Metallifan33

So I wish I could ride everyday (and I think I'll get there). I started riding because I kept getting hurt running. One thing I've learnt is the guys who ride everyday don't go 100% (or even 80 to 90% every day). For beginners like me, it's very hard to gauge how much stress you're putting on your body shortly after the beginning phase. This is because once your cardiovascular system get's somewhat in shape, you think you can go harder/longer than your muscles can take. Going at 75% feels like a waste of time... and I never realized how hard it was (after 40 minutes of light riding) to not go as hard as I can for even a few minutes.
I started getting flu-like symptoms a couple of weeks ago on a regular basis (like once or twice a week for a few weeks). I honestly thought I was getting sick on a day (especially with all this CV madness), would get freaked out, and rest up. The next day I was fine. This happened a few times until I found out it was my body being fatigued from riding too much (and not getting enough sleep). I started reading up and listening to a few podcasts (TrainerRoad seems pretty informative... keeping in mind they do run a business... but they still have some good information).
One of the things you can do is start monitoring your resting heart rate on a daily basis. If all things are kept equal (which is rarely the case, but if you understand the concept, it is useful), you can watch your RHR and if it's higher than normal, you need a rest/recovery day.
There is something called a Training Stress Score, which quantifies the level of stress you put on your body from working out. You can use that (along with a few other metrics) to figure out how hard you can go on a weekly basis and this may help get you to a place where you can ride as often as you like.
The point of all of this is we are bad judges of perceived exertion. Some of us are lucky and have genes (or enough experience) that let us ride 5 hours, drink a few beers, and go back out the next day... most of us don't .
Short term fatigue is easy to sense; long term fatigue is not (if you aren't familiar with what to look for).
I'm coming off 3 days' rest because my knee was "burning" wtf? (turns out it's something called patellofemoral pain syndrome... in my case from overdoing it).
Oh well, in the end, I can say this... no matter how many rest days I need, cycling is still a lot less damaging than running (and more fun).

surak

You don't have to ride every day, but you should expect to be sore and still ride through it sometimes. You have to push your body harder if you want to get fitter, but resting is how your body actually adapts.
​​​​​

Bah Humbug

Sometimes when you’re really sore, an easy ride/ run/ walk/ whatever makes you feel better for the next day. Sitting on the couch until you feel better will make it take longer, possibly long enough that you don’t make long-term improvement. However, pushing yourself to go as hard as you can while you’re really sore can push you way into the negative.

bruce19

A rest day is 4 bourbons instead of 2. Oh, and pizza.

channelz28

Thanks for all the opinions. I actually took 2 days in a row off due to rain, then went for a long ride yesterday. I felt unbelievable, significantly fresher than I have since I started. I went up hills faster than I ever have and didn't even push myself that hard. And I'm barely sore today. I guess that's one way to learn that rest days are necessary in my current position!

zatopek

What is this “rest day” of which you speak?

colnago62

You have to do what works best for you. Try riding everyday with some short super easy days. If after a few weeks, you find yourself too fatigued, try adding a rest day completely off the bike.

Seattle Forrest

When I lived in Connecticut, I loved pizza. Now I barely ever eat the stuff. People out here think I'm a snob about it, how much better could New York (and surrounding) pizza really be than microwaved cardboard?

But the Mexican food makes up for it, especially the tacos.

Bah Humbug

That's funny, because Connecticut pizza is cardboard with tomato paste scraped on it. I literally didn't understand why people thought pizza was good until moving to Albany.

Wait, which part of CT were you in?

Seattle Forrest

Lebanon, Columbia, and Hampton. Kind of in the middle. But a lot of family in Stamford, and the pizza got better on that end. And then more family in Long Island, don't get me started.

semroc

Getting a massage or self-massage the quads might help.

bruce19

I grew up in the shadow of NYC when there were still neighborhoods of Italian immigrants. My mother was Italian and I lived in one of those neighborhoods. Unless you go to places like Boston, Providence and New Haven...New England is a pizza void. Around here the people think Greek Pizza is actually pizza. Proud to be a pizza snob.

bruce19

Lebanon? I live within a stone's throw of Uncle D's and across the street from the Liberty Hill Plant Farm. Love Lebanon.

