The Kawartha Classic is 10 days away. I’m beginning to think about tapering.
I used to think tapering meant rest for a week beforehand. That was wrong. You can lose fitness, and focus. No. Tapering means reducing both the intensity and duration of your workouts beforehand. How early. Well that depends on your fitness level, event duration, and recovery capabilities. For me, I think in weekly cycles, so I’ll taper for 5-6 days before the event.
It’s also a little different for me this event. I need to drive to the event, and I don’t have a car. I’ll need to rent one, and the nearest rental location is 60 km in the opposite direction. My plan is to do a 75 km ride on the Sunday preceding the event. Rest Monday. Strength train Tuesday. Cycle to the car rental location on Wednesday at 75-80 effort. And, on Thursday and Friday rest, carbo load some, stretch a bit, cycle to the golf course, and play a round of golf.
That’s the tapering plan.
PedalWORKS 
Sounds like a good plan and I agree, tapering doesn’t mean doing nothing. I typically ride a couple days the week of a big weekend ride and like you, do some core work and other fun stuff – hiking for me. Not into golf.