I've read a few posts on here and a number of tour journals that talk about taking a rest day in the middle of a tour. I totally understand that! Give the body some time to heal/relax from a number of days pedaling around. And it makes all the sense in the world to me.

Here's my questions:

1. What do you do on your rest day? Do you take it in an area with something interesting to explore, a place to fish, museums to see? Or do you just sit back, read, and relax?

2. How long do you go between starting the tour and your first rest day? Is it by feel? Do you say, "I'm going to take a rest day when I get near Falling Water?"

the rest days I took were pretty much imposed by my body. "not moving today". Thereafter I learned about maintaining 60-70% efforts for week long rides since I couldn't guarantee a good nights sleep every night. Sitting on the bike was a better way to make miles than riding hard.
Since these were rest days marked by exhaustion doing nothing didn't require a program.

I typically take a rest day every 4 to 8 days. It all depends on the location. I have no desire to rest in a place with nothing to do or nothing to see. I would rather push on to a place where I can do laundry, drink beer, chat with locals, go on a hike, etc....

If there is nothing to do, I can keep riding.

Prior to the tour, I like to calculate that I'm going to take a rest day every 4 days ... 4 days of cycling, 1 rest day. It may not end up being exactly like that of course, but that allows for some flexibility.

Once I'm on the road, I usually try to take my rest days somewhere with tourist attractions. When I toured Australia in 2004, one rest day was spent on a cruise in Tasmania and another was on a cruise in Queensland. On a tour in Europe, Rowan and I took in the museum at Ieper on a rest day. One of the best parts of tours is being able to stop and taking in the surroundings.

Do you folks ever take an "easy" day in place of a rest day? For example, 4 days of 55-65 miles then one day of 30 miles?

I have, but I don't enjoy those. If I'm going to take a rest day, I want to be off my bicycle entirely and doing something completely different. It could be something active still, like hiking up a mountain ... but the bicycle is not involved.

That said, I will do 4 days of 80 km, then a day off, then a 50 km day, then 3 days of 80 km or something like that. I don't mind doing shorter days on the "ride days" ... especially if there's stuff to see and do along the way.

First time out i figured in rest days. What happened is I ended up resting on a beautiful riding day and riding the next day in heat or rain. Then I figured out my body would tell me when it was time for a rest. Some times ?i would camp and for an extra day or 2 get some extra sleep and visit the local town and just hang out. other times I might just work on the bike and sleep a lot. it was always different in each situation.

I just seem to stop places, as my curiosity,
about the country i'm riding thru, found me.

and the side distractions make up their own schedule.
... which is pretty much about presence , rather than pace.

a series øf here places, in a line .

I don't feel the need to be too systematic about it. Typically, I'll average about one day off each week, but sometime I'll ride eight or nine days at a stretch, sometimes only four, depending on which places look interesting and worth taking some time to explore.

I recently did an eight-week tour. Of the 56 days of the tour I was on the bike for 46. On two occasions I took two successive days off, so effectively I had eight rest stops, two of two days each and six of one day each.

As to substituting easy days for rest days, I don't usually do this simply because I make a point of stopping in places it is worth stopping in. Easy days work fine, though. Personally I always feel a bit sluggish the day after a rest day, as if it takes a few hours for my muscles to get back into it once they've relaxed. Interestingly, the pros in stage races experience the same thing. On their "rest days" they all spend at least a couple of hours on the bike, saying that if they don't do that they feel heavy legged when they restart. But when I'm touring I am not in a hurry, so this isn't really an issue.

I don't do anything according to a predetermined plan. I go as far each day as my mood and body dictate. Sometimes I take a rest day because I really like a camping spot. I've taken a rest day on the Fourth of July several times to avoid dealing with a full campground. A couple of times I've gotten really sore and tired after three days of riding when I wasn't in the best of shape, and have taken a rest day to try and recharge and recuperate a bit. I have a knee that starts to hurt after a lot of climbing. When it gets bad a rest day helps. Once I get going I tend to take very few rest days, as long as I'm feeling fine. If there was a horrible rainstorm I might hide out in a motel for a day.

