It is the day before the big ride.  100 miles, you’re shooting for a five hour century.  Do you ride the day before or take the day off?

If you’re a runner reading this post, you’re shouting at your screen, “Take the day off, dummy!  You gotta taper!”

If you’re a cyclist and you know how to stack rides, you know that the best thing to do is ride, easy and at a moderate pace.  The second-worst thing you can do is ride hard, and the worst thing you can do is take a day off.

We don’t have to taper in cycling, dear.  It sounds wonderful and lovely but it’s all but entirely unnecessary.  

We rolled out at 7:18 am.  The days are growing shorter again, so we’re starting out a little later to let it brighten up a bit.  There was nothing spectacular or noteworthy about our ride, other than the fact that it was fun…. 

So here I sit, rested and ready to ride.  I’m on my second cup of coffee and I know I’m as ready as I can be to ride my best.  

If I’d have ridden hard yesterday, I would be fighting tight legs for the first ten or 20 miles.  Worse, with a day off, it would take half the day to spin my legs back up.  

I’ve taken two rain off since the beginning of July.  Thankfully, in my world the answer to the question in the title us almost always “To ride, of course.”

Thanks for playing.