I’m going to Everest on September 10th or 11th to raise money for a local charity. I’m considering doing a 6-hour mountain bike race on September 5th. I’ve done the race a number of times before, and it’s a hard pace. Will I be recovered for the Everest attempt 5 or 6 days later? For background, I’m 54 years old, 151 lbs, FTP of 278, and do a 4 hr/300 TSS ride every Saturday, so I’m fairly accustomed to long efforts. Thanks!!
Potentially yes or no. It depends a lot on training loads and how well you recover from big races and what sort of lead up you have to each event and how much the 6 hour race takes out of you.
You said you’ve done the race before, how have you felt in the days after the race? Andy saddle sores, aches or pains?
You’ll more than likely be okay, and I wouldn’t worry about it. It won’t make the Everest undoable, but maybe a bit slower or more painful. If the order were reversed, that’d be a problem.
I think you’ll be fine…
I haven’t done one (so take my comment with a box of salt), but I’ve done plenty of 20 hour rides. And rides of that length are all about keeping the intensity low. If you’re carrying fatigue, it will affect your threshold and VO2 efforts well ahead of your endurance level effort. And if you have to go up the hill at 60% of FTP rather than 70% of FTP, so what? The longer it takes, the more impressive it will be for non-cyclists. 
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June 2019 I did an Everesting followed by a tag team 24 hour mtb race 2 1/2 weeks later. It put me in such a huge hole, it was September by the time I felt normal again. Looking back I should have taken at least a couple weeks completely off the bike afterwards, but I kept trying to ride and get my fitness back. So I’d say if you do both, take the time your body needs after.
I 100% agree with you regarding recovery from ultra type events. The traditional charts of fitness and fatigue (or the three letter acronyms) are useless for tracking load from extremely long events.
I actually have a theory on these… I think your max FTP drops throughout an ultra event. So the 40% of FTP you’re struggling to push in hour 18 might actually be the equivalent of pushing 80% of FTP at that point in time. And therefore load is that much higher than calculated. Unfortunately, no simple formula could track this since it’s extremely dependent upon the aerobic base of an individual athlete. Some folks are gassed after 18+ hours of effort while others are still going strong.
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Sleep
Stretch
Eat
Repeat
That should get you fully recovered 
First time poster, been using TR with marginal (okay, poor) plan compliance for 1.5 years. I’m looking for advice on recovering from a 24 hour event. Last Saturday I rode 286 miles with over 26k ft of climbing in the Nightmare Tour in PA. I had nothing left and stopped 45 min before the 24 hours was up.
I am 41, have an FTP around 330, and am a larger rider about 190 lbs. Life is pretty hectic with kids, dogs, job etc.
I was planning to do a 250 mile gravel race, with 23k ft of climbing, in VA on October 3 of this year. After last weekends 24 hour event, I’m now not sure its a good idea to try another 24 hour plus ultra event so soon. I am planning on a week off the bike now plus an easy week after that. It doesn’t leave me with much time for training and another taper. Should I forget the October 3 event since it’s so close to what I just did? Defer to next year?
TL, DR: Is 56 days of recovery enough between 24 hour (or longer) races.
There’s no reason you can’t race again in October. Whilst you might not be at your peak, you could certainly be fresh for that event.
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