Originally Posted by
stapfam
Personally- I disagree with this- and I do realise that not every "Body" is the same. When I am in training- I do 3 or 4 rides aweek. Long one at the weekend- and after a 2 day rest- a shorter ride that has more effort put into it. Those rest days do have a recovery ride if Stiffness or muscle ache come in- but They have not been necessary this year at all.
But Last year- when I was training for a different ride- I did ride every day for about 3 months. After a month of it- I found that I was getting tired so that was when I started on the "Hard" rides every 2 days- and the in between was just a 20 miler taken at a far lower pace. But after the 3 months- I reverted back to the every other day ride and found the rest days improved my stamina- Climbing ability- and mental state. Speed was not a problem as I rarely use it.
I'm with you on this, Stapfam, and today's hilly metric century proved the point. I've ridden fewer miles and fewer days than in years past. My usual riding buddies, both decent athletes in their early 30s said they'd never seen me in such good form as today. They simply could not hang with me (not that I'm all that fast). I attribute it to finally giving my aging body the recovery time it needs. The best part is that this is the first year in the past three or four with no injuries.