I’m heading out on an 18-day family road trip from Northern Colorado to Key West and trying to figure out the best way to maintain fitness without making the trip revolve around training too much. Right now I’m training about 13 hours per week. I’m bringing my bike and will have a few down days where I can get in solid endurance rides. While in Miami, I plan to do the Don Pan group ride. I’m also considering bringing my trainer so theoretically, I could do short hotel room sessions. This will be a very active vacation, full of snorkeling, beach days, Disney, etc. For those who have done something similar, would you just ride when and where you can and not worry too much about structure, or would you try to build out a loose 2.5 week plan that fits around the travel schedule? Also curious how much training it realistically takes to maintain fitness over about 2.5 weeks without burning family goodwill.
I have been on holiday with my family many times.
I enjoyed spending time with them.
Can’t say that fitness or training was a priority at all,
Hope this helps!
At age 66 one of the primary reasons I maintain fitness is so I can go on Road Trips. Amongst other things!
I just got back from a 10 day international family vacation, and faced a similar situation.
Family time was the priority - meaning 1. My goal was to do a “maintenance” amount of physical activity and not to really train and 2. I fit my physical activity into family events (eg family hikes) / or around family schedule (eg rented a bike for an afternoon when my wife and kids were snorkeling).
On some family trips - eg if we go camping in Moab - it’s a lot easier to “train” - eg go for an early morning or evening hard ride. But on other trips like the one we just did, that’s not realistic, and family time is priority.
Bring your family into the sauna! You can claim that it’s a group activity even though you’re only doing it for the hemoglobin. 
Seriously, though, just enjoy the trip!
Unless you have an “A” event on the backside of the trip…I’d just treat it as a mid-season break and enjoy the time off the bike.
If you do nothing on the trip you’ll lose a bit of your high end, but will be back where you were in about a month of training regularly again.
If you have no target events in within the next month or so, I’d just embrace the vacation. Everyone needs a few weeks off the bike each year.
If you do have an event coming up, riding even just an hour every second day or so will keep you pretty close to form. Think of it as an exaggerated taper.
Bringing your bike and trainer seems like you will not be participating in the vacation with your family, which is generally a bad idea.
If you wanna bring your bike, just have fun exploring. Don’t worry about the trainer. Even consider just renting a bike - travelling with a bike sucks.
In general my philosophy though would be that you can train every week, all year. You can only go on this vacation with your family once in your entire life.
And this vacation with you will only happen for your kids, once in their entire life.
If maintaining fitness was a priority, I’d opt for 2 HIIT (VO2 Max) sessions and a SST workout per week if possible. This can be done in less than an hour, even on a gym bike if necessary.
That approach has worked for me in the past to minimise training losses whilst still fully enjoying the family time and holiday. We also typically walk a lot as well.
Whenever a question like this comes us, everyone likes to shame you for wanting to spend a few hours during your family vacation doing what you want to do. It is your vacation too, and if this is a priority for you and lets you enjoy the rest of the time with your family, there is nothing wrong with that. If you are like me, you are spending 95+% of time on vacation doing what the family wants to do, so I don’t feel guilty peeling off a few hours to keep my sanity and health. In my case, my wife and daughters always sleep more than I do anyway, so I just get up early and it never interferes with family time.
What I would do is fit in endurance rides as you have time. When you only have an hour or so, whether it is on a trainer or not, I would fit in super easy structured ride. Do 5 x 1 minute all out with 8-10 minutes between, or do 3-4 x 5 minutes threshold.
1-2 of those structured rides and an endurance ride per week and I bet you feel like you haven’t lost much at all at the end of your vacation.
Ride when and where you can. As for structure, rely on train now for general guidance but also let your motivation and desire to enjoy the area overrule any desire to be"on plan." Have fun and enjoy time with the family.
I would do a big week leading into the trip, try to plan for a middle of the trip block, like 2 or 3 days of more riding, and then plan to do a good week when you get home. One thing my family does is have one parent drive to the destination and the other parent bikes. So perhaps you could do this for some day trips.
I probably wouldn’t bother with a trainer bc you’re on vacation and you’d have to bring fans and all that. I’m sure driving across the country there are many amazing rides along the way…
That’s a bit strong isn’t it?
Yes, I’ve taken the bike and trainer with me on holiday before. Did it burn goodwill with my Mrs? Probably. I enjoyed the roads and mountains but failed my vo2 sessions by the pool.
I also find that driving wearing your trainers, stopping every two hours and jogging/strides while they use the facilities helps.
As others have said, unless you are in a critical period in race prep I wouldn’t worry about training and especially in an active holiday might be better to leave the bike. If you are, then I’d still only ride when it suits the family.
You aint going to lose anything for 18 days 
Minor drop in power if at all, which will spring straight back once you start training again.
Take your running shoes and head out for a 30 minute jog every morning before the rest of the family gets up. Do body weight squats and lunges every other day…add some pushups as well so you will look good on the beach.
There’s a difference between bringing a trainer with them and sneaking out to join an infamous group ride once or twice.
I rent a mountain bike almost every vacation but I’ll stop cycling before I bring a trainer with me on a family vacation.
agree to disagree. Bringing a trainer might be the best way to get your exercise in minimal time. I have brought all kinds of stuff on vacation for my family (scooters, bikes, toys, yoga mats, etc.), I see no problem in bringing a trainer if it works for you.
One thing nobody has commented on yet: Don’t underestimate the amount of stress you might get from the vacation. This seems paradoxical, but a vacation can be both relaxing and stressful.
For example, in the week leading up to the trip you may be tempted to train extra hard, but you likely will have extra life stress getting things ready for you to be gone from work. Plus you need to find & pack everything, make sure the house & pets are taken care of, double check your plans, etc.
During the trip, you’re likely eating different, less healthy foods, spending many hours sedentary, getting worse sleep, time shifting your sleep, stress at the airport or due to traffic, etc. Flying dehydrated you. Driving subjects your body to hours of low frequency vibrations which fatigues your muscles. And don’t underestimate the impact of sleep. There’s a significant spike in heart attacks every time we do a daylight savings change - just that one hour of sleep loss / time shift pushes at-risk people over the edge.
Then you’re likely doing unusual physical activities, which might be using muscles or tissues that are weak. Hiking, swimming, walking 20,000 steps, etc. You mentioned Disney. That is hard on the body, especially doing it a few days in a row.
Then you can stress yourself out just worrying about loss of fitness, how to fit in some training, what training to do, lack of power data, etc.
Although that group ride in Miami might seem like a great idea, if it is going to happen after 2 weeks on the road and right after Disney that’s a recipe for disaster. And imagine the stress if you get dropped from the group ride in an unfamiliar major city with terrible drivers and no idea of a safe route back (even the group route isn’t necessarily safe to ride solo). No bueno.
So you really, really need to listen to your body and just go with the flow. And consider whatever other physical activity you do as cross training. And focus on coming out of your vacation mentally and physically reinvigorated, not fatigued.
IDK. I guess it depends on you’re overall outlook. I’ve done group and solo rides in “strange” to me cities like Manhattan, Boston, San Francisco, Denver, and some European cities. It does benefit from some research and planning. That said, I’m not advocating that the OP does this on his road trip, just that it’s not outside the realm of possibilities.
Have you been to Miami though? Florida in general is a strange and dangerous place to drive, let alone ride. I have been a few times but without a bike (and couldn’t find a decent one to rent). I have never seen so many car crashes in my life as the dozen days I’ve been in Orlando and Miami.