These days I am lucky if I can get seven consecutive days on the bike. Lately, I have been able to make six days of riding with one complete rest day, plus one on-the-bike rest day a fairly typical week. Of course I also do not ride at quite as high a level anymore either. This is more in line with what training experts will recommend, and whether it is because I am 20 years older, or because I am not riding at the same level, the day off just does not seem to adversely affect me the way I believed it did in 1992. In fact I will go so far as to admit that the day off does good, giving my body a day to fully rest and recover, and the day-after usually results in a good day of strong riding.
In 1992 I had a drive and determination to do well in races and group training rides, which made it easy to get out day after day and ride hard to attain a goal. Without that goal to strive for I do not think it would be possible these days to approach a similar number of consecutive days riding. This points out the second aspect of cycling, often overlooked. There are two basic components to cycling, both racing, and everyday riding as well, the first, and probably most obvious to anyone, is the physical aspect, and the second is the mental aspect.
The physical aspect can be broken down itself into sub-components - doing the miles for endurance and fitness conditioning, doing the group rides for speed work, and rest and recovery. If you do not do that last one, you won't do the first two, or at least at a level that would otherwise be possible. Remember also (and live) the cyclist motto: Never Stand When You Can Sit, Never Sit When You Can Lie Down.
Often just as important to racing success, but frequently overlooked are the mental aspects of the activity. I can recall that following one particularly good group training outing a fellow rider complimented me and said that I must have been willing to suffer beyond the norm that day. This was kind of like an epiphany to me, as I do not think I had ever made a connection to that mental side of cycling before this. But he was absolutely right, some days I am willing to suffer more, and on rare days I will be willing to suffer much more, while other days, no suffering at all, thank you. I Guess I am fortunate in that I never really suffered from seasonal rider burn-out, in fact when many others would take the month of November off, before starting winter training in December, I would continue to ride laps at the Rose Bowl throughout the winter, all-be-it at a lower intensity and fewer miles. Since I happen to find the rollers or other indoor trainers to be highly intolerable, I have continued with this same pattern over the intervening years, riding a basic three mile loop 2 to 3 nights a week in the dark after work through the winter.
Even though my focus here has been on training, I believe the same aspects hold true for five-day-a-week commuters as well, though perhaps to different degrees. I will typically commute by bike 3 to 4 days a week, ideally beginning in March and going through October (though there were a few years when I commuted year round). However, in practice, by the time I get to late August, maybe early September I am through for the year, and looking forward to a winter break. Physically, the commute is no problem, but mentally it seems to be highly draining, more so than training and racing ever has been. I think this is due to my solo commute, the lone cyclist in a vast sea of cars and trucks; whereas, while training I would be surrounded by comrades-in-arms, at least during group rides. The winter commuting break and subsequent car dependency, which wears on me in its own way, leaves me rejuvenated and eager for the arrival of March when I can break out the messenger bag for the ride to work.
All riders are different; we have different strengths, weaknesses, thresholds, so that there is no cookie-cutter plan for training, for improving. There are some universals, though; for instance the saying "what doesn't kill us, makes us stronger" rings true. If you are pushed during a ride, beyond your normal comfort level, whether by riding with people at a higher level than you, or even by pushing yourself when riding solo, you will improve. Another is that rest is necessary for recovery. How much rest is up to the individual. With adequate rest a rider can continue to ride year round with no appreciable loss in strength or enthusiasm.
So anyway, back to 1992; if on the 69th day "I took my rest", what then happened on the 70th day? You may have guessed; "the curse of the day after also struck me tonight - lack of rhythm and spinning ability for taking yesterday off killed me".
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