I hope Iām not the only one that gets days where you just feel like turd soup on the bike. Nothing feels right, you canāt pedal well and no matter what you do, you just suck that day.
The older I get, these days seems to pop up more often.
This is predominantly on the MTB.
I hear you. I had a threshold workout on the calendar today and due to a some life stress I just wasnāt feeling it and swapped it out for a zone 2 ride.
Sometimes you just have to roll with the punches and dial it back when life calls for it.
This is how I feel every day.
Might have something to do with it being my commute to workā¦
Yup. Definitely have those days where you feel out of sync and seem to take every bad line out there. Thatās when I usually cut it short and dump out onto the gravel those days. No use in fighting it. Usually the mojo is back by the next ride. Not good enough to be in āthe schneidā thankfully.
This happens to me way more frequently on the XC bike than on the road. I think thereās a lot more to deal with on the MTB (traction, line choice, bumpyness, etc) so if youāre a bit off, you remove a couple of pieces from the puzzle and the whole thing falls apart. On the road bike you just go into the zone, pedal how much youāre supposed to do for the day and it eventually gets done.
Then thereās sometimes pure unlucky days. Yesterday went on a 45km XC/gravel training ride, had 6 sticks (!) coming into my spokes and drivetrain (one involved disassembling the derailleur cage, another the chainguide), a bee came into the helmet and stung me, an incoming girl on an ebike crashed into my way on a trail, and more. At some point I was starting to get worried that an anvil or a piano would drop on my head. There are days like that
Never happens to me thank god, almost one time doing a race after work but I drank 4 monster energy drinks that day so luckily I was good. What they say about heat is so true though, even pogacar can crack from heat related dehydration and sunstroke.
Oh an I thought it was happening one time on my way back from a ride in AZ but it turned out my thru axle was just working its way loose, funny how you can be pondering your whole offseason training plan when it feels terrible to ride and then itās actually caused by a mechanical 
It happens to the best of us, I think Iāve made exact the same post in the past when it feels like the world has ended!
If itās really bad, I step off and Iām usually back to normal the next day. Sometimes it lasts a bit longer - work stress can wipe me out for a good few days.
Unfortunately I had a bit of an off day in a TT yesterday, wanted to stop before I hit the half way point, and had to gut it out 
Its called Life. I probably stupidly press on when I have one of those days but my ex coach who made it to a British level pro would call it a day on they few days like that (well few for him anyway).
Some weeks!! I got norovirus from bad sushi, and flew to Cali two days later where I got a vicious grunge mess virus and ear infection. Itās just not good to eat anything now. Exaggeration, but after eating sushi from the same place for over 8 years, this was a surprise, and training with all that going on? Pass! Iāve been doing the āspin to winā on Zwift, but limping along. You can do everything right and still end up in a mess of illness. And with the FDA and other agencies that do food and ingredient testing are circling the drain itās going to get even harder to eat and be safe.
Be safe, EAT safeā¦
As others said, days like that definitely happen to us all!
If those days seem to be popping up more frequently, it might be worth considering your training planās overall volume and intensity. If youāre doing 3 intensity days per week, for example, maybe try cutting back to 2. Switching a hard workout to an easier ride or even taking a rest day when you need it can really help you freshen up.
But remember that these days do happen to us allā¦ even pros during the Tour de France!