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The cycling year: how to plan twelve months from off-season to peak
Transition, base, build, peak, race: what each block is for, how long it runs for an amateur with one summer goal, and where the neat diagram and the messy year part ways.
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The off-season: how long to rest and what to keep doing
Two to four weeks of light, unstructured riding, one short hard session kept, and not past six. The detraining studies say what you lose, how fast, and which losses are cheap.
Base, build, peak: what each phase changes in your body
Mitochondria and capillaries in base, VO2max and threshold in build, fatigue cleared in the taper. What each phase does, how fast, and why the order is biology rather than tradition.
Cross-training for cyclists: running, skiing and swimming that transfer
Fitness built in another sport reaches the bike through your heart and lungs, not your legs. What the transfer studies say, and how skiing, running and swimming rank.
Training with an injury: what you can keep doing and what to stop
Most cycling injuries leave some training on the table. Keep the intensity in whatever you can still do, load tendons rather than rest them, and rest fully for the few that demand it.
Four hours a week: the most fitness you can get from very little time
At four hours a week the 80/20 rule stops applying and two well-chosen interval sessions do most of the work. What the low-volume studies found, and a week that fits.
Junk miles: what they are and when they aren't
Easy riding is not junk; the fittest riders do most of their hours there. Unplanned medium riding usually is. A three-question test for any ride, and the evidence behind it.
Aerobic threshold: the test you can do on any trainer
Three field methods for finding your aerobic threshold without a lab: the talk test, heart-rate drift over a steady hour, and DFA alpha 1. What each is validated against and how far to trust it.
Standing power: why some riders climb out of the saddle and others can't
Standing adds body weight and upper-body bracing to the pedal stroke, at a cost in oxygen that only pays off near maximal effort or on steep roads. Who it suits, and how to train it.
Consistency beats everything: the evidence for boring training
The strongest predictor of an endurance result is how much of the planned training got done. Why gaps cost more than they look, why the spike after a gap is the enemy, and rules for boring training.
Does your speed in an indoor cycling app actually mean anything?
It is an honest measurement of exactly one thing: how fast your back wheel is spinning. What that is genuinely useful for, why it is not your road speed, and why the hill on screen does not slow you down when you ride on speed alone.
Why you stopped getting faster
For two years cycling gives you progress for free. Then one spring it stops. The six causes of a plateau in roughly the order they turn out to be the answer — and the uncomfortable sixth one, which is that you may be measuring the wrong thing.
How long should your intervals be?
Which intervals are best is the wrong question, in a specific and fixable way: length and intensity are one choice, not two. What each duration actually trains, how to pick by what your event demands, and how to progress a session that got easy.
Training camps: the week is only half of it
The most enjoyable training an amateur can do, and one of the most frequently wasted. A sensible day-by-day shape, how much volume is actually sensible, and the fortnight afterwards that decides whether any of it counted.
The training diary still beats the dashboard
Your files record what you did, how hard and for how long. What none of it knows is why Thursday collapsed. Six fields worth keeping, thirty seconds a day, and what a season of them lets you see that no metric will.
Training young riders: the principles worth holding
The area of cycling where confident advice does the most damage. Three broad stages, four things to get right, and why the only goal that matters is whether they still want to ride at 25.
Your FTP went down. Six reasons, and only one of them is fitness
Same trainer, same test, twelve watts lower. Before you rewrite the plan: a lower test result usually is not lost fitness. The six causes in order of how often they turn out to be the answer, and the five-minute check that tells you which.
Ramp rate: how fast you can add training load without breaking
Every rider who discovers load tracking tries to make the number go up as fast as possible, and a few weeks later is ill. The conventional bands, what actually sets your own limit, and why a build that never comes down is not a build.
Block periodisation: one signal at a time
Five hard sessions in a week, then two weeks of quiet. A sharper tool with a narrower handle than the standard mixed week — genuinely better for some riders, genuinely worse for others. Which one you are, and the week-two mistake that wastes the whole block.
Sprint work for riders who are not sprinters
Most amateur plans have a hole at the top end, usually because the rider decided they are not a sprinter. Four sessions, why the rests are far longer than feels reasonable, and the one setting you must turn off to do these indoors.
Reverse periodisation: intensity in winter, miles in summer
The traditional cycling year came from professionals in mild climates with unlimited time. For an amateur in a northern winter with a job, it can be exactly backwards — and there is a coherent alternative that says so.
