Tour de France winner, three-time world champion and two-time Olympic gold medallist Geraint Thomas joined Radio 1 DJ-turned celebrity endurance cyclist Greg James for a leg of his Big Ride on Tuesday.

James iswasexactly halfway through his 8-day long, 1,000-kilometre (630-mile) tandem-riding challenge, from Weymouth in England to Edinburgh in Scotland, raising money for Comic Relief, which supports a wide range of charities around the UK.

Thomas, 39, who spent most of his professional cycling career with Team Sky and Ineos Grenadiers, joined 40-year-old James on day five of his odyssey, pedalling away from Worksop towards the historic city of York. That's an imposing distance of 132km with plenty of lumps along the way, no small feat for an amateur cyclist – let alone one on a cumbersome two-person machine – but with the assistance of generous supporters, he scored a serious engine upgrade.

Earlier that morning, James' fellow Radio 1 DJs Matt and Molly had announced during an interview with Geraint Thomas that, providing an ambitious fund-raising target of £700,000 was reached, the Welsh rider would join James on the tandem steed he is using during the Big Ride.

At the time the announcement was made, £60,000 was still required, so £1,000 per minute needed to come in. In the end, over £100,000 was raised by the cut off, so Thomas duly saddled up on the back of the bike.

Previous co-pedallers on the bike during the challenge have included comedian Joe Lycett, but the Welsh cycling legend, who retired at the end the 2025 Tour of Britain, is also well-known for his wry sense of humour.

"The only problem is, I haven't been on a bike for about six months, I hope I’m not just going to be a dead weight for you…" quipped Thomas just before they set off.

At times during the shared ride, James was left looking a bit breathless. "That was so fast," he gasped when they stopped in Doncaster. "Did you enjoy it?" Thomas, who appeared fit despite his earlier protestations (we hear he's up for doing an Ironman), said he'd had a blast. “I was a bit nervous at first," he laughed. "I wasn’t sure how good you would be… but fair play.”

The lightweight steel-framed two-man steed the unlikely pair were pedalling has been custom made for James' 1.93m frame by British heritage brand Mercian Cycles. The British bike manufacturer, which has an 80-year history, has also supplied four standard road bikes to be ridden by his support crew.

James decided to continue with his challenge despite recently receiving some devastating news about the health of his father, who suffered a stroke during an operation. He is aiming to complete the challenge and reach the walled city Edinburgh on 20 March, which is Red Nose Day. You can follow his progress and donate here.

James is no stranger to endurance challenges. In 2018 he completed the 'Pedal To The Peaks' mission, cycling between - and then climbing - the highest mountains in England, Wales and Scotland: Scafell Pike, Snowdon, and Ben Nevis. And previously, in 2016, he completed five triathlons in five days.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions, so the saying goes. Maybe the same can be said for the road to cycling fitness. Whether we're planning to get out on the road or maybe get online for a virtual ride, sometimes life gets in the way.

That's certainly what happened to Michèle Linton's cycling. For years she would escape her difficult marriage with long rides around some of Scotland's most beautiful places. "He became a very hard person to live with, so my cycling was my escape from that," Michèle explained from her Ayrshire home.

"Cycling for me was the brilliant excuse to bail out and have my own time, and get things sorted in my head. And quite often I would meet really interesting people. When I should [have been] cycling I would sit with somebody for hours chatting, and that kept me going."

But in late 2023 life began getting in the way when her husband was diagnosed with cancer. She managed to keep riding, but in February 2025 she became his full-time carer and cycling took a backseat.

When she was riding regularly, rather the use the local roads around Ayrshire, she would take her motorhome and head north.

"I think my heart's really up in the Highlands, Perthshire and Morayshire. And I'm lucky, the last few years I've got really into nature photography and wildlife, so I can combine the two of them."

Cycling isn't a recent thing for Michèle, she's been on two wheels most of her life, growing up around the town of Innerleithen, in the Scottish Borders, cycling was one of her two passions.

"It was a combination of cycling and horses, because I had a love of horses but my dad cycled, and from when I was a wee toddler, that was when I started cycling. I was up to all sorts with my friends on bikes and stuff." However, adulthood brought Michèle more challenges than most, illness affecting her ability to exercise.

A bout of glandular fever left her with ME, which relapsed after catching chicken pox. She was then diagnosed with Sarcoidosis, a condition which causes swollen tissue, and has left her with only 60% lung capacity, but a return to cycling was an effective therapy.

"When I moved here I got a new specialist, he's German and he's very pro-exercise of any kind," she explains. "I said I'm going to try cycling, and that's how I ended up going out on the mountain bike with this group. I surprised myself. I was last because I was on this bloody heavy mountain bike, but I decided, 'I'm getting a road bike again.' And that was it, once I got that road bike, I never stopped. It wasn't the bike I wanted but I sorted that later.

