If anything FAA regulations for recreational pilots can be absurdly lax. You can get a private pilot certificate with iirc 25 hours of flight if you go to a flight school in the middle of nowhere, and as far as the FAA is concerned as soon as you pass your flight test you can go transition SFO airspace at 1000 feet that same day (I have done this).

You can go 20 years without touching an aircraft, and as long as you have a valid medical, a flight instructor can give you a 1 hour checkout flight and do 3 landings and you're officially a fully current pilot.

Some people refer to the first 100 flight hours after you receive your first license as the 'death zone' because the pilot is generally so unprepared that even a minor problem becomes life threatening.