Just finished my last cross race of the year. I’m a multidisciplinary cyclist racing road, gravel and cross in the fall. I’m not feeling that tired or in need of a time out. Do I really need rest and I’d simply prefer to keep on keeping on and start my training plan for 2026?
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why not one easy week at least and then start a training plan?
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Yup, maybe
A great question/topic for this time of year.
I think a lot of it depends on how hard/long you’ve been training and when you plan to start building again (if that’s part of the plan). If you’ve been pushing hard to hit multiple peaks throughout the season and just ended a hard block for a final stretch of racing, I’d definitely take some time to let the body reset. Maybe a week or so off the bike, but I think the tougher question is what to do after that.
For me, the off season is less about taking a couple weeks completely off the bike, it’s all about making sure I’m just riding my bike for fun and not pushing/training at high stress levels during the off season. And I’ll race a bit during the off season, just not at my peak fitness. So, some might consider my off season part of the race season. But for me, thinking of it this way helps me resist the urge to push too hard unless I’m really serious about hitting a peak for an A race. For the races I target/prioritize, I’m all in. For B/C races, I just race with whatever fitness I have based on where the races fall in my season or off season. Basically, I take about 6 months of the year and train at a level that is unhealthy and unsustainable, but required to hit peak fitness for my A races. The rest of the year, my rule is to limit overall training stress, ride my bike for fun and fitness, and not worry about results in whatever events I might jump into.
I find it useful to keep an eye on my training stress level over time and use this to inform my approach to the off season. The TR calendar can help by watching your rolling 6 week TSS trend over the year.
There are also tools like intervals.icu that get a bit more granular and can help you follow your training stress along with fatigue, stress balance, etc. As you can see from the chart below, things start getting hard in February, peak/taper a couple times between may and late July for my A races, but then I’m done thrashing my body for the year. At that point, I’ll ride/race for fun and keep my CTL (chronic training load, called “fitness” intervals.icu) under 100 until the next season. I think of anything over 100 CTL as “the death zone”. You have to spend time there to achieve peak fitness, but for me it’s not a healthy place to stay for too long (mentally or physically). At this point of the year, I’m super motivated to start proper training again, but still have 2 months more to wait. Anyways, that approach works for me where I have a couple really long/hard events that I target. For someone doing a season with a bunch of smaller events or a crit or XCO series, it would probably make sense to target a higher number of lower peaks over a longer duration.
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I just take November and December as Fun Cycling time. I don’t go easy and I do still hit the trainer during the week (Train Now) but just time to appreciate riding.
December 21st is “ride around SFBay” day 175 miles mixed gravel and road, then recover and re-start base training in January.
That does not mean I duck out on strength training. 60 is coming up fast and I’d like to keep the muscle I have. So minimum 2x a week.
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Bottom line and simple answer, yes take some time to rest. How much depends on you. Take into consideration your age, motivation and next year goals. Now would be a good time for other hobbies, seasonal activities, etc. to keep it fresh both mentally and physically. All good replies above and a good time to start planning and keeping that fire burning.
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Here’s what I did this fall after my last race of the season:
- Week 1: Full recovery. Time off the bike.
- Week 2: First week back… Rides without a purpose. Kept it fun and in the 30-45 minute range.
- Week 3: Rides in the 60 minute range and introduced the first sweet spot workout.
I am someone who lives near the trail network and just love riding my bike. Like you (especially if the weather is nice) I would rather go for a ride than adhere to a scheduled rest day. That said… I know I need to. So I took some time off… and felt great (and stronger) after the time off.
You may not think you need it… or want it. But it will have some benefit for you. As mentioned above… start with a week and ease back into it. See what happens!
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I like that plan.
1 Week off
1 week 1/2 off
1 week semi back on.
Then back to business
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My maximum fun is derived from maximum effort and racing.
Courses for different horses.
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I’ve done both. There’s not a right or wrong answer to this. It depends on how much fatigue you’ve accumulated from your training (when was the last time you had a break?), and how much water is left in your motivation well.
Conversely, if there’s any uncertainty, you’re really not losing anything at all by taking even like a month or longer completely off the bike. It comes back quickly.
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I agree… but how “quickly” will depend on age, training history and genetics.
