Originally Posted by
guadzilla
Slightly OT: did you always train 8-10 hours to get to Cat 1? Or is that what you need now to maintain your fitness, but you put in more hours earlier to get to this stage?
Kind of both, depending on the time period. I became a Cat 1 at 20 years old and I was riding 10-20 hours a week throughout the year. Then I quit and didn't ride for 7 years.
After starting again in my 30s, my training is squarely in the 6-10 hours a week range. I've done one 15 hour week in 7 years, and a handful of 10-13 hour weeks when building for long races.
So in my 30s, 8-10 hours to build up fitness (like this winter when I started after a 6 month break and an ftp of ~220w) to being competitive, and then 4-6 hours a week to maintain it.