Are you thinking about your next cycling challenge - but are worried about having the time to train? Then worry no more!

Dyll Davies, founder and director at Viva Velo Cycle Tours and an expert in creating challenging cycling experiences also knows a thing or two about helping his clients prepare for them.

My name is Dyll Davies and five years ago I founded Viva Velo Cycle Tours on the principle that cycling should be fun for all.  Having got the cycling bug after completing a 500 mile charity ride, I know only too well the journey that can lead from starting cycling to cycling seriously.  I believe passionately that many who might want to make that journey feel intimidated from developing their cycling by the perception that ‘everyone out there is far more serious/faster/better/fitter than me.’  And even when that hurdle is overcome they are prevented from achieving other challenges because they simply don’t think they’ll be able to get fit enough!  I love helping people achieve their goals, and push their boundaries wherever they are in their cycling ’career’ and it is the main reason I so love my job. 

The following training tips are designed to help the average weekend cyclist prepare for a cycling challenge.  The ideas are distilled from my own experience in training to be a ride leader as well in achieving my own cycling goals.  I know they work because they have been tried and tested by me and many others.  They are not exclusive by any means but are intended to help those with busy lives train as best they can.  There is plenty of other advice out there that you can find but sometimes it helps to refine all that information into something a bit more simple to get you started.  This guide along with the accompanying 7 Week Training Programme which you can also download is there to do just that: get you started; and show you that even with just a few hours available each week you can, with the right focus, achieve improvements in your levels of fitness which will help you attain your broader cycling goals - whether that be cycling from London to Brighton, London to Paris, Land’s End to John O’Groats or something more exotic.  I hope the following pages will inspire you to kick start you cycling season just like the hundreds of clients we serve each year - some of whose great feedback you can see in this guide.  Happy cycling!

TIP ONE - BE REALISTIC

It’s great to be ambitious.  It’s great to push yourself.  Setting the bar high is probably instinctive for you but if you devise a fitness programme that isn’t realistic you are likely to be disappointed with the results.  Tip one is therefore to give yourself some room for manoeuvre by setting training goals that are achievable given the time available to you.  This starts with the challenge you may have set yourself.  Only you know how fit you are when you make this choice and how much time you have to train so don’t decide to ride the Maratona or Etape or join your mates on a 6 day tour through the Pyrenees if you don’t think you will have enough time to put the required training in.

How many Hours a week?

How many hours a week can you afford?  It’s no good in the first flush of enthusiasm for your chosen cycling adventure committing yourself to getting up at 5 every morning to sit on the turbo trainer or lap your local park if in reality it’s going to be dark (and/or wet and cold).  By being honest about the time you have available to train you are more likely to be able to complete each scheduled session and you can plan to maximise that time to get the most benefit to your overall goal which is to be fit enough to complete your event or tour.  If you are uncertain about scheduling a session then add it as an optional session in your plan.  This way you won’t feel guilty if you miss it due to a work meeting overrunning but will feel super virtuous if time allows you to complete it.  These optional sessions are bonuses and we will not be looking to include them in the overall master plan.

something is better than nothing

And don’t beat yourself up.  You’ve planned an hour and a half on the turbo but the train home is delayed and it means you can’t possibly squeeze in the whole session.  Don’t worry.  Remember something is better than nothing.  It might be only half-an hour with 20 minutes hard work but it’s better than not doing the session at all.  Make a note to try and add a bit to another session later that week or the next but don’t just abandon the session.  You’ll feel better even for that half an hour, both mentally and physically.  You are now ready to write your training programme.  What follows is applicable to everyone, not just those with limited time available to train.

TIP TWO - BUY AN INDOOR TRAINER

It’s a no-brainer

If you already have one then you can skip to Tip Three.  If not then this is a no-brainer.  If you are training for an event in the summer you are probably going to have to start in the depths of winter and even if the weather is kind, if you are short of time you are going to need to squeeze in some training in the evenings or early mornings – or if you work from home some days - maybe even at lunchtime.  While being a member of a gym is an alternative – and some people find the discipline of actually going to a gym helps them stick to a plan – the time saved by having an indoor trainer set up in the spare room which you can hop on in a matter of minutes is also a significant plus – not to mention a much cheaper option!

How much will it cost?

And indeed you don’t have to spend a fortune either.   As long as you have a bike computer which measures watts or heart rate you just need resistance and you can buy this for less than £100.  In fact if you are training with power, I would argue that some of the more sophisticated turbo trainers which offer a reading of watts produced, can often be inaccurate and if you are mixing indoor training with road riding it makes sense to measure your power with the same device on both if at all possible.

This small investment will save you hours.  For sure, turbo training can be boring but you can subscribe to something like Zwift or Bkool if you really want and this certainly makes it more interesting.  Even something like Trainer Road, which might be a bit cheaper, gives you motivation and keeps things fresh.  You will only be using the indoor trainer as part of your programme so overall you should be able to keep things fresh.