Durability: why your power at hour four is the number that matters
Two riders with identical FTPs can be 55 watts apart four hours into a sportive. That gap has a name — durability — and no fresh test will ever show it to you. How to measure your own, and the training that actually builds it.
Over-unders: the interval that teaches you to ride through lactate
The session that turns "I blew on the third climb" into "I was there at the top" — and one of the most frequently botched workouts in cycling. Four versions in order of difficulty, and the four ways riders ruin them.
30/30s: the shortest intervals that still build your ceiling
Thirty seconds hard, thirty seconds easy, twenty times. Microintervals chase the same adaptation as five-minute VO2max efforts by a route most riders can actually finish — provided you get the first three reps right.
Aerobic decoupling: what the Pw:HR number on your ride actually means
The closest thing you have to a free aerobic test, taken on every long ride at no extra cost. How to read it, what counts as a clean measurement, and the five things that make it lie to you.
Three zones, five or seven? Which model to actually use
Open three training books and you get three zone systems. They are not competing discoveries about the body — they are filing systems, and you want more than one. Which to use for the week, the session and the top end.
How to build a cycling training plan around a full-time job
You don't need 12-hour weeks to get properly fast — you need the right 6–8 hours, placed where your life can actually hold them. Here's how to anchor a working week around two quality sessions and one long ride, what to cut first when work explodes, and why a plan that adapts beats a plan that's perfect.
How many TSS per week do you actually need?
TSS puts one number on how much training you've done — but how much is enough, and when does more stop helping? Realistic weekly ranges by rider level, the ramp-rate rule that keeps you improving without breaking, and why chasing the number corrupts the training it's meant to measure.
Zone 2 training on a smart trainer: how to actually stay in zone
Everyone agrees Zone 2 builds the engine — and almost nobody actually rides it, because outdoors every junction, hill and ego bump pulls you out of zone. On a smart trainer with ERG mode the discipline problem disappears. How to set the right watts, manage drift, and make 90 steady minutes genuinely bearable.
What your power curve says about you: sprinter, puncheur or diesel?
Your best 5 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes and 20 minutes tell a story your FTP alone can't: what kind of rider you actually are. How to read your own power-duration curve, the signature shapes of sprinters, puncheurs, diesels and climbers — and when to train your weakness versus doubling down on your strength.
Indoor training with heart rate only (no power meter, no problem)
No power meter, no smart trainer — just a heart-rate strap? You can still train properly. How to find your threshold heart rate with one honest 30-minute test, set five zones from it, structure a week around what HR measures well, and work around what it doesn't (lag, drift and hot rooms).
Heat training indoors: the performance boost hiding in your pain cave
Your trainer room is accidentally a heat chamber — and used deliberately, carefully and only on easy days, heat adaptation can raise plasma volume and buy trained riders a real aerobic bump. The protocols, the schedule before a hot event, and the safety rules that are not optional.
How long does it take to get cycling fit? A realistic timeline
Two weeks until rides stop feeling awful, six to eight until the numbers move, a season until club runs feel comfortable, years until the engine matures. An honest milestone-by-milestone timeline of cycling fitness — what genuinely speeds it up, what doesn't, and why coming back is faster than starting.
Cycling cadence: does it actually matter? What the science says
The internet is full of one true cadence — the research says your legs already found theirs. What the science honestly shows about self-selected cadence, when deliberate high or low RPM work genuinely helps, the typical ranges by situation, and the drills worth folding into an easy hour.
How to train indoors: turning trainer time into real fitness
An hour on the trainer can be worth ninety minutes on the road — or completely wasted. Here's how to structure indoor sessions so every minute you spend in the pain cave counts.
Winter training for cyclists: how to come out of winter faster than you went in
Winter is when next season is won or lost. Here's a month-by-month indoor-first plan that keeps you fit through the dark months without burning out by February.
8 indoor cycling workouts that actually make you faster
Sweet spot, over-unders, VO2 max, sprints and more — eight proven trainer sessions written out rep by rep, with what each one builds and when to use it.
Why your indoor FTP is lower (and what to do about it)
Most riders push noticeably less power indoors than out. Heat is the main culprit — here's the physiology, how big the gap usually is, and how to close most of it.
Why every cyclist should lift weights (and how to start)
Strength work won't make you bulky or slow — it makes you fatigue later, hold position longer and break fewer bones. Six movements, twice a week, and how to fit them around your riding.
VO2 max for cyclists: what it is, and how to actually raise it
It's the ceiling your whole engine sits under — and it responds fast, then fades fast. Four proven sessions, how often to run them, and what to watch instead of a lab number.
