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Eccentric heel drops are good (Alfredson). There is limited/no evidence that they are actually much more effective than both phases (Cook). A conservative treatment recommended often now is concentric heel lifts on both legs, and then slowly lower in the eccentric phase on one leg. Two up, one down.
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Heavy Slow Resistance doesn’t aggravate a tendon (Cook) and will improve structure when pushing really heavy weights (O’Neill). Anecdotally, some of my fastest improvement came after adding two+ days per week of slow heavy weights (seated and standing calf raises) in the gym. Evidence suggests that pushing more than 70% of 1-rep-max, even with shorter sets and more pauses within the sets, helps structural changes (Morrison).
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What doesn’t help: ice, immobility, “wait and see” (Low). Tendons need progressive load during recovery, and not giving it to them may remove symptoms but definitely doesn’t solve the problem. Additionally, adjunct therapies (dry needling, platelet-rich plasma) appear to not help. Stretching too much doesn’t either.
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There’s good reason to believe that once eccentric and HSR have reduced/removed symptoms, thay plyometrics can be introduced slowly, and help with both tendon stiffness (Young’s modulus) and potentially cross-sectional area. Once tendons can handle plyometrics, cycling should be no issues.
That’s my anecdotal bias on trying to encapsulate most of the research I’ve waded through in the last eight months. 