I know that when I was doing karate I had a similar experience to Hollytron. After about 12 years or so of consistent and slowly increasing amount of practice I was forced to take an extended break and when I came back there were a number of things that I had been doing that were no longer as automatic as before (things I previously did without thinking). In many cases that meant I had to rebuild useful skills that I had lost, but in some cases that meant that I was able to avoid rebuilding bad habits that I had also lost. There was a certain intentionality to my efforts which allowed me to not do things I had previously known not to do, but had been unable to prevent due to them being so ingrained as to be unconscious.
With mountain biking, life happened and i didn't ride for 10 years or so. I can confidently say that was too long for any benefit, it was pretty much just a bunch of lost skills, lost fitness, and getting older. So I'm sure there's a reasonable amount of time where a break is useful, and more is too much. 10 years is definitely too much.
Sept. 22, 2021, 3:14 p.m. - shenzhe
I know that when I was doing karate I had a similar experience to Hollytron. After about 12 years or so of consistent and slowly increasing amount of practice I was forced to take an extended break and when I came back there were a number of things that I had been doing that were no longer as automatic as before (things I previously did without thinking). In many cases that meant I had to rebuild useful skills that I had lost, but in some cases that meant that I was able to avoid rebuilding bad habits that I had also lost. There was a certain intentionality to my efforts which allowed me to not do things I had previously known not to do, but had been unable to prevent due to them being so ingrained as to be unconscious. With mountain biking, life happened and i didn't ride for 10 years or so. I can confidently say that was too long for any benefit, it was pretty much just a bunch of lost skills, lost fitness, and getting older. So I'm sure there's a reasonable amount of time where a break is useful, and more is too much. 10 years is definitely too much.