I just did my first 12-hour competitive ride. I think you should lay on the couch and eat Cheetos for the next 6 months. That'll move me up one spot, at least.
(Seriously, I can lay off the bike for 2 or 3 days and feel the difference. And the guy that just won the 500-mile competition will do a 300k one day and a 200k "recovery ride" the next. I can't imagine how a 6-week layoff would really be a benefit unless you were trying to solve some sort of over-training problem. And I would think the effects would largely depend on what you did in the meantime, whether you did lay around and do nothing, or hiked or skied or something instead of cycling.)
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"be careful this rando stuff is addictive and dan's the 'pusher'."