I could do a week of hard rides in a row but it would be counterproductive as far as fitness goes. 2 hard days, 3 easy and 2 days completely off as a general rule can build great fitness.

 

That's pretty close to what I've been doing, but only 1 day off riding per week. An area that has mellower pitches recently lost its snow, so I will start adding that into the rotation for some easier days. It's hard for me to go more than a day without riding because our season is so short.:/

 

Are you training for something? For me, one big day and I'll either skip the next day, or just cruise. But I ride for fun and enjoyment

 

No. Just riding because I love it.👍

 

I think an average day where I live is around 3-4k feet. And I ride 6 days per week. That said, I can only get about 2 days in a row of “hard” before it just turns into useless “feels hard” riding.

So, typical week is:
Mon - Off
Tues - Hard
Weds - Easy
Thurs - Hard
Fri - Easy
Sat - Hard + long
Sun - Easy + long

 

To me, "hard" means puking, or damn close.

Under those metrics, once a week, maybe once every two weeks. As @J.B. Weld said, 2/3/2, in some order (usually one hard, one off, two easy, one hard, one off, one easy, etc). I can get two hard rides back to back okay, but after a third, I need to take 1-2 days off. I still don't feel 'recovered' after 1 day, but I can ride.

I have discipline problems when riding, so I'll usually ride a road bike on an 'off' day, just to keep me from blowing myself up on a climb.

 

To me, "hard" means puking, or damn close.

This is called “going to the well,” and if you are a serious competitor with a racing season you only do these a few times a season. Generally speaking, racing should be your hardest max efforts. You should finish interval sessions feeling like you ”want to do one more.” I’m a fan of the hard-easy model but as I have gotten older it is more 1 ”hard day” followed by two recovery. As many have said here, you need to give the body time to recover and adapt to the stimulus. Recovery time is longer as we age.

For me personally I can do back to back hard days and sometimes the second actually feels better. But a third day legs are shot and I need a day of just cruising or will take it completely off.

Sample week during the build phase:
Monday - Training ride or Run
Tuesday - Threshold or short hill reps
Wednesday - Training Ride
Thursday - Training Ride or Run
Friday - Intervals
Saturday - Training Ride
Sunday - Longer Ride

I don’t schedule days off but rather take them as a need them (i.e. when I feel like crap, long day at work, family commitments, etc.) Lately been averaging 2-3 days off a month, though I use running to also fill in when I need an extra day off the bike.

 

I did 9 days of 20 000 meters shuttle based descending with some thousands of meters climbing thrown in.

That was pretty darn epic and tiring. It is amazing what the body can handle.

 

I usually do 3-4 days before I need a solid rest. It varies, but I like to get 2 sequential days of rest at some point during the week. Mostly I work with the weather, taking breaks when rainy and riding when not.

 

Edited

 

I alternate running with riding 6 days in a row and then take a rest day. I will switch between road, trail and trainer for the riding. I mix in some rowing in addition on days with shorter runs/rides. I do this for fun but I like to get some fitness out of it. I can only ever get an hour during the week and sometimes it’s hard to get more on the weekend.


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Max efforts take 1-2 days off bike to recover from. If you keep compounding the hard workouts for multiple days in a row, eventually your body just says FU. I’m able to ride hard every other day, but typically only ride hard twice a week and do one loooong ride at lower intensity per week. I always take one day completely off the bike. 2-3 days are just shorter/lower intensity recovery rides.


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4 days a week for me or my knees start aching. I've been hard on my body and it just can't take what it used to. A typical MTB ride is 3k - 5k of vert and descending on rowdy tech. Always 2 of those per week, hopefully a third mellower MTB ride. I fill in the gaps with lunch road rides in my hilly neighborhood.

Listen to your body and stay below the joint pain threshold (unless on a ride vacation, then give'er!) If you're lucky and don't have structural issues, then what the folks above posted is good. Lucky bastards.

 

every other day now, forced myself to cross train with at least 3 days of something else to avoid injuries as I age, but for me 5 days a week is fine for only 1 week, but after 2-3 weeks, I start breaking down and loosing stamina and strength big time...another reason for cross training and forcing myself to do every oher day rides

 

Hard is relative.

I can go till i drop, have a hard time driving back home, feel ill, and wale up in the middle of the night with an ankle cramp. The answer is 1.

 

The older I get, the more I dumb down my definition of a hard ride.

I turn 73 on 6/21 and now I ride relatively hard for three days on my mountain bike, take a day off, go back to a road bike for two days, take a day off and start again. Most any ride includes over 1000 feet of climbing whether road or mtb.