I also like short days occasionally - 25-30 miles. I usually start out easy, and sometimes later when I start to feel tired and downtrodden a short day is just the thing.

On rest days I generally do very little. Lots of reading. Walking around a little. I don't go sightseeing; I want to rest.

Its a very personal thing. I know that if I ride hard for several days in a row, I have to take a rest day. Sometimes rest days are literally doing as little as possible, other times I can hang out somewhere interesting. The worst ones are where you have to spend all day in a tent far from anywhere, in the rain.
I try to ride carefully so I don't burn out. After a day of hard riding, I try to have an easier day of riding.
Younger and fitter riders can push themselves more.

Where do you guys typically park your bikes when you go off doing random things on your rest days?

On the 2009 Bike Forums GAP tour, I was riding back home from DC after the tour end. I spent an additional day with my host ALHanson and did nothing but participate in their normal daily life. However, that was interesting in itself.

I've done short days, but those don't turn into "rest" or "easy" since if I'm out on a bike, I'm finding things to do or see. For instance, in 2009 I had a day of 20 miles riding into Lewes, DE. But I spent that day fighting the surf at Cape Henlopen, or exploring town. Then again most of the posters here find physical activity comes a bit easier to them, so they might find that restful.

Locked in the storage area of the hostel.

Or sometimes ... locked in a storage shed at the campground.


When I did the hike around Dove Lake at Cradle Mountain, and also the Gordon River Cruise in Tasmania, I left my bicycle locked in a storage shed at the hostels in each place: https://www.gordonrivercruises.com.au/

When I did the cruise out to the Great Barrier Reef, and also the guided tour of Fraser Island in Queensland, we left our bicycles in the campground storage sheds, along with quite a bit of our camping gear.

When Rowan and I toured London, we left everything in a storage area in the Earl's Court hostel.

I seldom take actual rest days. I figure that if I need a full day with no cycling at all that I must have overdone it the preceding days. Also I figure that some easy miles are a better recovery than a day off. The very few times I might take days off it is to do something fun, the last thing I want to do on tour is veg out in a motel room in front of a TV.

On the Trans America we took "half days" with some regularity. We did take a day to go white water rafting but even on that day we rode a few miles down the road and camped so we actually never stayed the same place twice the whole tour. Another day we actually lost ground when we had to go back for Lauren to have injuries treated after an accident, but the three of us all rode that day, in fact I went out for a ride around the area so I totaled something like 40 miles that day.

On my Santa Fe tour I did take a full day when I was sick, but that was not optional, I could not have ridden if I had tried.

In the Sierras we did take 6 days off to see the Yosemite Valley, but I wouldn't call them rest days. We still rode something like 15 miles per day getting to trail heads for hikes and generally sight seeing. We hiked quite a few miles on those days off.

As far as what we did with our bikes and gear... In Yosemite our tent and sleeping stuff stayed set up in camp and our other gear stayed in the panniers on our bikes which we used for transportation. When we went rafting the rafting company locked up our stuff. When we were in town on partial rest days if we had a motel room or were with hosts our stuff stayed there and we rode our bikes sans gear. In all other cases the gear just stayed on the bikes. For quick hikes along the way we just left the panniers on the bikes and parked them at the trail head. We did take our handlebar bags with us.

And that's one of the reasons why I like rest days ... I find the business of setting up camp and packing up camp to be one of the least enjoyable parts of a tour. Any time I can stay in one place for 2 or 3 or several days and do day trips on the bicycle, or do things other than cycling, those are the best days on a tour because I don't have to do all the unpacking and packing stuff. It's probably why I like hub-and-spoke tours so much.

