Dale started riding his bike for fun and to improve his fitness about 7 years ago. The key to his success was finding the training which worked best for him and then applying it. Developing your own program does require some trial and error along with a good dose of patience. These programs work best if you are honest with yourself and adjust your training accordingly. He quickly found out this was only a short-term fix.
Rest is the most important part of training.
Without rest you cannot recover, and without recovery you will never close the distance between you and the next guy. So Dale learned how to rest and his results became more consistent. He knew when to expect good days and bad days. Rest means different things to different people. For most it is either no riding or very little activity.