In the past two seasons, I've struggled with IT band pain and a poor bike fit that resulted in ending many rides with intense lower body pain. I've since bought a new bike, had a professional fitting, improved my pedal stroke, and rehabbed my legs through acupuncture and PT.

I didn't ride as much last summer. Now I'm excited to be feeling better and want to get back into training so I can tackle a century this summer and improve my speed/power to hang with the group on rides. I'm feeling a bit gun shy, however, recalling the pain that frequent riding caused. My acupuncturist called me a chronic overdoer (overstretching, too much riding, not enough recovery). I've been working on my pedal stroke this winter and working out with Robbie Ventura's cycling DVDs. However, my legs feel very sore 24 hours after a ride, and I hesitate to do another workout until they are feeling less sore and heavy. Sometimes this means 2 or 3 days of not riding (which makes it difficult to create a workout schedule). Is this normal for a fit 28-year-old?

Typically, how sore is it ok to be when I begin the next workout and should I ever fully recover to the point where my legs don't feel sore at all? How do I know when I'm overdoing it?