Is a recovery ride needed after a couple of days of so called hard riding? I started out doing 30 munutw and I'm up to 1 hr. 10 minutes. And, what would a recovery ride consist of....Length, time, cadence, etc? Again, I am new to riding, but in decent shape. Thanks!

It depends what you mean by hard. If I rode a 1hr 10 minute interval session, getting my heart rate up towards its maximum, I'd make sure I had an easy day the following day. If I rode 1hr 10 minutes at moderate intensity I'd be very disappointed if I hadn't recovered fully in less than 24 hours. In general I'd regard an hour as being a short ride.

Recovery rides can vary. An hour or two spinning a low gear at a high cadence - 90-100rpm - with my HR down at about 50% - 60% of its max would be normal for me.

Thanks Chasm that's what I'm looking for! I have no clue what is short or long, But I'll learn!

Thank you

1 hour is a short ride. 2 hours a medium length ride. And, 3+ hours is a long ride. Are you doing intervals? I only do rest days or recovery rides after my long ride of the week or intervals. I ride 5-6 days per week for a total of about 9 hours. I also swim 3-4 days per week. I am not overtrained. I know I need a recovery ride/day off when my quads feel sore and weak. A regular 1 hour tempo ride will not affect me the following day like that. But intervals or a long ride of increasing distance over the previous week will.

slowandsteady, I'm not sure what intervals are! Maybe you can tell me how that works and what would be good intervals for a beginner. I'll try and do the other things you talked about. I'm pretty much trying to get base miles and time under me now!

Thanks!