I take most of my rest days at destinations. The length of the riding period is dependent on how long it takes to reach the next interesting place to explore. I try to aim for a six-one average, but nothing is set in stone. Once during a rain day I just did't feel like cycling and ended up chilling around my tent for a day. Local villagers gave me some rice, eggs, and bean curd. I cooked those up, ate, wrote in my journal, slept, etc. It was great.

Interesting, I guess we all do things quite differently. Making/breaking camp would have never occurred to me as a significant factor. I guess that is because I don't do much unpacking and packing stuff. Most of my stuff just stays in the panniers and on the bike. Most days setting up camp takes maybe 15 minutes. Breaking camp is about the same. About the only things that come out to make camp are the tent, sleeping bag, sleeping pad, and pillow.

Additionally I probably change clothes most days and put some clothes for the morning in the tent. The handle bar bag goes into the tent when I turn in for the night. Other stuff just comes out of the panniers to be used and goes right back in when done. Food and toiletries might go in a bear box or be hung depending on where I am. That is all pretty much the same whether I am in a new camp or stayed over.

Dedends on the length. Crossing the country, we certainly took rest days. Probably about every 6th to 7th day on average. Last month we rode for nine days straight. Our "rest" day was a 33 mile day with no high passes but some noticeable climbing and descending on a 20 mile section of rough road. Two years ago we planned a rest day on day 5 of a 9 day trip in order to take a scenic boat ride to a hiking trail, but we had to cancel that rest day because of a pass closure.

Unless there is something to do in the place where a full rest day is planned, I find I get bored. For example, crossing the country we took a full day off in Glasgow, MT. The customer appreciation day BBQ at the grocery store in town was the most happening thing around. Sandpoint, ID was pretty dull, too. Fortunately, many of our rest days were in places with stuff to do. Lake Itasca. Glacier National Park. Minneapolis. Even Bowling Green, OH wasn't bad since the county fair was going on.

I'm not one for major physical activity on a rest day. We did a train ride / whitewater rafting combination on one rest day, and I was pretty well beat the next day -- had to cut that ride short. Then after that short, easy day, I was ready to ride the following day.

Thanks you all for such great stories to go along with your use of rest days!

I've posted before that I'm planning on riding the GAP/C&O from Pittsburgh to DC (actually, I'm going to drive to DC and ride home) and am taking an entire week off. I know the trip can be done in 4-5 days (I even know someone that did it in 3-1/2 to say they did,) but I want to enjoy the time. I'm hoping to stop and smell the roses, take in the sites, take some pictures, and unwind. I may be alone, but a friend or two may go with me. Who knows, I may spend a day at Ohio Pyle and take in that area via bike--and I only live an hour from there!!!!!

On a week long trip, it is rare to take a rest day - though when I've taken them it is because some major event like aftermath of a hurricane coming through with lots of rain. On trips longer than a week, I've taken more of them. Typically for one of three reasons (a) weather (b) mechanical problem (c) stop through a tourist area and see attractions. They aren't necessarily planned though I'll anticipate some in tourist areas. I've also taken occasional shorter days. Those have been more typically weather related. For example, after cycling for several hours against the wind - decide it would be at least as much fun to rest in the afternoon. Alternately, have had a day with high wind and tornado warnings so seemed wiser to stop that day.

For a 4-5 day tour (or even a week), I probably wouldn't bother with a rest day unless there was something really interesting to do in the middle that you wanted to spend all day doing.

Regarding the Ohio Pyle ... why not cycle there this weekend if it is that close?

I would suggest taking it as it comes rather than planning much. For a trip like you are planning I'd think it would make more sense to just take an easier pace and mess around for a few hours in the places where you want to smell the roses rather than take days off. I'd think a few hours in Ohiopyle would be plenty unless you decide to go rafting. There really isn't all that much to see in town, at least that was my impression after have been there hundreds of times in my canoeing and kayaking days.

That said do what ever strikes you as the most fun and have a great trip.