Originally Posted by
TMonk
ive been off the bike for extended periods due to injury, and not much else. my extent of training and racing has waxed and waned, but I've generally been in shape to finish mid pack for the last twenty or so years
for me it takes me 2-3 months to get most of the way back, in power or raw physicality. that last 5-10% takes hard work. but, ive never dealt with really serious injury or gained a lot of weight. i actually weigh less when im not riding a ton. i get a bit bloated when im eating a lot and drinking a ton of water.
This was the longest that I've been off since taking up road cycling. It kicked off with injury, but life and happenstance tagged in dropped flying elbows off the top turnbuckle, everything from moving my MIL across the country (and prepping/selling her home), to wildfire smoke, to feeling out the start of a small biz.
Garmin and Intervals say that my FTP is about 80-85% of what it used to be, but FTP was never my strongest suit, and I feel way more than 15-20% away. Punchy efforts, and being able to recover and do it again, were more my playground, and that's way off, right now. I'll keep working though, because what the hell else is there to do?