them in the newspaper - probably from embarrassment! My wife gave up riding a bike completely about 10 years ago, and I wanted something more rugged. So, I bought a Triax MTB from a big box store instead of a LBS. It was cheap, heavy, rode like hell, but after a little tweaking, I got it to handle and shift a little smoother. I rode it off and on over the years, and then sold it. I was bikeless for a few years until my brother-in-law gave me his Schwinn Alum Comp MTB that he had upgraded and tuned by the nearby LBS, and then he bought a Trek police bike for both duty and off duty.

All in all, I'd say that longest that I haven't ridden a bike is probably 10 or 12 years at the most.... The effect it had on me was trying to play "catch up" with all the latest high tech components and amazing things with bikes nowadays.

jdon

2 1/2 years. Hit by a car and required Achilles rehab which led to Achilles surgery which led to more rehab which led to a DVT which led to corrective surgery and more rehab.

Weight gain was the toughest part. I was surprised at how fast muscle tone and cardio capability has come back. This was my first full summer of riding albeit, less aggressive than I have ridden in the past. Still working on it and living with compression socks and anticoagulants. Back riding though..

BigAura

One week after your return you'll be back to where you were when you stopped.

I'm basing this on a rule-of-thumb that a trainer told me once: It takes one third of the time off to get back to where you were.

So, just train at same level you were before and in a week you'll be back.

BTW: He said this even works for injuries, assuming you have fully recovered.

jmiked

My longest break was about 30 years. And then I started back up with mountain bikes instead of road bikes.

But concerning things more recent… I've found that a 3-4 week layoff doesn't affect things a lot. I do sprinkle some exercise bike riding every few days just to keep the aging (70+ years) flexible.


Mike