Make a Training Plan. The first step for a training plan is to make sure you are in good health and able to do the necessary physical training to prepare for the Recovery Ride.

Start by riding shorter distances. If you are new, or new again to riding a bicycle, start by riding only a few miles on mostly flat terrain. Increase your mileage in small increments, and gradually introduce more challenging terrain as you continue to ride. Midway through your training, you should be riding on the open road to get the feel of riding with traffic. We recommend one or two rides a week at the beginning of the season, including one long ride, at your pace speed. This is the speed that you can ride comfortably for long distances, and this will build your base endurance. One to two rides per week should be shorter and ridden at a brisk pace. 

You should be able to ride about 70 miles by the end of August 2026.  Be sure to do several back-to-back rides in June and July to get your body accustomed to riding on consecutive days. It is important to do most of your training on the bike that you will use on the event. However, you can exchange an hour of ride time for an hour of working out. Any activity will keep your body ready for more miles on the bike.

And don't forget to take some rest days. While it is important that you invest a good amount of time in training, it is equally important that you give your body a chance to recover between workouts. Take a minimum of one or two days off per week to avoid burnout, overtraining and injury. You will probably find that by taking one or two days off per week, you come back to your bike feeling refreshed and energized.

Your last big weekend of training should be a full week before the Recovery Ride begins. You should scale back the last week prior to the ride. Get plenty of rest, drink lots of water, and make sure that you are eating a well-balanced diet. Your body needs this downtime to gear up for the big weekend ahead!

Here are a couple of other things to keep in mind while training that can make training more enjoyable:

The best training is to spend time on your bike riding. Nothing will prepare you better than actually riding your bike. It is important to experience the feel of the road, the bumps, the wind, the traffic, stopping, mounting and dismounting. It's also the best way to toughen and train that posterior region. There is no cross training that will help condition that area like time in the saddle.

Cross-training is a great addition to your training program and has its own benefits. It is recommended that you introduce variety to your total training program. There may be times that the weather won't allow you out on the road to train, or quite frankly, you just need a change of scenery. In those cases, choose an activity that is aerobic (gets your heart rate up). Most importantly, make it something different that you'll enjoy.

Here are some cross-training examples:

The Recovery Ride is a 2-day 180-mile ride. We want nothing more than for all the riders to enjoy their ride and complete as many miles each day as they would wish. In order to complete the ride without health challenges, you must prepare by training. Not only on your bike, but also in preparing your core strength and muscle length. Note that if any movement is painful, you should stop doing that stretch/exercise and seek medical assistance for guidance. Pain is your body sending you a message and you must translate that through either experience or a medical professional.

Why Stretch & Strengthen?

‍Having a good range of motion prevents your muscles from tightening on the long days on your bike. Tightened muscles and a limited range of motion will limit your ability to enjoy the act of riding your bike. Every person's body is unique, and your range of motion is something that you have to determine, but stretching is the best thing you can do to give yourself the greatest opportunity for a fun and safe ride. STRETCH EVERY TIME YOU RIDE. It is also recommended that you have good core strength to maintain a healthy riding posture all day on your bike. Otherwise, your core muscles will begin to let you down. As muscles fatigue, the body builds work-around patterns to continue pushing to reach your goals. These work-around patterns use secondary muscles to do the work of primary muscles and they can't do that without causing more pain and tension in muscles and joints.

When to Stretch

Stretching before exercise is a good general practice. However, the stretches that make the largest difference in your program will be those done after exercise. 

When the muscles are hot, like after exercise, they will stretch with less resistance and retain their new length much more efficiently than after a light warm-up or when cold. Stretching after exercise helps to avoid muscle soreness and directs the muscle repair systems in the body to strengthen the connective tissue of the muscles stretched. During training, the most important time to stretch is post-ride & at breaks. 

Throughout the event in November, you should stretch every morning, at every rest stop & at the end of the day when you arrive at your destination.

How Far to Take a Stretch

Stretching should never be painful. Only go far enough to feel "the edge of discomfort," no further. If you're trying a new stretch and you don't feel the target muscle stretching, review your instructions and try again with careful attention to the details of form.

How Long to Hold Each Stretch

The Golden Rule of stretching is to always hold a stretch for at least 30 seconds. If you are having problems with a muscle group, hold all stretches for that group one full minute.

Symmetry

Please honor your body's natural goal of symmetry and stretch both sides of the body evenly with each stretch performed.

Injury Prevention 

Most training or overuse injuries can be prevented by following a proper training program. Be sure to warm up and stretch those muscles before you use them in a workout. And don't forget to stretch them again once you are finished. Most of the injuries that require treatment throughout the event are related to knees, feet, ankles, tendons and muscle groups. To a lesser degree, we see sore necks and backs and some hand numbness. All of these are totally avoidable.

The single most important thing you can do to prevent most of these injuries is to have your bike professionally fit to you. An improper seat height alone can create havoc on knees, legs and Achilles. These types of injuries don't just happen during one day of riding. It is the repetitive nature of cycling on an improperly fit bike that creates the injury. So one day you could be fine and the next day your knee is sore. Your body is resilient and will try to heal itself until pushed beyond its own limits.

Do not push yourself past your own ability or endurance level. Riding with someone who is slightly faster or more skilled than you can be just the thing to help push you gently to that next level of performance.

However, trying to keep up with a much faster cyclist will only serve to frustrate your cycling psyche and put your body at risk for overuse or over-performance injury. Your knees will be the first part of your body to let you know this wasn't a good idea. The injuries that could occur will most likely stop you from continuing your training while you heal. That's valuable time lost that you won't get back.