Good article! One thing I found interesting is that the benefits of Zone 2 riding begin at 2 hour. It can be less but would be more “maintenance rides.”
That’s interesting. Today I just did my first long zone 2 ride ever and it was like I hit a wall at the 2 hour mark! I was fueling throughout the ride, but at around 2 hours I felt like I was on my way to bonking. I’ve done 2 hour VO2 and threshold workouts (with rests between intervals), and haven’t felt like that before. Clearly a long zone 2 ride without rest does something to the human body.