As I get close to the end of my race season I’m trying to figure out what my between season break should look like (I didn’t take one last year and apparently it hit me this year ).
It seems like the suggestion is taking 1 to 2 weeks off of the bike completely according to this forum (def let me know if I’m wrong on this). That said, I also lift with a personal trainer and my cycling off season is typically when I start lifting heavy again.
Should my break between bike racing season include taking a break from lifting as well or does it not matter?
Because you didn’t take one last season, I would take a break 3-4 weeks.
From lifting maybe just two weeks or the same as your cycling break.
That mental break feels very good and makes a difference.
For me just getting home from work and not having to jump on the bike make it feel like I just got so much time back.
Also I use this time to see friends and give maintain the bikes and trainer.
The last couple years, I’ve basically taken a 4-5 month “off season”, but I still ride and race my bike a good bit. But it’s a big drop in volume, zero structured intervals, and a shift in priorities to other activities (rowing, strength training, hiking, etc.). Since we race all through the winter in Texas, it means sucking up the ego a bit and racing with marginal fitness, but I’ve found that racing with no pressure or result goals is a lot of fun. Keeping the weekly group ride (usually ~100 miles) and some other fun riding is enough to maintain decent cycling fitness in the off season. And when my new season starts ~January, I’m 100% motivated and physically fresh.
There is alot of “it depends” here. How much have you been training? Your 6-10 hour athlete is probably fine with 2 weeks. I see no reason for 3-4 weeks for people in this category.
I think you could go either way with the lifting. I wouldn’t ramp it up, but if you are just maintaining that is probably fine.
This past week I have just completely blown off my TR schedule and am doing 90min - 3hr gravel rides day after day and I couldn’t be happier. Zero structure, just exploring and loving my bike. I’ve watched with amusement as my FTP prediction comes down and down and down and I couldn’t possibly care less. Just riding for the joy of riding.
At the very least I would abandon structure and if you’re going to ride at all just ride how you want to ride as much or as little as you want. And perhaps cut lifting volume down to a maintenance level for a time. Think of it less like a ‘break’ or an ‘off-season’ and more like a ‘recovery block’ or ‘recovery season’. And not just physical recovery. Mental recovery is important too!
This is generally what I do at the end of summer… ride when/what/where I feel like, go exploring new routes, chase some KOMs and/or PRs.
That said, with the 2026 Canadian Gravel Champs having been cancelled late race back in June, I’ve heard some rumblings of them running a v2 in the fall, which I’d probably want to attend. Maybe one more training block now, but it’s hard to start without knowing if the race will actually happen.
Quite similar to me. I stop doing structure at some point in September, then ride unstructured (which means that I don’t ride at all when the weather is bad) till January and restart then. It’s the time of the year when you do more cross training: in my case it’s basketball, climbing, skiing, lifting… not all translates to endurance fitness, but it doesn’t need to. If I feel my bike fitness is lagging, though, I add a month of structure before the Christmas holidays.
Awesome, thanks for all of the feedback and perspective. At the moment I think I’m going to plan on taking 2 weeks off around the holidays before hopping back into structure. And yeah I’ll keep at it with the gym.
Not to mention at 50, how many good years do you have left? I’d definitely take 3-4 weeks from structure but hoping on the mountain bike for a social ride a couple times a week is no biggie.
We’re all doomed, but the 50+ age group is pretty fn fast these days. And 60+ has its fair share on monsters as well. I’m much stronger at 57 than I was in my 40’s, more time to train and recover.
Agree! Still able to routinely get into the top 10 at local races and onto the podium if the stars align once a year. Which I consider a win as I’m typically twice or three times the age of most of my competitors. Juniors are taking over!
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