What are peoples thoughts on doing rides on a recovery week that are completely fasted? Might it hamper the recovery process that is intended for the week and is it worth doing?
I think it would be contrary to recovery. What do you hope to gain from the workout that couldn’t be accomplished in a non-recovery week? (maybe I just need a more open mind 
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Sure it’s a great time to do fasted rides. Recovery weeks usually incorporates rides at lower intensities so that’s perfect for doing fasted.
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My current thinking is that if you have been managing your adaption from the previous weeks’ stress by good nutrition, sleep etc, then the recovery week is just about shedding fatigue to get you ready for the next round of stress. So fasted rides are OK.
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It seems like if you can ride fasted AND the effort still seems quite easy, then you should be okay. Obviously you want to actual recover and if riding fasted forces you to exert more effort to the point where you’re not recovering then it doesn’t make sense.
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My experience is its hard to recover without eating. So that’s one thing.
The other thing is when I’m doing a recovery week it really is because recovery is needed. So everything during that week is going to be geared toward that primary goal. Look, everybody is different, but in general nobody does a fasted ride to aid recovery…fasted rides are targeted towards stress/adaptation. Specifically, carb/fat metabolic mix during endurance exercise. That’s contrary to recovery & should be avoided if your purpose during that training week is really recovery.
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This is a valid point as is the individuality of response. So if you do a fasted ride and you are still fatigued at the end of the recovery week then fasted riding not a good strategy for you.
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My 1/2 cent – from reading all the info on the TR forum and other sources, fasted training appears to be the hot fad and is generally misunderstood. People (myself included) seem to be chasing fasted training without ever asking if they really truly need to, as in, what actual benefit will fasted training provide to their specific goal.
The above, coupled with the fact that all the touted advantageous adaptations take years to compound and reach noticeable effect (e.g. mitochondria), unless a person is going to truly commit to doing methodical and regular fasted rides for their career, then it might be best to skip the hassle; doing anything less will get you a very small bang for your buck.
If you REALLY think/feel you just HAVE to do fasted training, might be a better idea to do one long weekend fasted ride per week instead of one week of fasted rides per month.
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Why not recover first eating properly. Then do fasted rides when you’ve recovered?
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As I understand it fasted rides are to help promote fat adaption for the body with an additional benefit of improved fat loss however to get the full benefit it’s best to use low intensity rides.
See how you go, listen to your body but I’ll be utilising fasted rides in a few weeks during my recovery week.
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said fat adaption is something to pursue if you are riding/racing for longer durations (e.g. 4-5+ hours). If your rides/races are only 1-2 hours then I would say it’s not something worth chasing; stick to blasting carbs. On top of that, it takes years of dedication to the method to fully develop a fat adapted system to a point where it’s really useful…on your long 4-5 hour rides/races.
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What’s the old saying? Don’t diet on the bike. Cycling is not a great vehicle for weight/fat loss. Eating less is. If you do want to utilize cycling for weight loss, doing HIIT is probably more beneficial than long (or short) fasted endurance rides.
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