This guide will help you find the perfect training plan to crush your cycling goals.
By Monique Lebrun Published: Dec 18, 2023 3:05 PM EST Save Article
Training without a coach can be tough, especially if you’re a beginner rider and don’t know exactly where to start. Even if you’re looking to advance your skills after cycling for awhile, it’s tough to figure out what steps will get you to your goals. So, if a cycling coach is beyond your budget or you’d rather take on the challenge of training yourself, online training plans offer a great resource—as long as you choose the right one for you, your riding style, and your goals.
Here, we share our most popular cycling training plans and how to find the best one for reaching your goals. Plus, we explain how to identify if the plan isn’t the right fit for you and answer more of your training plan questions.
Bicycling has a wide variety of training plans available to help you do everything from build an endurance base to complete your first multi-day ride. These are our most popular training plans which vary by length, skill set, and distance. They’re all free when you sign up for a Bicycling membership.
This training plan will teach you how to determine the level of intensity of your rides and help you maintain a more consistent riding schedule. It also includes cross-training and core workouts on the plan. It’s perfect for anyone who is just starting out and wants to ride more regularly.
If you have about four to five hours to commit to cycling each week—and just three days a week—then this the perfect plan to help you build your base fitness and develop your cycling skills. It includes two phases, which you can follow for four to eight weeks, so do what feels best for you. It will have you riding mostly in zone 2, and building up to zone 3 in the second phase.
Use this training plan to help you kick up your endurance quickly so you can smoothly transition to in-season training. This is great for those who are getting back into cycling after some time off, too.
This training plan will help you complete your first multi-day ride by building an endurance base, helping you fine-tune your fueling, and getting you ready to spend lots of time in the saddle. It’s a loose plan, but will get you through the ride with confidence.
You’ll perform hill repeats, cadence drills, and more to help you perfect your climbing skills. Plus, you get tips on the perfect climbing form and how to eat for energy on your rides.
This easy-to-follow plan will help you prepare for a Grand Fondo in just four weeks, as long as you’ve successfully built a base and can ride at least three hours a week or about 45 miles.
If you’re gearing up for your first century ride, this is the ideal training plan for you. It requires five days a week of riding and mixes in easy rides and hill workouts, along with intervals toward the end of the plan.
In order to successfully complete this training plan, you should be able to ride for 90 minutes or about 15 to 20 miles at least four times a week. The program requires at least four days a week of riding and incorporates strength workouts to help you stay strong and healthy through every mile.
If you want to ride a century, but can’t dedicate much time to train, this plan will get you to the finish line by riding just three days a week. The three rides on the plan: a long ride, steady state ride, and speed ride.
This plan is for more advanced riders who can complete at least 60 miles on the bike. It offers a quick month-long tune-up to get you ready for those 100 miles.
Your timeline will largely depend on your fitness goals, whether you aim to complete a specific event, lose weight, or boost speed, so it’s best to define those first. Also, you should consider your fitness level, and how much time you can commit to exercising each week, then based on those factors, you can determine how many months or weeks you’ll need to take to reach your goal.
Some plans may promise to help you achieve your cycling goals in as little as eight weeks, while others can take a year-long approach. As a beginner, you want to select a plan that is at least 12 weeks long. “Twelve weeks is a good start because it allows you to test the plan out for three months. Then you can see if you like it or not and if it fits your goals, because all plans are written differently,” says Mike Schultz, C.S.C.S., C.P.T., certified strength and conditioning specialist, USA Cycling-certified coach, and founder of Highland Training.
Some training plans are designed with the cycling season in mind, meaning you can find a base training plan to complete from December to February, a pre-build plan for March to May, in-season plan for June through August to lead up to a race, and a fall season plan for September to November, Schultz explains. Also, there are specific plans that cater to varying disciplines as well, so you can hone in on your gravel skills, mountain bike skills, or road racing, for example.
For those who’ve never ridden before, it’s smart to start out with a plan that slowly introduces more miles and requires you to ride about 30 minutes a day. “The key thing is getting a basic frequency down and making it a habit,” says George Ganough, a USA certified-cycling coach, and the owner and head coach of Otterhaus Training. Then progress your longest ride, or the amount of hours you ride each week, by about 10 percent to avoid injury or fatigue.