"And it does help. Anybody that sits down to any illness like that is really silly, whether it's ME or Sarcoidosis, you can never sit down to these things because you're only going to get worse."

She was soon back with a vengeance, learning to cope with her illnesses and finding a happy place regularly riding long distances and chasing down the 5,000 mile distance. Using an e-bike when she wasn't feeling great and riding a regular machine other times. A regular on the Big Ride Challenge Facebook group, where she posts some of her magnificent photos, the 5,000 mile target seemed relatively easy for her.

Michèle's husband died in the autumn of 2025, and late in the year she was back on the bike, starting with a tentative 10 miler, but hoping to build up to some of those longer rides and has already entered the Doddie Aid ride, in support of MND.

"Over Christmas and New Year I was on the smart indoor trainer quite a lot, but being back on it, it confirmed I can still do it," she says.

"I'm going to try and do shorter rides and probably ride more often," she says. "But there is something about doing longer rides, I love the achievement, I suppose it's because it's one of the things I can do. My longest road ride, I think, is 118 miles, for somebody with the things I've got is no bad thing. And that's what I want to work back to."

Each month we set our riders two smaller challenges to keep them motivated over the coming weeks. So whether the annual total seems too big, or too far away, these smaller tasks will keep you riding, and hopefully keep it fun.

Throughout the year we set a variety of challenges, from simple distance challenges to reach, to ones focused on consistency. There are also climbing challenges and ones that will encourage you to go out and explore, like our popular ride bingo in Spring and Autumn. There's also a bonus challenge each month from our sponsor MyWhoosh, the free to use virtual riding platform.

You can sign up to the Big Ride Challenge for free via our website and you can follow the Big Ride Challenge via the private Facebook group and on Strava and WhatsApp.

All challenges this month can be completed out on the open road, or on a virtual training platform.

2026 January challenges

The Mini
1. Ride with a friend
2. Exercise ten times this month (any form of exercise counts)

The Midi
1. Log a 30 mile week
2. Ride at least once every weekend this month

The Maxi
1. Ride at least once every weekend this month
2. Do an FTP or other fitness test

CW5000
1. Complete a 40 mile ride
2. Do an FTP or other fitness test

MyWhoosh bonus challenge
Explore a new world in MyWhoosh

MyWhoosh has an easy to follow FTP test on it's free-to-use platform while all other online training and riding platforms will have their own version. You can also create your own fitness test by riding up a climb, along a stretch of road, or around a circuit and timing yourself to set a benchmark. Take the utmost care if doing this on the open road.

>>> This is what we challenged our riders to do in 2025

When people talk of the best gravel riding destinations, they often cast their minds to the wide, dusty tracks of North America. They think of sun-soaked vistas, trees speckled across the foreground and mountains towering in the distance. It’s an image of serenity and the joy that comes from being at one with the great outdoors. But having travelled widely in the US and Canada, let me tell you a secret: you don’t need to take a long-haul flight to enjoy such soul-soothing scenery.

North of my home in Scotland, in the expanse of the Cairngorms National Park, the smooth, flowing gravel roads are a close match for the coveted stateside ones. It’s an area laced with centuries-old tracks, sharp ascents, and routes that cross the mountains, a place that always lures me back.

When friends come to visit me, their trips sometimes coincide with my book research. In 2023, I was gathering material for Bikepacking Scotland; this time it’s Gravel Rides: Cairngorms & Perthshire. The benefits are mutual: I get riders to model for my photos, while my friends enjoy a free guided tour far off the beaten track, on some of the finest gravel roads in the country, if not the world.

Known as Britain’s ‘last great wilderness’, the Cairngorms are the UK’s largest national park, and home to some of its highest mountains. I love the history and the people, and though these days I live in Edinburgh, I’m drawn back to the changing landscapes. Unlike the rugged ranges in the west of the country, the Cairngorms feature wide, high-altitude plateaus, perfect for gravel cycling.

There are also deep glens, ancient Caledonian pine forests and fast-flowing rivers. It’s a cycling paradise, split into six regions: Strathspey and Aviemore form the busy gateway, while Royal Deeside blends mountain scenery with royal heritage; Strathdon and Upper Donside showcase castles and Highland games; Tomintoul and Glenlivet bring whisky, moors and hidden glens; Atholl and the southern Cairngorms mix farmland, forests and high peaks. The latter area is where I take my friends.

We base ourselves for a week in the down-to-earth town of Alyth, home to around 3,000 people. Our lodgings are a house I bought two years ago and have since converted into bike-friendly accommodation for six. It has a big kitchen, lounge, a library of route-planning books, three bedrooms, and all the Scottish essentials: a drying rack, washing machine, tumble dryer and two mud-proof bathrooms.

