On Vacation without the Bike. Advice Please

[Talus3535]

I'm new to the forum but can already see that this a great place to seek advice.

I'll be leaving for vacation in 2 weeks and be completely off the bike for 12 days. The problem is I am near peak fitness now and will have a 3 day stage race (Tour of the Catskills) about 2 weeks after I return.

Questions are, 1. Should I expect the time off to hurt, help, or make no significant difference 2. Will 2 weeks be enough time to regain fitness when I return? 3. What has helped you stay somewhat fit when on vacation off the bike in the past.

Thanks bunches in advance.

-ap

 

[SolarEnergy]

Well this is far from being an ideal scenario from a planning stand point.

I'd say that it mostly depends on the CTL you managed to put in bank over this season.

This 12 days off, you may consider them as a very bad tapering strategy, but yet still a tapering strategy. So you may expect peak performance to be available during these 12 days (after 4,5, 7 days depending on several factors). Then the fitness will decrease gradually during the remaining days.

Stage race. If you sorted out most of your usual weaknesses (those you've been working on this season, could be Vo2max, FTP, AWC whatever), I mean if you're currently quite satisfied with these component of training, then your performance on this stage race will highly depend on CTL.

So I'd say that after you come back from vacation, I'd use 1 week to get some of the loss CTL back. Then during the other week, a slight taper (depending on fatigue gained during 1st week back from vacation) and that should work (when I write slight, I mean very slight, since you shouldn't have that much ATL to get rid of).

An other way to answer your question is:
Can a rider expect decent performances 3 weeks after having tapered and peaked for his main event? My answer would be yes, given that the CTL in preparation for the Main Event is high enough to bring him all the way to the end of the second event.