If you already maintain a regular exercise routine, then try to find a plan that best mimics your current schedule. For example, if you ride three times a week for a total of six hours, then pick a plan that best aligns with that exercise schedule. “The more familiar [the training plan] is, especially when you’re on your own, then the more likely it’s going to fit into your lifestyle, and the more likely it’s going to be successful,” says Ganough. “If you go and just do something that’s radically different, there’s risk of injury and then there’s risk of it not sticking because now you have to alter everything that you do,” he explains.
If you want to advance your riding and aren’t sure of a good weekly goal, Schultz suggests beginners aim to spend at least six hours on the bike a week, intermediate riders about nine, and advanced riders 12 hours or more.
In general, the average cycling training plan will include some interval rides, long rides, and recovery rides will help you reach your cycling goals.
It’s also smart to include cross-training days and at least one recovery day on the schedule. The amount of rest and recovery you need will depend on your age, cycling experience, health conditions, and more. After every ride make sure you refuel, stretch, and foam roll as needed, and sleep for at least seven hours each day to aid your recovery process.
Keep in mind, strength training sessions (which can take place on cross-training days) are important for cyclists to build ligament, tendon, and core strength because cycling is a low-impact sport, therefore riders aren’t able to build the strength they need in those areas from just riding alone, says Schultz. This is why it’s important to dedicate two days a week to strength training during base phases (December to February) and pre-build (March to May) seasons, and at least one day during race season, he adds. Many of our training plans suggest strength training days, as well as specific workouts you can do on those days.
Also, make sure the plan you choose accounts for rest and recovery. “Rest and recovery is as important, if not more important, than training. In order to make a gain in strength and endurance, you must first train consistently to build fatigue, then recover from the fatigue by reducing training volume and intensity,” says Schultz.
Most training plans use a two- or three-week block of training to build fatigue, at that time the plan should increase in volume, intensity, or both, followed by a week of reduced volume and intensity to recover, Schultz adds. This helps your body adapt to the training you’ve done and get stronger, and it’s an important part of any good training plan.
If you’re new to cycling, our training plans can help you familiarize yourself with a few basic cycling terms and cycling metrics like power, cadence, and steady state, so you can hit the road with confidence, and prepare yourself for more advanced-level training in the future.
Many plans require you to measure your efforts based on heart rate training zones with a heart rate monitor, or functional threshold power (FTP) with a power meter. Other plans may use rate of perceived exertion (RPE), which doesn’t require any equipment besides a bike and mental measures of how hard you feel you’re working on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being super easy and 10 being an all-out effort.
For example, a training plan may direct you to ride for an hour in zone 2, which could be indicated as a 3 to 5 on an RPE scale or 56 to 75 percent of your FTP on another.
To help you choose your cycling training plan, check out our most popular plans. You can get access to these plans and other great membership perks, like exclusive bike and gear reviews, plus tips on how to service your bike, when you subscribe.
Because you likely won’t have a coach walking you through the program, it’s important to periodically monitor your progress, as well as how your body adapts to the new routine. Not achieving the power or heart rate goals for a week straight or missing more than 70 percent of the workouts in a given week are two signs you’ve taken on too much too soon, says Schultz. Also, experiencing consistent aches, like joint pain, muscle strains, shin splints, and fatigue can also mean you need to back off, says Ganough.
If you experience these signs, it could be beneficial to scrap the plan and look for one that varies in intensity, duration, or both. Or take a week of easy riding only—making sure you get enough sleep and recovery—to see if that helps. You could also seek out a coach for a one-time consultation to find out the best way to approach your fitness goals, says Schultz.
Obviously, you’ll need a good bike that’s suitable for your discipline and a proper bike fit, if you plan on dedicating hours to training. But in addition to the basics, it’s a good idea to invest in equipment to help you monitor your efforts and track your progress, Schultz says. A heart rate monitor is the easiest and most affordable way to measure your efforts as a beginner, and a power meter is best for more advanced riders.
You can also track your progress through an app like TrainingPeaks, Strava, or TrainerRoad, so you can see your stats progress over time, Schultz adds.
Monique LeBrun joined the editorial staff in October 2021 as the associate health and fitness editor. She has a master’s degree in journalism and has previously worked for ABC news and Scholastic. She is an avid runner who loves spending time outside.