The 15-minute core routine every cyclist should be doing
A strong trunk stops your hips rocking, stops power leaking sideways and keeps your lower back quiet in hour three. Six exercises, no equipment, twice a week.
Sleep is the training session you're not doing
You don't get fitter while you train — you get fitter while you recover, and the biggest block of recovery in your week is the one you spend unconscious. Here's how to protect it.
Cooling down and stretching: what actually helps, honestly
The evidence is far less conclusive than the folklore. Here's what a cool-down genuinely does, what stretching is and isn't good for, and the six stretches worth ten minutes after a ride.
Breathing on the bike: the skill nobody teaches you
It won't add watts to your FTP, but it will change how hard an effort feels and whether you stay composed. Five drills, four habits to unlearn, and why position is half the problem.
Your pedal stroke: what's worth working on, and what to ignore
“Pedal in circles” is some of the most repeated advice in cycling — and the evidence doesn't support it. Here's what each part of the stroke really does, and four drills that help.
Fitness, Fatigue and Form: reading your training load without overthinking it
Three numbers explain almost everything about your training — whether you're building, digging a hole, or ready to fly. Here's how Fitness, Fatigue and Form work, in plain English.
FTP explained: what it is, how to test it, and how to actually raise it
FTP is the single most useful number in cycling — it sets your zones, tracks your fitness and shapes every workout. Here's what it means, how to measure it, and how to push it higher.
Sweet spot, threshold or polarized: which training method actually works for you?
Three training philosophies, endless internet arguments. Here's what sweet spot, threshold and polarized actually mean — and how to pick the one that fits your hours, your goals and your life.
Base miles aren't dead: how to build an aerobic engine over winter
Long, steady, unglamorous riding is still the foundation everything else is built on. Here's why base matters, how much you really need, and how to make winter miles count.
Recovery is training: sleep, easy days, and why rest makes you faster
You don't get fitter when you train — you get fitter when you recover from it. Here's how sleep, easy days and rest turn hard work into actual speed.
How to pace a climb with power (and stop blowing up halfway)
Everyone goes out too hard on the big climb. Here's how to use power (or feel) to pace a climb from bottom to top so you finish strong instead of cracking.
Polarized vs pyramidal training: what elite cyclists actually do
Eighty-twenty is the most quoted number in endurance training, and the studies behind it are messier and more interesting than the slogan. What elite riders' training actually looks like, and how little separates the two models in practice.
HRV for cyclists: is it worth tracking, and how to use it
Heart rate variability is a real physiological signal wrapped in a lot of noise. What it measures, how to record it so the number means something, and what HRV-guided training trials have and haven't shown.
Overtraining vs overreaching: how to tell the difference before it costs you months
Planned overreaching makes you faster. True overtraining syndrome can take a season. The difference is mostly time — here's what separates them, what markers are worth watching, and the honest limits of self-diagnosis.
How to test your FTP without a 20-minute test
Ramp tests, eight-minute protocols, critical power from three efforts, or simply reading it off your ride data. How each method works, how far it lands from a true hour of pain, and which suits you.
Critical Power vs FTP: which number should you train with?
FTP is a practical estimate. Critical Power is a physiological boundary with decades of laboratory work behind it. Where the two agree, where they diverge, and which one your training zones should hang off.
W′ and anaerobic capacity: the battery above threshold explained
Everything you do above Critical Power spends from a finite tank, and that tank refills at a knowable rate. What W′ is, what a typical value looks like, and how it explains why the fourth attack is the one that drops you.
Do long slow rides still work? The evidence for volume
Intervals get the attention, but the adaptations that make a cyclist durable come mostly from time. What the research says about volume, why low intensity isn't wasted time, and how short a long ride can usefully be.
How many hard days a week can you handle?
Two or three, for almost everybody — and the reason is recovery kinetics rather than willpower. What moves your personal ceiling, and the signs that you've been over it for a few weeks without noticing.
Detraining: how fast you lose fitness (and how fast it comes back)
Two weeks off costs less than most riders fear, and eight weeks costs more than they hope. A week-by-week look at what actually declines — blood volume, enzymes, muscle — and how quickly it returns.
Big-gear, low-cadence work: strength on the bike, or just slow?
Fifty rpm up a climb in a gear you can barely turn feels like it must be building something. What torque intervals actually train, what the evidence says about transfer to real power, and the knee-load caution nobody puts in the session description.
