Originally Posted by
Motorad
What are some of the things ... practical or possibly ritual ... that you do a day or two before doing a 70- or 100-mile ride?
...
* Do you not ride at all a day or two before a really long ride, to ensure muscles are not torn? If you don't skip riding, do you at least greatly minimize the amount of riding on the day before?
...
For a metric to 70-ish ride: nothing. Sometimes my Sunday recovery ride is longer than my Saturday hard ride. Sometimes my Sunday recovery ride is faster avg than my Saturday hard ride, but that is usually course choice (e.g., "hillfest" Saturday, "looking for all the flatish roads" Sunday).
For English metric training or charity ride, that's different. 100 miles north & northwest of Raleigh, I need fresh legs. 100 miles on the coastal plain that starts just of east Raleigh, the only thing I worry about is the wind direction.
For mountain rides in western NC, no comment.