I agree with the "maintenance time" statement. I just started riding in September and quickly became addicted to cycling. Since the weather has been cold and wet, I "maintain" by riding on the trainer 3 days per week, weight training 2 days per week, and doing 1 hour on my elliptical machine 2 days per week. I don't feel like I'm in tip-tip condition but I feel like as soon as warmer weather comes it won't take me long to get my body back used to doing the longer rides.