SWEAT, SWEAT and sweat

And one final tip if you have not used a turbo before.  Buy a mat for it to stand on and a fan.  This will save your spare room floor from the inevitable ‘dampness’ you’ll produce and the fan will make things a bit more bearable.  You can also buy covers for your bike handlebars and stem and this will prevent potential internal corrosion.  In total you may spend around £200 but the time you save will make it a great investment.

TIP THREE - WRITE YOUR PLAN DOWN

Obvious really.  But some folk are tempted to free form their training.  Don’t!  Writing a plan out is essential.  You are far more likely to stick to something you have committed to paper or written into an online app like Training Peaks than a plan you have committed to only in your head.  Again this sounds obvious but along with being honest and realistic you do have to be disciplined and committed and committing your plan to paper, either literally or electronically, will help you stick to it.

Track your training

It is also important to track your training.  You can do this manually by adding notes after each session, scoring your perceived effort and adding any additional comments you think might be helpful.  You can also add training numbers (power and heart rate) for each session which will help you see the improvement you are making and motivate you to keep to your plan.   Online apps make this much easier and there are free options available and relatively cheap subscriptions services too, like Training Peaks and Today’s Plan.  In general anything you can do to ensure you hit your training goals by sticking to your plan is fair game.  There is nothing more motivating than seeing your planned session turn green in your training app, seeing your fitness curve rising on Strava ‘fitness and freshness’ and then seeing that translated on the road. So get out a pen or your laptop and create yourself a plan.  But what to put in it?

TIP FOUR - MAKE IT COUNT - THE 80/20 RULE

What is the 80/20 Rule?

You may have heard of the 80/20 rule.  If so then what we are about to say will not be complete news to you although how we apply it may be.  If not – and the majority of cyclists who come on our tours haven’t – this rule will help you get what we call ‘bang for your training buck’.  Many cyclists spend hours disobeying this rule and while their efforts will not be decreasing their fitness they could be training much more efficiently.  Broadly the 80/20 rule (or sometimes the 75/25 rule) is a guide to how much of your time on the bike or turbo is spent making those big efforts (20-25% of the time) and how much is spent riding at a lower effort level (75-80% of the time).

and why is it important?

The reason the 80/20 rule is important if you are a time-poor trainer is that it allows you to focus your limited time on getting the most bang for your training buck.  To be more specific, if you are using a power meter or heart rate monitor, it means 20-25% of your training time should be spent riding around 90% of Functional Threshold Power (FTP) or around 85-90% of Maximum Heart Rate otherwise known as ‘sweet spot’ which we’ll explain below.  The remaining 75-80% of your training is then spent in what would normally be referred to as Zone 2, riding at 55-75% FTP power or 60-70% of MHR.  If you are riding on feel, that is 20-25% of your training riding at an effort level where talking is not ideal, and the rest of your time at a pace you feel you can ride all day.  You can find more details on defining effort levels below.   Most cyclists spend too much time in the ‘Goldilocks zone’: riding neither too hard or too easily to really maximise their training benefit and time.

what are BASE MILES?

Traditionally training has been structured to start with base training in Zone 2 in autumn and winter with higher intensity sessions being introduced later.  Low intensity Zone 2 ‘base miles’ will teach your body to burn fat as a fuel source and encourage your body to produce more mitochondria which are the power plants of your muscles and process lactic acid.  While pros might spend five or six hours on such a ride it is possible to achieve good results in just a two or three hours - but you must be disciplined and stick to the zone. As we have said, traditional training methods involve long zone two efforts for the first months of any training programme with higher intensity session being added as the weather warms up.  There is nothing wrong with this approach but for the time poor trainer we believe you can use the same principle but in a slightly different way.

In order to do this you must understand your effort levels.  If you are already acquainted with ‘training zones’ then you can skip to the next section.  If not read on.

Effort levels and how to find them

Your starting point is to do an initial test to determine your ‘FTP’ or Functional Threshold Power, or LTHR or Lactate Threshold Heart Rate.  Don’t worry overmuch about the terminology just understand that these terms refer to the theoretical level of effort you could sustain for one hour on a bike before falling off it in a heap!  If you download our free training programme we’ll explain in detail about this test and you can find plenty of online aides to help you simply by Googling ‘FTP Calculator’ which will then help you work out your training zones.  There are various definitions of the zones you can use for your training but we prefer one divided into seven.  Broadly speaking the five main zones are Easy, Fat Burning, Tempo, Threshold, VO2 + but there are some more subtle sub-divisions you can also use.  What they are called is less important than what they represent.  Once you have your zones established it is simply a question of picking whether you train by power (recommended although expensive) or heart rate (cheaper but not as reliable) or ‘on feel’ much cheaper but not recommended!

TIP FIVE - USE SWEET SPOT

what is sweet spot?

