So now what?

[Geonz]

I go by how I feel. Cycling doesn't pound your body like running does so it doesn't take as long to recover. And, it depends on how hard you pushed hyourself on that long-distance ride.
My body tells me when I want to go fast again after a long ride. It usually takes a couple of days or a week... but sometimes I'm amazed, and then I realize that well, I'd been doing a lot of miles before the "long" ride so really it wasn't that much more, and a couple of "recovery" days were more like a taper adn I really wanted to go out and go long with the muscles I'd built. (I seem to be designed for the long, not-too-fast stuff... YES, i'm thinking brevets though I"m not sure what that would entail financially and it would require *conscious* planning, not just "ride a lot" which is my usual training plan ). With the two week-long tours I was on, by the end I could have just kept going and building on that 60-miles-a-day thing.
Mainly, I didn't/don't want to lose that fitness. I just couldn't believe that, holey COW, I had a trained athlete's body. (Where on earth did it come from???) I LIKE it. I can do a conference all day... and then still want to go out at night. So... I keep riding :-)

[Tuckervill]

So if you can do 80 miles each day for 2 days, what's stopping you from doing a century? Wouldn't take but a couple of weeks to build up to that kind of mileage, would it?

Karen

[tygab]

So if you can do 80 miles each day for 2 days, what's stopping you from doing a century? Wouldn't take but a couple of weeks to build up to that kind of mileage, would it?

Karen

That is what I am thinking, a century should be pretty achievable. But the wildcard (I guess) is how long it will take me to feel like I am training versus recovering. Right now I feel like I am recovering still. I went for a relatively short distance today (30 mi, rolling hills) and felt pretty tuckered out by the end - which seems to tell me I need to take it easy for a while longer yet. I will not ride tomorrow (Sunday). So I am hoping by the middle of this coming week I am feeling more like my old self in terms of energy.

At the end of day 1 of the ride, I felt pretty confident I could have gone another 20 miles to have it be a century - so if I can get to that point again I think that's pretty reasonable. End of day 2, well, I think I was ready to be off the bike...

There's a century in about a month's time that I'd like to do (I could always do the 62 mi ride if I am not feeling ready)... hopefully this is doable. I guess it boils down to it is hard to rest! But I know I should and that long term it is better for me. On the other hand, I worry that resting will cause me to lose the gains I've made...