So after rearranging my face at 24:12 I put racing on hold while I healed and did other things.

Didn’t want to lose all of my hard gained fitness so kept on with a couple of interval sessions a week which I targeted at hill climbing. A couple of months of vicious hill repeats, mainly single speed saw me claim a long wanted KOM. No racing in sight and other things to do so took my post ‘season’ break early.

3 weeks off – walking, eating, drinking and I’ve lost an astonishing amount of top end.

Previously I’ve always had a big base with limited top end. Seems that moving to top end with a very limited base makes fitness really sensitive to layoffs. I wonder how long it will take to regain………

About 3 weeks.

A couple of decent spin classes will help get it back some top end cardio if thats your thing. I have always found that running also helps the top end, as most of us can get a higher heart rate on a run than on the bike ( unless you live in the mountains)

For the first time in many years i couldnt ride my bike last winter and had effectively 4 months off the bike, i took up trail running as a way of keeping fit. When i got back on the bike i was expecting the worst but lost little or no time on strava compared to peak season even on cat mountain climbs..

3 weeks off – walking, eating, drinking and I’ve lost an astonishing amount of top end.

Same here

Last August I was the strongest I’d ever been. 2 weeks hiking followed by 1 week post-holiday depression and 2 weeks of rain and I couldn’t believe this bike was actually mine and I could ride it at anything like a decent lick.

Still haven’t *quite* got it back. Good luck etc

When running I was told, running once a week is like starting from scratch each time, running twice a week maintains fitness and running 3 or more times a week will get you gains. Ive always applied the same to my biking. For getting it back, 2 or 3 rides a week for a week or so should do it.