The cycling season is a long one. Even if you manage rest by taking a rest week every fourth week and take a couple 3 day to 7 day rest periods throughout the season you will likely arrive to September/ October mentally and physically fatigued. If you did not arrive to this period exhausted congratulations! I would still recommend taking some sort of break in order to perform at your best during the next racing season. What an end of season break consists of differs from rider to rider.
Pro riders put in a ton of hard work and travel every week or two for races. Pros also have years and years of base behind them. For a pro I feel 2-3 weeks completely off the bike and resting is the best approach in order to have a super next season. For new riders (riders who have been training for less than 5 years) I take a different approach. Cutting volume to 33%-50% and cutting interval volume to 25%-33% for 2-3 weeks will suffice. The new rider has less aerobic base, so 2-3 weeks completely off can take 6 months to rebuild, where it will take a pro a few weeks to 2 months to be near their top level again. For the rider I recently helped take a bunch of short Strava KOMs we concluded that his sprint Strava war was an appropriate end of season break.
The end of season break will differ from rider to rider, but no matter what your goals are for next year it is best to take a break before beginning training. You want to arrive at your new training cycle physically fresh and wanting to crush your next goal. If you are not physically and mentally ready you won't be able to get the most out of yourself.
