The Off-Season Is Dead

By Ric Stern

Last week I wrote about surviving two weeks in the Alps on vacation. Plenty of riding, no structure, lots of coffee and pastries. It was brilliant. But this week I want to talk about what comes next — because for a lot of riders, October means one thing: feet up, bike in the garage, see you in January.

And I think that’s a mistake.

The idea of an off-season has been around forever. The season ends, you take a month off, maybe two, let the body recover, then start base training in December or January. WorldTour pros used to take two or three months off the bike entirely. It was gospel.

Very few riders now disappear completely for two or three months. Even professionals who take a proper postseason break are generally back training relatively quickly. And there’s a good reason: an extended break doesn’t work for everyone. Or, more accurately, it may make sense if you’re a 25-year-old professional who’s just done 80 race days and 18,600 miles (30,000 km) and is completely worn out. It does not make the same sense if you’re a 48-year-old club rider doing eight hours a week who finishes the season feeling a bit tired and fancies a rest.

Here’s the thing. The end of the season isn’t the time to stop. It’s the time to take stock. Sit down — with your coach, a trusted riding mate, or, in the unlikely event you can be truly objective, by yourself — and ask the hard questions. What went well this year? What was OK? What was rubbish?

And this is the important part: unless every answer involves something very specific, like "my sprint was a bit off and I kept finishing 10th instead of in the top five," then whatever you want to fix is going to require you to think carefully about your training. Whether you race, ride gran fondos, want to smash some Strava PRs, drop the others on the group ride, or just get faster — it doesn’t matter. The principle is the same.

Taking an extended break for physical recovery simply isn’t warranted for most of us. Two weeks? Totally fine. Mentally, you might need a break, and that’s a different kettle of fish entirely. But the idea that your body needs a month on the couch to recover from a season of riding your bike a few times a week? That’s not recovery. That’s detraining. And the older you get, the harder it is to claw that fitness back.

Now, none of this means you need to be smashing intense intervals like they’re going out of fashion. That’s not what I’m saying. What I am saying is that there are things you should be doing, right now, that will make next year better than this one.

Start a strength routine. If you don’t have one, start one. Today. Not next week, not in January, now. No excuses. The evidence on strength training for endurance athletes is strong and has been for years. It can improve your power and help you keep riding as you age. If you’re over 40 and not doing any resistance work, you are leaving performance on the table. End of discussion.

Fix your diet. And before you say "my diet’s fine" — no, it probably isn’t. Even if you’re eating plenty of plants, flavonoids, fiber, adequate carbs, and sufficient protein, there is something you can make better. I’m not joking. There always is. Maybe it’s more protein at breakfast. Maybe it’s less alcohol. Maybe it’s actually eating enough on the bike instead of bonking at mile 60 and blaming your legs. Look at it honestly and find the thing.

Look at your training. Even if you’re being coached, now is the time to sit down and review what else can be done. Are you doing enough volume? Too much intensity? Not enough recovery? Is your polarized plan actually polarized, or are you spending every ride in no-man’s-land because you can’t resist chasing Strava segments? Be honest.

Does this mean you need to become obsessive? No. Does it mean you can’t enjoy life? No. Does it mean you can’t do a group ride? Absolutely not.

It’s the consistency of doing these things that matters, along with whether you actually want to improve. If you currently just do the same group rides every week, rarely strength train, don’t fuel properly, and sleep five or six hours a night, then it’s unlikely you’re going to get much faster — at least once you hit a certain level. That doesn’t mean you can never do those things. It’s just the frequency that might need to change.

This is the conversation I have with riders all the time. They tell me they’ve plateaued. They tell me it’s their age. They’re 52 and they’ve "peaked." And when I ask what they’re doing about their strength, their diet, their sleep, their training structure — the answer is usually nothing. They’ve been doing the same thing for five years and wondering why they’re getting the same results.

If you want to improve, you’re a bit bored with staying the same, and you’ve been telling yourself it’s because you’re getting older, then realistically, there’s more you can do. Probably quite a lot more. You don’t have to do any of it. Nobody’s forcing you. Cycling is supposed to be fun, and if you’re happy where you are, then brilliant, crack on and enjoy it.

But if you’re not happy, and you want next year to be different, then the off-season isn’t the time to stop. It’s the time to start.

If you want help with any of this, that’s exactly what MAP: The Build is for. It’s a coach-built training program, updated every four weeks, for £25 (about $33 US) per block. That’s cheaper than a tire. And if you don’t like me — the horror — there are plenty of other decent coaches out there who can help. Unfortunately, there are also some absolutely horrendous ones, so do your homework. But don’t do nothing. Doing nothing is the off-season, and the off-season is dead.

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Ric Stern is founder of CycleCoach and has coached athletes to World Championship gold, Commonwealth medals, and Paralympic podiums across 29 years.