Training with a heart rate monitor only: a complete guide
Heart rate is the most misread number in cycling — it lags, it drifts, and it moves with heat, sleep and caffeine. How to set zones properly, and where heart rate beats power rather than merely substituting for it.
Lactate threshold explained: LT1, LT2 and what they mean for your zones
There are two thresholds, not one, and lactate is a fuel rather than a waste product. What a lactate test actually measures, and how the two turning points map onto the training zones you already use.
Strength training for cyclists: sets, reps and when in the season
Heavy or explosive, how many sets, and where it goes in a week that already contains intervals. The programming detail behind the evidence that lifting makes cyclists faster — including the interference effect.
VLamax: the number that explains why two riders with the same FTP race differently
Your glycolytic ceiling is the other half of your metabolic profile, and it points in the opposite direction to your aerobic one. What VLamax is, how it is measured, what high and low mean on the road — and why it is far less validated than the coaching talk suggests.
Cycling as you age: what changes after 40, 50 and 60
Maximum heart rate falls, recovery slows and muscle needs defending — but the decline in trained riders is roughly half what it is in the sedentary. What changes decade by decade, and what training protects most.
Menstrual cycle and cycling training: what the research actually shows
Phase-based training plans are sold with far more confidence than the evidence supports. An honest read of a genuinely weak literature — and the things that are well established, from iron status to energy availability.
Cycling economy: why the same watts cost two riders different amounts
Two riders hold 250 watts; one is burning noticeably more oxygen to do it. Gross efficiency sits between roughly 18 and 24%, it is largely not trainable, and it decides more about a five-hour day than any interval session will.
Fast twitch, slow twitch: what fibre type means for how you should train
You cannot know your own fibre composition without a needle, the proxies people use are rough, and "train to your type" is weaker advice than it sounds. What is genuinely established about fibre types, and the handful of training decisions it should actually change.
The grey zone: is riding at 'medium' really wasted training?
"Junk miles" is the most repeated idea in amateur cycling and one of the least examined. Where the polarised argument came from, what those studies actually compared, and the case for tempo that the slogan quietly throws away.
Altitude training for amateur cyclists: what actually transfers to sea level
The hypoxic dose that moves haemoglobin mass is bigger and longer than most riders imagine, a third of people barely respond at all, and low iron makes the whole exercise pointless. What a two-week mountain holiday can and cannot do for you.
Lifting and riding in the same week: the interference effect, honestly
The molecular argument against doing both sounds decisive and mostly fails to show up in trained cyclists. Which direction the interference actually runs, how much separation matters, and a weekly template that stops the two from fighting.
Beyond TSS: TRIMP, hrTSS and session RPE compared
Four ways to put one number on a ride, and they disagree most exactly where it matters — the long easy day and the short savage one. What each metric systematically over- and under-values, and which to trust when.
The cyclist's bone problem: why riding alone doesn't build a skeleton
Road cycling is one of the few endurance sports associated with low bone mineral density, and the mechanism is not mysterious. Why unloaded exercise plus sweat losses plus under-eating compounds, and the short list of things that reverse it.
Repeated sprint ability: why the fifth effort is the one that matters
Nobody wins a race on their first sprint. What determines how little you lose across repeated maximal efforts, why the answer is largely aerobic, and how to train the thing that lets a sprinter sprint twice.
RPE: the cheapest, most underrated measurement in cycling
A number you say out loud after a ride tracks training load about as well as a power meter does, and catches things power cannot see — heat, illness, the fatigue you have been ignoring. How to calibrate your own scale so it means something.
Morning or evening: does the time you train change what you get?
Peak power really is higher in the late afternoon, and the effect is much smaller than the effect of actually doing the session. What circadian rhythm does to performance, and why the honest answer is "whenever you will keep turning up".
Ice baths after riding: recovery, or throwing away your adaptation?
Cold water genuinely restores short-term function, and there is reasonable evidence it dulls the long-term adaptation you trained for. The resolution is not "never" — it is knowing which of those two you need this week.
Testing your own lactate: what a meter tells you that power can't
A finger-prick and a €200 analyser can find the two thresholds your power meter only estimates. Designing a step test that gives comparable numbers, the errors that quietly ruin one, and whether you actually need this.
Coming back from COVID or flu: a return-to-training ladder
The neck check is a useful rule of thumb and a poor guide to a viral illness that can involve the heart. The graduated return-to-play frameworks written for athletes, the symptoms that mean a doctor rather than a ride, and a realistic ladder back.
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