I just was in the same boat. Was in the middle of a hard block (and the last workout of that block was 10/10 hard that left my legs in shambles) that went into a recovery/easy week, which I did. I found I was so tired after I had finally let off the gas, that not only did I not want to complete the last three weeks of the block, I didn’t even want to bike for fun/didn’t even want to ride my new bike on NBD and I had unlimited time to ride! Just completely burnt. I just took two more chill weeks and then did some group rides and called that my off-season. I finally got the itch to ride again and now unfortunately it’s indoor-only weather. I wish I could have pushed a few more weeks but oh well. I just started a base season plan at low volume and plan to ramp up again after the holidays. TL;DR take the off season on your terms, don’t wait until you are so tired that you lose your love for training.
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Hey! I would agree with the majority here 
Taking time off to let the body reset, it’s not only a great idea but can also help you come back stronger to training.
Here’s a hepfull blog post on the subject:
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Yeah, loose rule of thumb for that sort of time frame is double the time off to get back where you were. Take a month off, then you’re back where you were with about two months of training. Some may be a bit longer, others a bit shorter
What I’d like people to take away though is to not have a fear of taking a few weeks off of structured training once or twice a year. It has no impact at all in the long game, and can often be helpful.
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I’d go further than that and say you can take months off from structured training and lose surprisingly little fitness as long as you are still spending some quality hours on the bike. It doesn’t take much to maintain fitness in the off season as long as you aren’t sitting on the sofa. I cut my volume in half and do zero structured training between August and December and that keeps my aerobic fitness at a decent level. I definitely loose some of the high end punch and repeatability, but that stuff builds back really quick once you get back into those type of intervals.
A week or 2 off can be a good reset (particularly the mental side), but it’s not a proper rest if you’re carrying big fatigue from a long hard season. Just like building fitness happens over multiple months (and years), it can take a long time for the body to recover from a long season. And just like a “rest” week during the season doesn’t mean you aren’t on the bike, the same applies to an extended rest in the off season. Reduced volume, fun rides with friends, sign up for a local low key race for fun, lots of junk miles, etc. If your brain and body can productively adapt to smashing intervals 50 weeks per year, more power to ya. Doesn’t work for me.
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I generally “make” my athletes take two weeks away from the bike or at absolutely bare minimum from structured training. I usually took a month, myself. Regardless of the physical need for recovery (which is likely substantial and needed, even if you feel good), the need for mental breaks is real.
Think about it this way: would you rather take two weeks off right now, do some other fun things or just not think about the bike, and then get back to it and plow through next November uninterrupted; or would you rather train now, start feeling burnt out come April and lose motivation in the middle of your next season?
This is a real outcome for many, many people.
Most of the time, questions like this are driven by a fear of losing fitness gains. In the short term, you will take a step back, but most people regain their old fitness within a month or two of starting back up in training, and then are fresher and more able to build on those old gains than they would have been if they trained through, and tried to build on fitness while carrying long term fatigue.
Fatigue is your normal state, so you might not feel tired right now, but there’s a pretty good chance you’ve “forgotten” what it feels like to be truly fresh and rested. Everything now is likely relative: you feel good relative to what it feels like coming off of a massive weak, but you’re not truly fresh and rested. You’re just acutely fresh and rested, when what your body needs is some rest for the buildup of chronic fatigue.
All that said, strongly recommend a break. I prefer two weeks as a minimum.
How I personally did it: plan a minimum of two weeks, but in execution I would take my break and then when the itch to ride returned, I would take another week off from that day. This usually made my offseason break 3-6 weeks long. I usually stayed active, cross-trained, did some strength training, but personally I didn’t look at my bike other than the odd group ride with friends. I certainly didn’t swim at all, lol. I almost always regained my old fitness before the end of the third month of my base periods, and was able to build from there.
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Really great replies. I’ll take a break for something between 2 and 3 weeks and simply use my enthusiasm and volition to make a decision on when to get back at it. I however have no desire to take anything longer then have to work 2 months just to get back where I was…that I feel would be counterproductive and only serve to waste what I worked so hard for in the previous year.
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yes!! I was initially thinking I wouldn’t really take a break this year (i think that i think this every year). The weather turned and now I’ve caught a cold so I was forced into it but at the same time my body is feeling better in ways that I forgot about, making me wish I had rested better during the rest of the year 
! I’m terrible about resting. Once you stop it does feel good to take a break.
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Chronic Fatigue is like chronic stress. You don’t realise how tired or stressed you are, until you are no longer either of those things. Take a break, and feel what’s it’s like not to hsve thst chronic fatigue.
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I take 3-4 months off and do something else. As we get older bone density and osteoporosis become a real concern long term and cycling is a detriment. Thus, I run a little, lift weights, plyometrics and throw in some swimming for more cardio focus. By the time warmer spring weather arrives I’m excited to get back on the bike and enjoy the outside.
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