SethAZ 

I've worked out how different heart rate zones affect me in terms of need for recovery, and plan accordingly. If I plan on riding several days in a row I'll just maintain a heart rate that I know is sustainable several days in a row. If I want to do a particularly long or high-effort ride I just plan it in, and will often time it so the highest effort ride is the day before my rest day. When I'm in high exercise mode I always plan in one day completely off per week. That's usually been Sunday, but now that I'm cycling again Sundays are just about the best cycling days, so the rest day will usually be Monday. If you don't have a heart rate monitor it might help you to aquire one, and learn to map what you experience in terms of performance and recovery needed to heart rate zone it was in. If you're not used to governing your level of effort by reference to something like heart rate it could take some getting used to, but I've been doing it for a long time and it's trivial for me now.

ZHVelo

I do also tend to ride recovery on days that are 'rest' days, but depending on how I feel, how stressful work was, I might just decide to be lazy and just stay home. Is that really a problem for people to not go out and ride?

jackb

Riding frequency largely depends on age. When I was a young man I could ride longer distances almost everyday without a problem, but now at 72 I do need rest days. I try to ride at least 20 miles every other day, but the weather here in Montana frequently stops me from following that schedule. So I ride when I can, but rarely over 20 miles and rarely on consecutive days. Once summer arrives, if it ever does, I'll get in some 30-40 mile rides, but I need warm, comfortable weather for that. Three rides a week are comfortable for me. I should ad that these are leisurely rides, no 20mph averages or really anything close to that. In fact, I no longer read the average speed on my cycle computer.

sanmateoclimber

This is not a one-size fits all conclusion, obviously. I'm not as hardcore as a lot of the seasoned guys on this forum (but hey, I'm working on it,) and it definitely doesn't work this way for me yet. I try to spend ten hours riding per week, with an average of like 150 miles and maybe 12K feet of climbing. I usually space this out over five days with two rest days. When I'm able to maintain a really consistent schedule (thanks, covid-19!,) I aim for a weekly cycle of three days on, rest, two days on, rest. I'm 34, and I've been on a road bike for only about 2.5 years now (though I was hauling myself around a fair bit on my hybrid for a few years before that.)

This seems like a good volume and appropriate amount of rest for me to keep steadily improving without overdoing it. Usually on my third day in a row of riding, I'm notably less fresh than day one-- though this is muuuuch less of a problem than it used to be, and improving all the time. Today is actually my rest day and I could totally go rip off a ride, but I'd rather rest up so I can go out there and push harder on Friday.

Your mileage, inexorably, will vary.

fstshrk

I have been mixing rowing (Concept2), running and biking. It has been amazing for my fitness. Much stronger climber, and don't give a sh*T about power, HR or anything else anymore.

channelz28

See? See???

Seattle Forrest

I was in the first class to start and graduate from Lyman. I used to live on Gates Road. I'd ride mediocre kid bikes past this spot we called Seven Ponds, aka Bogg ... Lane I think? Pretty farmland with rolling hills, not too far from the town green. I haven't been back in a long, long time.

Seattle Forrest

​​​​​​We call it Monday mountain hangover. Even if no alcohol was involved, too much exhaustion can give you the same symptoms.

guadzilla

Lol, ok, good point. But in any case, it seems that you have learned the value of rest days.

The TL;Dr is - riding lots creates stress on your muscles and cardiovascular system. Rest is when your body adapts to this stress and becomes stronger/fitter.

If you dont stress your systems enough, you dont create enough of a stimulus to adapt. If you dont get enough rest, you end up overtraining/being fatigued/not actually getting better. Need to balance both. Try and see what works for you and listen to your body.

diphthong

just ride. your body will tell you whether to go slow or fast or some unstable incestuous blend. embrace it.

Ghazmh

If I am feeling sore I can usually power through it. If I am fatigued, lethargic or drained then I take the day off. It depends on how much I have ridden in the days prior, my sleep quality and how busy I am with other obligations.

bruce19

Bogg Lane is THE picturesque spot according to my cycling club. It's a part of a 31 mile loop my GF and I are doing today. I live in what was called the Kissman house across from the Liberty Hill Plant Farm. Built circa 1760. Back in the day it was also know as the Inn at Chestnut Hill. A couple of my friends live on Gates Farm Rd. FWIW, Lebanon is still beautiful. It has the highest % of it's land in agriculture of any town in CT.