I know with running there's general rules about how close to a marathon you should do your training runs, just vaguely from my sister that does marathons. I think usually if she has a marathon planned on the upcoming weekend, she'll do a short easy run at the beginning of the week and then rest until the marathon.

I know that to be considered a recovery ride, it comes after your hard effort. But, I guess what I was trying to get at is, are there rules similar to the running ones that apply to cycling? Like, is it bad to do an easy ride the day before a hard one? How many days before a hard ride should you do your last training ride, etc.