What to expect
 

Hi, I ride Endurance XC MTB race and all that good stuff. I am about to be off my bike for two solid months but I will be walking between 30 and 40 thousand steps a day 7 days a week for that time.. When these 8 weeks are up would you think my fitness on the bike be totally lost esp. For race season a month away afterwards or could the walking help at keeping some kind of fitness at all.

You won't feel as dialed for a little while.

If you're used to long lungbuster climbs, you might be missing a little zing. It'll come back.

Are you hiking across somewhere? Sounds like a worthy diversion.

Google cycling specific exercises. You will find helpful off the bike workouts like this: https://www.bicycling.com/training/a...-for-cyclists/. Not the same as riding but will help more than just high step counts.

A lot of it depends upon your age. Under 30 and you will have perhaps 20% of your fitness level lost which you can regain in the month before your season starts. Over that age you will lose more and it will take you longer to regain it.

Walking exercises different muscles in different ways. I once did week long backcountry backpack trip in the Rockies, so there was lots of ups and downs. When I got back on the bike I first felt like I had a totally different set of legs than before the trip, but the old ones reappeared relatively quickly.

BTW...That’s a lot of steps/day. On Friday I walked nearly 12,000 according to my phone. Estimate that was about 3-4 miles over the course of the day.

Do you walk at a cardio or aerobic level? Sure it's going to have some difference it makes on you but for that period of time it's not the end of cycling for you. You'll catch back up quick enough.

When I walk with my wife at what is a fast pace for her, I never get over 90 bpm. Even when we were walking 80 miles a week.