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Get Serious About Cycling With These Beginner Training Plans

Get Serious About Cycling With These Beginner Training Plans
Credit: Shutterstock

How’s the cycling going? If you’re new to our fitness challenge, this September we’ve been hopping on our bikes (indoors or out) for some cycling workouts. If you’re having fun and want to take it to the next level, here are some beginner training plans to try.

If you just want a rough guide to getting better, this quote from FuzzyCollege on the r/cycling subreddit sums it up well:

when you start cycling you get faster just by riding more often, then you get faster by riding further and finally when you’re very fit you get faster by focusing on intensity, doing intervals etc.

If you’d like a more structured training plan, try one of these:

  • Cancer Research UK has a guide for people who are training for a 30-mile fundraising bike race. There’s a beginner-beginner plan for people who haven’t been on a bike at all lately (it starts with three 10-minute rides per week and works up to a long ride of 45 minutes). After that comes an 8-week plan, including off-bike strength training, to work you up to being able to ride once a week for about two hours at a time.

  • Cycling Weekly has a 12-week beginner training plan that’s aimed at people with more fitness to start with. The first week includes 60- and 90-minute rides, and works up to 3+ hours for the weekly longest ride.

  • Bicycling has a 6-week plan meant for all levels. Each week you’ll do the week’s 45-60 minute cycling workout three times, with the other days set aside for cross-training, rest, or an easy ride.

Getting out on your bike more often, and extending the rides you already do, should go a long way toward giving you stronger lungs and legs and getting you more comfortable in the saddle. Let us know how it goes!