Someone 23 would probably consider every ride I do easy. To them I say, "come back in 50 years and answer the question."

When I get up in the morning, if my heart is beating, I'm in peak condition.

 

The older I get, the more I dumb down my definition of a hard ride.

I turn 73 on 6/21 and now I ride relatively hard for three days on my mountain bike, take a day off, go back to a road bike for two days, take a day off and start again. Most any ride includes over 1000 feet of climbing whether road or mtb.

Someone 23 would probably consider every ride I do easy. To them I say, "come back in 50 years and answer the question."

When I get up in the morning, if my heart is beating, I'm in peak condition.

Way to go! 73 and still cookin' down some trails. And a happy birthday, Bubba! What's on tap for the birthday ride?

 

Age 54. After three days in a row I can tell I'm fatigued. If I have the time and the weather is cooperative I'll still ride (like the OP I ride a lot because I love it) but I can really feel sluggish.

 

Similar age but same experience. After a few consecutive mod to high effort days, my legs and body tell me 'nope.' Today is one of them, and I plan to do nothing more than some yardwork later.

The payoff for resting or going Zone 1 is immense.

 

Two days in a row (locally). Doesn't matter if it's back to back hard days or mixed hard/easy. After two consecutive days of local riding, I get bored. However, If I am in another state, then day after day after day...

 

Depends what else I have going on TBH. I work a very physical day job, so maybe about 3 days of ‘hard riding’. If I didn’t have to do my day job? The sky’s the limit honestly. A hard day of riding is nothing compared to what I do daily at work. In fact, I ride to unwind and relax.

 

When I'm on vacation, I'll ride 9-10 days in a row. My biggest week was over 300 miles and 42k feet. That was a few years ago. I was actually happy to go back to work.
At 58, I find myself just wanting to get out and ride these days. Still fit, just don't have the desire to push anything anymore.

 

When I'm on vacation, I'll ride 9-10 days in a row. My biggest week was over 300 miles and 42k feet. That was a few years ago. I was actually happy to go back to work.
At 58, I find myself just wanting to get out and ride these days. Still fit, just don't have the desire to push anything anymore.

I love how one gets to tap into a special reserve tank of energy when on vacation.

 

Yeah, when I’m on a riding vacation, I ride till I drop every day and eat tons of food to keep myself going.

However, that can backfire too. Last time I went to Whistler I rode so many laps I ended up with tendinitis in my right arm and was forced to take the following month off of riding.🤣

 

How many I can do regularly and how many I can in a one off is different.

Generally after 2 hard rides in a row, I am a bit of hurting unit the next moring/day. I can rally and ride well if the situation call for it but a day of drinking coffee is prefered option.

But I have done weeklong stage races before and I am at my best days 4-7. But post race hang over last a couple of weeks.

 

I did a maximum effort ride yesterday (for me). 3000ft of climbing with steep, rocky enduro stages on the way down. In present condition I wouldn't make it up the first climb. My goal is to compete in this event next year, which would mean practice day, camp overnight and then race day at maximum effort. Lots of work to do before then, but I'm feeling motivated.

 

2, maybe 3 days if all I'm doing is riding, eating, and sleeping.
But that almost never happens so it's usually one & done.

 

Depends on my ride. When I ride my Peloton, I typically do 45 min - 1 hr power zone endurance sessions which burns me out. I typically ride every other day so I can recover which also includes mountain biking sessions. Much of my chronic pain is under control now. My brain wants to ride every day because my pain is controlled but it's not good for my health to be pushing it daily!

 

Less than one

 

I've had repetitive motion and hip problems in the past, not to mention hip repair surgeries so I make it a practice to never go two days in a row. So... 1

Not advocating this for everyone but for those past their mid forties and especially working on various rehab projects I think it's a pretty good approach. When I get to the trail I'm always fresh, always ready to go if I make sure to be hydrated and reasonable well fed during the day.

 

I do wonder how people train for TSE, or other MTB stage races.

If I "race", I can do 2 days in a row.
The 3rd day will be non-competitive, since my motor will be spent. I'm just not trained for that level of output.
If I'm just tooling through the woods, though, I can ride pretty much every day.

The most ever was 111 miles of singletrack with 11,500' in 4 days. That was a long time ago, though. Day 3 was flat-ish and day 4 was shorter (and totally not flat), but we rode hard all 4 days.
I rode in a St. Patrick's Day parade the next day, and that was enough. 😁

-F