Another milestone and advice please.

Toe knee

Hit another milestone today, 26.8 miles, really pleased again . Now the advice please, I've got two more days off, do I, have a rest day tomorrow, or ( never thought I would be saying this ). Just do a short 10 mile ish recovery ride, and then do a 26 - 30 miles on Saturday ? Any advice much appreciated.

Thanks tony.

Gizmodo

Rest is important, but if you haven't done any other strenuous exercise today then go for it. Rest for 2 days a week, train for 4, and recovery ride on the last.

Disclaimer: always consult a doctor or qualified professional before doing strenuous exercise. Getting advice from unqualified strangers on the Internet does not constitute good advice.

JayKosta

As long as the 10 mile ride is really a slowish recovery ride, you'll be fine.

Jay Kosta
Endwell NY USA

Cleat Eastwood

ride while the sun shines

CiB

27 miles then. 2 hours at a nice easy pace, or what - an hour & a quarter if you got a move on? That sort of effort doesn't warrant a rest day surely, 100 miles does. Get out and enjoy the miles and then do the 30 miles / 2 hours on Saturday anyway. Don't worry about rest days and recovery periods until the mileage, effort and time spent on the bike in one go starts to become a large chunk of the day.

Cupras

CiB wrote:

27 miles then. 2 hours at a nice easy pace, or what - an hour & a quarter if you got a move on? That sort of effort doesn't warrant a rest day surely, 100 miles does. Get out and enjoy the miles and then do the 30 miles / 2 hours on Saturday anyway. Don't worry about rest days and recovery periods until the mileage, effort and time spent on the bike in one go starts to become a large chunk of the day.

Don't talk tosh.
People need to work up to that and that's very bad advice to give to someone trying to work up there distance as this will just hinder them not help.

Internet trolls need a slap.

KMC1993

If you feel that you need the rest day then take it, loads of people can make suggestions about how much you can do before needing the rest but all you need to do is listen to your body. If you are aching a lot then take the rest day if not there is no need.

MartAstur

What KMC1993 says is spot on. Rest is as important as the riding itself. When I started I was doing 20km runs and I found I needed to rest just as much as I do now (now up to 100k+). Just make sure you listen to what your body is telling you and maybe, like you suggest, one of your rides should be a light recovery ride which in a way is as good as a rest. I generally I have two days a week of rest but I have been riding quite hard the last few months and I was feeling muscle pain (occasional cramping) in muscles I didn't know I had so I have taken 5 days off cos I figured my body was telling me something.
Enjoy your rides!

slowbike

Indeed - but listen to your body not your mind. It's very tempting to say "I've done enough" and have a lazy day - try not to give in.

Toe knee

That's my question answered thanks , I'm out again this morning, and tomorrow,

CiB

Cupras wrote:

CiB wrote:

27 miles then. 2 hours at a nice easy pace, or what - an hour & a quarter if you got a move on? That sort of effort doesn't warrant a rest day surely, 100 miles does. Get out and enjoy the miles and then do the 30 miles / 2 hours on Saturday anyway. Don't worry about rest days and recovery periods until the mileage, effort and time spent on the bike in one go starts to become a large chunk of the day.

Don't talk tosh.
People need to work up to that and that's very bad advice to give to someone trying to work up there distance as this will just hinder them not help.

Internet trolls need a slap.

We live in a world where doing a couple of hours moderate exercise warrants a rest day? Absolute nonsense. One of the stupid things about newbies coming to biking is that they read advice on sites like this and believe the tosh about fuelling properly and building up by 5 miles a week and how vital it is to wear really expensive padded shorts otherwise your backside will ache for weeks, just for nominal ride distances. It makes me wonder how we ever rode bikes in the old days (1970s in case you wondered) when we were happy to have access to a heavy framed thing with just the 5 gears and we rode the thing to school & back every day, did our paper rounds on it then went off to play football after tea until it got dark. And now we're led to believe that pootling along for a couple of hours or alternatively a hour or so blitz requires a rest day?

It's not trolling. It's a bit of exasperation a) that people think they need to ask the question and b) that others agree that recovery from such a pitifully meagre amount of exercise is mandatory.

Carry on everyone. Troll indeed. Ho ho.

Toe knee

MMmm..... I'm sure I posted this in the road beginners section , but obviously not looking at cib 's response, did I mistakenly post in the pro section ?
Everyone has to start somewhere, and many beginners look at sites such as this for advice on all manner of things, and such replies just put them off asking anything again, if you have never done something before , isn't it normal practice to ask advice off someone more experienced than yourself, I am pleased with my replies, as I could have gone out for a 60 mile ride ( on your advice ), injured myself, and thought stuff this cycling lark and give it up.

So thanks for the positive advice to my question , from most people anyway, and I shall continue building my miles up in a safe manner.

Thanks
Tony.

Schoie81

As ToeKnee says - ease up a bit on the people new to cycling, if you don't want to read 'stupid' questions and the 'stating-the-obvious' answers, then don't visit the beginners section - we're new, and questions that may seem stupid to some, feel quite genuine to others. As a newcomer to road cycling, I read online about people paying £350 for a new seat post because its 50g lighter than the one they currently have and you can feel a bit like a fish out of water. Like you're entering a world you don't belong in. Sometimes we just need someone to tell us we're not doing something wrong.

As for your question ToeKnee - as most of the advice given so far states, listen to your body. I've done almost 110miles and climbed 7,000ft in the last 7 days - no great individual distances but i've cycled every day in the last week apart from Sunday - the last 16miles this morning my legs were saying "come on mate, don't you think we've done enough this week...", so the ride I had thought about doing tomorrow morning wont be happening now - will see how the legs feel on Sunday morning. If you feel ok, ride, if you feel you need to rest, rest (but do try to make the most of the sunshine!! ) And well done on the 26miler!!

