The “easy” ride that ruins your week
May 20, 2026 12:06 pm
I had a comment on one of my posts this week that got me thinking.
Someone asked:
“What’s harder, a 30-minute ride in Zone 4 or a 7-hour ride in Zone 2?”
And naturally, most cyclists would probably say the Zone 4 ride.
Because Zone 4 feels hard.
Your breathing is heavier.
Your legs are burning.
You’re pushing close to threshold.
You know you’re working.
Whereas Zone 2?
That’s supposed to be “easy,” right?
We’re always told to do more easy rides.
Keep the heart rate down.
Build the aerobic base.
Ride at a conversational pace.
And that’s all true.
But there’s one thing a lot of cyclists don’t factor in enough…
Duration.
A 30-minute Zone 4 ride might give you a Training Peaks stress score of around 50.
But a 7-hour Zone 2 ride?
That could be closer to 300.
So even though one ride feels harder in the moment, the other one can create far more total stress on the body.
And this is where a lot of cyclists over 40 get caught out.
They don’t ride much during the week because work is busy, sleep is poor, travel gets in the way, or life just takes over.
Then the weekend comes…
And they head out for a 4, 5, or 6-hour group ride at a “comfortable” pace.
It feels productive.
It feels like they’re building fitness.
And to be fair, there are benefits.
But then Monday comes around and their legs are cooked.
Tuesday, they still feel flat.
Wednesday, they skip the planned session.
By Thursday, they’re trying to squeeze something in.
And before they know it, the week has no structure.
Then they repeat the same thing again at the weekend.
This is why it’s not enough to just ask:
“Was the ride easy or hard?”
You also need to ask:
“How much total stress did that ride place on my body?”
Because your body doesn’t only care about intensity.
It also cares about time.
And it also cares about everything else going on in your life.
Work stress.
Poor sleep.
Young children.
Long hours.
Travel.
Nutrition.
Recovery.
All of that adds to the total load.
So that “easy” Zone 2 ride might not be so easy when it wipes you out for the rest of the week.
The goal isn’t to avoid long rides.
The goal is to make sure they fit into the bigger picture.
If your aim is to improve your FTP, climb better, stop getting dropped on group rides, lose weight, or ride stronger over 40, then your training needs to be balanced.
Not just hard for the sake of being hard.
Not just long for the sake of being long.
But structured in a way that helps you progress without constantly feeling knackered.
That’s exactly what we help cyclists with inside Cycle Lean Coaching.
We help you understand the stress you’re putting through your body, build a proper structure around your week, and make your training fit your life, so you can ride stronger, get leaner, and enjoy your cycling more.
So if you’re stuck in weekend-warrior mode…
Doing one big ride, feeling wiped out, then struggling to train properly for the rest of the week…
Neil