So my race season is pretty much done ((Moab Rocks, Gunnison Growler, BCBR, ST6, and Breck Epic). Might do a few things here and there (Gravel, CX??) but for the most part I’m done and need a little rest mentally and physically.
With an unplanned future, what plans do you all do to stay relativity fit and maintain FTP or at least not loose it all. 
Hey @grega,
Congrats on a season well done! 
If you’re at the end of your training cycle for the year I’d recommend first taking a little time off to reflect, and relax. It’s not a bad idea to give your body and mind a little time off and you’ll likely come back with a bigger urge to get back into things anyway. 
Once you’re ready to get back into training again I’d honestly recommend just building a new plan with Plan Builder. Give it as much information as you can, and as your calendar begins to fill in for the next year, do your best to add it in when you can. This will give Plan Builder and Adaptive Training enough time to get the best training prep in place before your next event arrives.
You’ll probably spend a good amount of time back in the Base phases which is important with longer-term periodized training. Don’t worry if your fitness falls back slightly through this part of your training as it’s normal to dip back down a bit after peaking for your target events. By following the plan though, you could peak higher next year than you did this past year! 
It’s really all about balancing your training throughout the year and only doing the really hard, stressful stuff when you need to, otherwise, it’s not always sustainable. Our General Base phases are really well-rounded and you should feel challenged, but not quite in the same way as during a Build or Specialty phase.
Ultimately, I’d say enjoy this time off without much pressure to train for now. Rest up and go ride your bike for fun, but keep it a bit easy if you can, and make sure that if you’re still doing hard work on the bike to take rest weeks when you need them. It’s easy to forget about those when you’re not following a plan, but they’re still necessary! Trust me! 
Enjoy this beautiful part of the year! 
I’ve got the end of my season coming up too (Crit racing) with no real plans of racing at all until next March or so. This would change a bit if I had plans to race through the winter (though maybe not if it was 100% for fun and not performance).
A week after my last race I have a 2 week vacation to Spain planned where my family will rent some bikes for like 4 days but otherwise I’ll have no bike. I might do a little running, some stretching, maybe a hotel gym lift or two. But otherwise it will be a lot of walking and sitting at a cafe with my wife, family, or a book.
Then when I get back I’ll start riding again. No real interval or goals. Just going out, having a rough structure of time/effort. So I’m not smashing every day but also not just noodling. I’ll do MTB than normal, maybe some more group rides, some long rides, etc. After maybe 2-4 weeks or so I might start ramping in some intervals. Start with tempo, extending time, layering in SS, then Threshold, then maybe a VO2 block (last year I did this in January). Then building back up for race season to start.
FTP and VO2 are relatively easy to maintain as long as your volume doesn’t plummet and you touch on some intensity.
So my season ended with a complete thud….had COVID the first week of August and was off the bike for 5 days. Got back on it and then 10 days ago, got dropped by a kidney stone. 2 trips in an ambulance to the ER due to the pain.
Struggled all last week with pain and side effects from all the meds (nausea, constipation, fatigue, etc). Stone still didn’t pass and I had it removed surgically yesterday. Had a stent placed during the procedure that gets removed Friday.
All of which is just in time for me to go to China for a week on the 31st.
Blech.
So my plans are to do nothing structured from now until November 1. Gonna ride the trails as much as possible at whatever pace I feel like and enjoy the fall, colors and cooler temps. Refresh the mind and the body. Come November, we are basically locked to our trainers for the winter and I’ll figure out a plan then.
Brilliant reply, exactly what I was looking for. Thanks for reminding me it’s OK, to not ALWAYS be on a bike…
uggh rough. Mine also ended in a little crash but nothing like you. Hope you heal up quick and stronger than ever. Also, thanks for reminding me its OK to enjoy a few other things that may not include a bike.
Oh gosh… when it rains, it pours 
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I’m sorry, that is certainly a thud. I hope you can rest up over the next ten days and enjoy your time in China!
Exactly what the off-season is for. Enjoy!
Oh no 
I hope you are on the mend now!
Yup…feeling 100x better after the procedure. I could probably hop on the bike now, but I still have a stent in there that will get removed on Friday, so I’m just gonna wait until this weekend.
I am kinda curious if my increased nutrition on the bike this year could have played a role in the formation of the stone….not the cal, necessarily, but maybe the extra electrolytes from all the drink mix. Will definitely ask my urologist on Friday.
I finished my last scheduled race in early July. I just found another small race in mid-November, and might do a more regimented, but shorter training block leading up to it (4-6 weeks). We have a baby due in mid-September, so that will very much be a play-by-ear situation.
During my current ‘down’ time, I’m riding 5 days/wk. Usually 1-2 interval sessions (that I choose), 3-4 endurance rides for 1 hour, and a long ride on the weekend. I generally alternate between a 2 hr and 3.5 hr long ride. During my high volume trainer road polarized program, I’m doing about 1.25-1.5x the overall volume I’m doing now.
I had an FTP detection a couple days ago and was pleased that it suggested my FTP was only 2 watts lower than the 20 minute FTP test I performed at the end of my training block in the last week of June. I’m a relatively new cyclist, so the gains are still coming pretty easy.
For sure. Better safe than sorry!
Definitely worth checking with them that you are striking the balance between potassium and sodium 
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In between plans I have taken time off the bike for a couple of weeks where I might ride 2-4 times a week, but totally unstructured and pretty easy. After that if I don’t have any plan then I just continue to rode unstructured a few days a week before I inevitably have something scheduled.
It’s been so pleasant not having anything scheduled as far as workouts go on the calendar except getting a ride in and maybe exploring some different areas or just doing cafe/brewery rides for fun.