CiB

Let's try again.

I like to read the 'stupid' questions as you call them (I called the advice stupid if you care to look) because people have asked them and want advice. Like the rest of you I've been there too, and over the years have worked my way up from lumbering farm bikes to lumbering middle-aged bloke who can hold his head up on a ride, so feel qualified to offer a view (usually well-received I might add).

Before you get offended, read what I said. 27 miles in 2 hours is a trivial ride really; your body will tell you more than some overly-cautious people on a forum. My genuine & honest view is that newcomers to this are being misled into thinking that 20 miles is a massive distance, 30 is outrageous and 50 is something you should only consider after carefully working up the distances and having 'recovery days'. And 100? Pro-cyclists only there mate. Listen to your legs; if they ache a short ride will probably ease them, unless you've spent a large chunk of the previous day on the bike, and even then it won't hurt - as in injure - the poor cyclist. Biking is one of those sports / hobbies where it's actually very hard to do yourself serious damage just by riding distances that never exceed double digit mileages.

And to answer your specific point about wanting to know that you're not doing something wrong - that was my very point. Does a couple of hours an a bike warrant a rest day before doing it again on Saturday? Absolutely not. As long as you're not 28 stone and trying to do successive centuries on consecutive days after walking out of the shop with the first bike you've owned since you were 8, pushing yourself a bit and overcoming the aches is the best way to advance. Your view may differ - mine is based on real-world pragmatism and experience, not repeating what some people might suggest as the correct way to find out how far you and how often can push yourself.

suzyb

CiB wrote:

Let's try again.

I like to read the 'stupid' questions as you call them (I called the advice stupid if you care to look) because people have asked them and want advice. Like the rest of you I've been there too, and over the years have worked my way up from lumbering farm bikes to lumbering middle-aged bloke who can hold his head up on a ride, so feel qualified to offer a view (usually well-received I might add).

Before you get offended, read what I said. 27 miles in 2 hours is a trivial ride really; your body will tell you more than some overly-cautious people on a forum. My genuine & honest view is that newcomers to this are being misled into thinking that 20 miles is a massive distance, 30 is outrageous and 50 is something you should only consider after carefully working up the distances and having 'recovery days'. And 100? Pro-cyclists only there mate. Listen to your legs; if they ache a short ride will probably ease them, unless you've spent a large chunk of the previous day on the bike, and even then it won't hurt - as in injure - the poor cyclist. Biking is one of those sports / hobbies where it's actually very hard to do yourself serious damage just by riding distances that never exceed double digit mileages.

27 miles in 2 hours may be trivial to you but it isn't to some.

CiB

suzyb wrote:

27 miles in 2 hours may be trivial to you but it isn't to some.

Two hours gentle pedalling to go less than 30 miles is trivial.

paul2718

IMO Cleat has it right (as in fact does CiB...) The sun is shining, if you can ride, want to ride, then ride. If something starts to hurt, rather than just ache, then take it seriously, but there is no rule about rest days or recovery rides.

Paul

too slow to go

I think what CiB is getting at is rule no.5

Schoie81

CiB - wasn't meaning to have a go at you - think it was leftover from a gripe against someone else who left a s****y response to one of my questions - I can see that you are trying to advise (he wasn't) - and I do agree with you. That said, i'm fitter now than I was two years ago, and if i'd cycled 27miles in 2 hours 2 years ago, it'd probably have kiled me, certainly if it was on the hills around me.

As Paul says, there's a difference between something 'hurting' and legs that ache. I exercised on an ankle that 'hurt' but I thought it'd be ok - it wasn't - spectacularly! If they just ache, then ride if you feel like it.

Ringo 68

Lets put some things into perspective.

A pro rides 100 miles just to get his legs moving. To him it is nothing, an easy, trivial ride you might say.

A relatively experienced rider does his first 100 miles, he is knackered but what a fantastic achievement.

The same rider does 26 miles and it is just a warm up to him.

A new rider, not very fit, rides his longest ever ride of 26 miles. He is knackered but to him it is a fantastic achievement. He might be more knackered than someone who is much more experienced riding 100 miles and therefore the question of rest days, even after what some might ridiculously call a trivial ride, is very relevant.

Good riding Tony.

ianbar

listen to your body as everyone is different, personally i dont ride consecutive days now 3-4 rides a week but i go for 3 hours a ride and this works for me on improving and enjoyment. some people will say go out every day and nail it every time etc but in reality most of us would never be able to manage it. to think its taken probably 2 years to figure out my own routine, when you start its a case of seeing what routeen works for you. but if you are going for a ecovery ride, make sure it is just that.

stueys

A novice rider with comparatively low base fitness may have done those 2 hours at a z4 heart rate, I know that 2 hrs at z4 would leave my fancying a day off the next day. We've no idea of the ops fitness levels, some of the responses here leave me scratching my head.

To the op, exercise is the stress and recovery is actually where your body adapts and you get fitter. If you feel you need a rest then go for it. I find recovery rides are a great way to flush your legs through and ease any stiffness. Sitting at z2 for 45-60 mins tends to be what i do,I normally use the turbo as I struggle to sit in a zone if there are interesting hill or cyclists to chase.

It would be worth following a stuctured training plan,British cycling have loads. Your levers on training are intensity, volume and frequency. Getting a guide on what to do when is handy.