KICK BACK TO KICK ON

Autumn is rolling in, the days are getting shorter, and the empty Belgian beer bottles have been swept tidy after a thrilling road World Championships. There are only a few road events left on the calendar, meaning that the off-season is just around the corner. What to do next? The best answer may well be nothing at all. Though you may not feel like you need it, taking an end-of-season break can reap big rewards in the long term. Toiling on through the off-season without a rest is, more often than not, a one-way ticket to burnout and/or overuse problems down the line.

Consider my personal situation. For 11 months of the year, everywhere I go, my bike comes with me. I’m a full-time cyclist living most of the year in Girona in the north-east of Spain. Whether it’s a quick trip home to visit my family back in the UK,