Biking Rest Day Required?

Lynatea

So, I'm indoor recumbent cycling and have worked up to where I'm riding 30-40 minutes at 16mph average (approx. 9 miles daily). All the articles on cycling talk about rest day scheduling but appear to be written for cyclers that are doing huge amounts of miles each week. Am I going to be ok if I continue to ride each day without rest? I'm basically sedentary otherwise, normally hit 3500 steps most days otherwise.

Just curious what other cyclers do and how often they take a rest day. Thanks!

SuzySunshine99

With low-impact exercise like that, I think you are fine if you want to do it every day.
If you start to feel sore, you can always take a day off to rest.
I go out for a walk almost every day, but if my knees are sore any particular day, I might skip it.

mjbnj0001

I haven't needed a "rest day" from indoor recumbent cycling at the gym, and my stats are higher than yours, except average speed (I disregard "speed" and focus on HR zones due to my particular issues). I do sometimes need a rest day after cycling in the "real world." It depends on the demands I place on my old bod. There are indicators for when you might be overtraining and need a break.

heybales

While that would be a hard workout on the road with all the resistances like wind and gravity being thrown at you, inside that's not bad at all.

Log your HR first thing in the morning after it's calmed down after alarm snap awake.

If you see that restingHR going up day after day, and you don't feel like you are coming down with something - might need a break.
But if you are observant you might see other indicators faster than that one shows up giving a clue too.

NorthCascades

Rest days aren't a regimented thing, you take them as the need arises. Unless you're on a training plan that proscribes the timing and amount of rest in concert with the stress the plan is applying. Otherwise, if you don't feel run down and without motivation, you're good.

sijomial

It's very varied between cyclists - we have very different needs and capabilities.
Some cycle frequently but not long duration or high intensity, others infrequently but long duration and intensity and every other combination including long duration and high frequency - there's some riders doing outrageously high mileage consistently.

For me my days off cycling aren't typically regimented but taken depending on need for recovery, other commitments (life and part time job getting in the way...), alternating with strength training in the gym or simply the weather. I also tend to vary the training load so that an easy ride follows a hard ride rather than a rest day following a hard ride. I'd love to be able to do three consecutive long days as that would open up different cycling experiences (London to Paris for example) but personally I struggle with that.

Training calendar below shows how varied my days off cycling are.....
Jan & Feb - nearly all indoor cycling of fairly short duration (1hr typically) which my legs often did need recovery time due to often high intensity but I was also strength training in the gym on non-cycling days.
Mar & Apr - mostly switched to outdoor cycling and ramping up my endurance with higher frequency and building the duration.
May - fantastic weather and I was really pushing my fitness levels hard with very high volume (for me) and increasing intensity (hills).
Jun - I really needed some recovery from May (mostly soreness rather than fatigue) so took a few more days off and weather also took a downturn.

To answer your question "Am I going to be ok if I continue to ride each day without rest?" - probably.
If you feel fine you most likely are. If you start to feel fatigued, sore, aching, lethargic then take a recovery day (doesn't have to be rest).
I also monitor my RHR as Heybales describes during a hard training block as I have a tendency to take more notice of data than feelings - as a wise trainer once said "the answer to every problem isn't simply push harder".

nighthawk584

Bike every day as long as you aren't overly sore or fatigued. Listen to your body. I bike outside 20-22 miles every day on trails. killer way to stay fit!

Chieflrg

As in any activity that can accumulate stress, we have to look at our individual load management in relation to the stress applied and recovery after dosed stress.

We as humans will adapt quite amazingly to just about anything though I think most people dive in too fast at something novel to their fitness level.

There is no one answer that defines "right" or "wrong". It comes down to you as a individual and how you adapted and recover from that adaptation.

I encourage you to look track your load management and recovery and it will help you to understand what load you can apply as a individual and how it changes.

Lynatea

Thank you all so much for the feedback, I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't unknowingly doing harm in some way. So...listen to my body it is