We’ve mentioned ‘sweet spot’ as the zone you should use for your higher intensity sessions.   Sweet spot is when you are making an effort just below your Threshold (as determined by your FTP test and measured by watts or heart rate) so it is hard work but not absolutely all-out.  Sweet Spot training enables you to train without developing too much fatigue and offers a high return for your time, increasing aerobic power and leading to a quick improvement in fitness.  After seven to eight weeks of ‘sweet spot’ training, most will see significant improvements.  More bang for your buck!

How to use sweet spot in your training

There are various ways of using Sweet Spot training as part of your programme.  The objective is to build the ability to ride at a moderately high intensity for longer and longer periods.  For example starting off perhaps with a couple of 15 minute efforts in an otherwise easier ride and looking to increase this up to an hour or more of continuous effort.  Just the thing you’ll need for tackling those long climbs in your upcoming event or Pyrenean Coast-to-Coast ride or the up and down rolling terrain of the opening days of a Land’s End to John O’Groats ride.

Shorter sweet spot sessions can be also used on an indoor turbo as well as on your daily commute or on flat roads (both involving longer efforts) to prepare for those long mountain climbs.

Re which: it is a common mistake to think that to train for long Alpine climbs, for example, you need to be spending your training time climbing hills.   The truth is that for most of us in the UK finding hills of sufficient length is simply not possible and actually devising a flat course which avoids too many junctions or traffic lights is far better at helping you replicate those long sustained sweet spot efforts that will improve your high mountain climbing.

What about Threshold?  

Threshold efforts, in shorter intervals either on a turbo trainer or possibly as hill repeats, are also useful as your fitness improves but, in short, Sweet Spot is the ideal tool for the time-poor cyclist training for an endurance-based cycling adventure!

TIP SIX - MAKE IT FUN

While it is important that when you are training you are focussed on your goal for that session, you should ensure that you build some fun into your programme.  Generally this will mean that your higher intensity efforts might need to be done on your own but you should always find room for a social ride from time to time – with or without coffee and cake.  Try to vary higher intensity sessions too, interleaving longer sweet spot training on the road with shorter HIT intervals on an indoor trainer, or hill repeats.  If you have a friend who can train with you even better.  Some of the most valuable sweet spot sessions I have ever done were ridden with a friend who was significantly stronger than me.  He poured out the watts on the front while I tucked in behind him.  Both of us were riding at sweet spot!  Much more fun than toiling away on my own.  As mentioned previously, if you commute and your route permits it, you can turn one or two days into sweet spot sessions.  Variety is the spice of life and the same applies to your training.

In Summary

We hope that all the above tips have been useful.  It should be said that I am not a cycling coach but having spent the last six years running a cycle tour company, trying to train to maintain a fitness level to do my guiding jobs and talking and advising clients who come on our trips and tours, I feel able to cut through the welter of training information that is available.  Much of the information in this guide is common sense.  Plenty of other resources can be found elsewhere but we hope that by distilling some of the endless articles about training - often, it seems, aimed at hyper-serious cyclists - into something tailored more specifically for someone like you with a family and a full-time job, we have made things a little clearer and given you a tool to plan your own training.

Kick start your training

Viva Velo specialises in providing unique cycling experiences for our clients and there is nothing we like better than to see them achieve their goals.  You can read a little bit more about us below.  There is even an opportunity to kick start your 2022 season with £75 off one of our Mallorca camps!

As you can see, there’s no reason not to set yourself a cycling challenge this year. Maybe you’d like to ride from London to Paris and watch the Tour de France, try a Land’s End to John O’Groats epic or maybe you’d could give your season and training a kick start by joining us in Mallorca in April. If so get in touch today and we’ll do our best to squeeze you on to these always popular trips.

If you’re interested in getting more information about maximising the benefit of your training time then you can download our free 7 Week Training Programme for Time-Poor Cyclists. This contains three levels of training schedule tailored to meet your needs. You can choose from one of three training schedules (designed to take up 4-5, 6-7, or 8 hours a week respectively). Just click the button below.

A bit about viva velo

Viva Velo caters for all cyclists from hard-bitten racers through club riders to the relative beginner.   There is nothing we like more than helping people achieve their goals, and push their boundaries wherever they are in their cycling ’career’.  Our tours are always tailored to the needs of each group and individuals will be matched with riders of the same ability.   Our ride leaders will ensure that stronger riders are challenged at all times but that no one will ever be left behind.  So, if you are a serious club rider looking for race training or just a commuter who has completed their first charity challenge  - or indeed anyone in between  - Viva Velo can cater for you!  But don’t take our word for it just check out what some of our customers on our website

A Tour de France challenge of my own!

And finally, just so you can be sure that I practice what I preach using the principles in the guide myself to ensure I can fit my training around the hectic schedule that comes with running a cycle tour company! Last year I took on my own cycling challenge, by riding the whole route of the 2021 Tour de France and the bits in between stages, cycling over 5000 kilometers and climbing 60,000 meters - the equivalent of Everest from sea-level nearly 7 times - all in the space of 32 days! You can find out more about my ‘Grand Tour Challenge’ here.