Consecutive days

mike

mike

iMTB Hooligan
I'm big on rest days, but once in awhile get on a roll with successive days of trail riding. Like right now with storm weather forecast and end of season. I got three and hope I can squeeze one more today, but that's definitely not the norm for me.

Bikepacking is different. Longer daily duration; generally more casual. When we started the divide on our tandem I had no idea what we'd do. We rode 30 days and I went down like bag of dirt, mid-ride, took two days to recover and hit the wall again at 60+ days. When I went back solo, I rode 38 days (shortest one 25 mi) with no issues at all.

It's a good way to get to know what your body does under various conditions. I learned that beer is not my friend under extreme conditions...and that with some restraint, I can do more than I thought I could.

Some ride every day – power to you/them! I could never get into that, cuz I guess I get bored and want to forget about bikes for a time.

How do you do it?
 
I have to have off days. Even in my biggest year, I had structured off/rest days. With the rides I was doing with the elevation gains, 3-4 days was my limit. Taking Mondays and Fridays off meant that I would go 3 days, off, 2 days, off....rinse and repeat. I have done up to about 12 days straight, and it definitely showed towards the end. Then a day off and I was good to go.

How do you do it? Simple.....mind over body. As @mike said, you can push farther than you think you can.

When January rolls around, I'll be gunning for another big year to shake off the light year I've had this year.

How not to get bored? Set a goal....this makes even the most mundane rides mean something.
 
Work interferes, so my max would be three. Usually not that.

A few years ago, to prep for an event I rode 27 out of 30 days in one month; road during the week and mtb on some weekends. After 798 miles by the end of that month I was really not enjoying the rides anymore.

I will never do that again for any reason.
 
The little 15mi /1500' rides I do means I can do them everyday if I have the time, tires, and water.
But regardless of the duration, day 3 is when the weak points of my body start showing up. Ankles, shoulders, hips, back, wrists. That stuff starts to fade even if I have legs left on day 3.
If I avoid max or red zone heart rate spikes, I'll have legs for tomorrow. If I push it i'll need a rest day. If I am out past my comfort zone, which is anything past 3 hours, then 2 rest days might work better.
 
dustyyoungblood said:
The little 15mi /1500' rides I do means I can do them everyday if I have the time, tires, and water.
But regardless of the duration, day 3 is when the weak points of my body start showing up. Ankles, shoulders, hips, back, wrists. That stuff starts to fade even if I have legs left on day 3.
If I avoid max or red zone heart rate spikes, I'll have legs for tomorrow. If I push it i'll need a rest day. If I am out past my comfort zone, which is anything past 3 hours, then 2 rest days might work better.
Click to expand...

I'm not a day 3 guy... I'm a day 2 guy :)

Seriously I try to rotate every other day as my max. Granted I do longer work-outs, but if do two in a row I feel it.

The one exception is running. For whatever reason I can run the day after a ride, and feel ok. But if I ride the day after a run... I know it.
 
Maybe I am abnormal but I seem to get stronger the more consecutive days I ride. It really is mind over body. With a good amount of sleep and food you can do a lot more than you would ever think possible.

After a single all day ride I can feel absolutely destroyed, barely able to walk the next day. But for some reason if I'm on a road trip or a multi-day bikepack I can keep going day after day, and for longer days. Usually the first day or two are the worst then I settle into it and truck along. As Mike mentioned part of this is that I'm pacing myself rather than go all out. I'm often on my own so I go whatever pace feels right and only stop when I need or want to. With a group you stop when the group stops which isn't always good for your tired legs. A lot of my rides have some degree of hike a bike, which also gives riding muscles a break. I also tend to eat more food and drink more water during a big trip than on a day ride and that makes a big difference too.

On my biggest trip when I was off work I rode 35 days in a row, and most of those were big days. I think the average was 32 or 34 miles per day and over 4oooft climbing. The biggest days were on Coconino 250 at the end. After that I did the HHH loop in Sedona to finish the trip off. No way I could have done that much riding at home. It isn't possible to get motivated to ride the same old stuff day after day like that. But on a trip like that I had a massive list of rides I wanted to do and spent a month picking them off. So the stoke level was high every day and all I wanted to do when I'd finish a ride was have a beer, eat, and get ready for the next day. Similar stoke exists on bikepack trips though the motivation is a bit different. "I'm now a 2 day ride from the truck..." All you have to do is turn the pedals, keep the food intake up and lay down miles. Best times of my life....
 
I think 10 days consecutive on a Tahoe trip back in 2011 are the most I have done. On a trip to Montana in 2009 did 13 with 1 rest day. I would have a hard time getting motivated to do more than a few days consecutive locally and don't think I will be on a road trip longer than a week anytime soon, so don't think I will go over 10 anytime soon.
 
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