Luckily, today we don’t need to don our best waterproof cycling jackets. Our ride begins on a warm September morning on the Highland Boundary Fault. We start with coffee at Alyth Cyclery, a former church turned bike shop and cafe, before lathering ourselves in sun cream and leaving town. Ahead lies a long day in the saddle: wall-to-wall sunshine and over 1,110m of climbing in around 73km on a mix of quiet roads, gravel paths and short sections of singletrack.

Though my friends cycle almost daily, off-road riding in this remote region can be a challenge. We may not have any mountains to scale, but the route I’ve plotted is undulating, a constant up and down through the valleys.

A short but sharp kicker just after leaving the bike shop offers a taste of what’s ahead. Years ago, the village herdsman would slowly climb this road to Alyth Hill, tooting the horn to tell the animals to return to pasture. Like the herdsman’s livestock, we find ourselves panting towards the top, but there’s little time to catch our breath – the next climb is always around the corner.

We stop in Reekie Linn at the foot of Glenisla, an impressive waterfall and ideal picnic spot. The small path that follows the Isla is too narrow and covered with roots to cycle, so we leave the bikes in the car park and enjoy the short walk to the lookout point. It’s a nice break from the pedal-turning. Bike rides, I’ve always believed, invite us to explore our landscapes at a slower pace. We mustn’t forget to stop and soak it all in.

The landscape becomes more dramatic as we climb steadily into Glenisla and reach the Blackwater Reservoir. Opened in 1969 and linked with nearby Lintrathen Reservoir, it supplies drinking water to around 300,000 people in Dundee and eastern Perthshire. We ride above it, staring down at the deep blue water, before leaving the tarmac road after a few hundred metres and turning onto a wide gravel track signposted to Glen Prosen. This is where the real adventure begins.

Our route is marked by a fingerpost of white letters on green, one of over 4,000 signs put up by ScotWays. Since the 2003 Land Reform Act, formal rights of way matter less here. The Scottish access legislation allows us to cycle almost anywhere, but these posts remain valuable, telling the history and heritage of each path.

We climb steadily up the eastern flanks of Cuilt Hill beside a small stream, or as the Scots would call it, a burn. The wide and smooth track takes us through fields of tussock and heather.

The gradient of the path steepens after we ford the small river and reach the highest point of the route, 513m above sea level, on the Hill of Strone. Not all of us make it to the top without grounding a foot, but we all reunite with a smile when we spot the views across the Angus Glens.

The descent into Glen Prosen is fast and flowing. After two and a half very quick kilometres, we grind to a halt at a towering tree that provides enough shade for our lunch break. Kirriemuir is the only town with services along the route, 51km in, so packing enough food for the ride is essential. We feast on baguettes, hummus, cheese and olives before we hit the road again at Cormuir, which takes us further into Glen Prosen.

Before long, we pass the remains of Balnaboth Chapel. Built in 1693 and abandoned in the 1860s, it sits hidden behind ancient yews, and is easily missed. We continue to Prosen village – a few scattered houses along the glen with no one around. I recall a previous visit a few years back and wince at the memory of the unrideable sections.

We leave the gravel and continue alongside the Prosen Water river on tarmac. I can tell that my friends, still relatively new to gravel riding, appreciate the respite. After around six kilometres, we climb up a steep forestry road, and then an even steeper singletrack to the top of Tulloch Hill.

The reward for this short, tricky section is the Airlie Monument, a splendid tower that dominates the skyline. What is even better is the descent that follows, through larch woodland.

We regroup at the Scott Wilson Memorial and follow another fabulous gravel track before we reach Kirriemuir. The town is our only opportunity to pause for coffee, but we decide to crack on to Alyth instead. After seven hours of riding, our minds are already fixed on dinner, and the chanterelles I had collected in the morning to stir into a risotto.

The final pictures I take on the gravel track out of Kirriemuir remind me of the great American gravel routes – scenes of people riding through the expanse into the setting sun. Our legs are tired, stomachs rumbling, and our adventure reaches its finale when we roll through the Den of Airlie, a beautiful, wooded gorge, and back to our base in Alyth.

Out of all the routes I’ve explored in the Cairngorms, this is my favourite – but there’s no shortage of options to choose from. The region’s southern glens offer an abundance of cycling tracks suitable for gravel bikes.

Our base location of Alyth isn’t in the National Park itself, but it is very close to the quieter glens, and is at the heart of the Cateran Ecomuseum – a collection of outdoor cultural sites. You could easily spend a week or longer riding around here. To the north, the Monega Pass is Scotland’s highest rideable mountain pass, and right next to it is the Cairnwell Pass, the country’s highest road.

To the west lies Dunkeld, in the heart of Perthshire’s Big Tree Country, and to the east the landscape falls away towards the coast. From Alyth, every direction holds another adventure – which is why I keep returning, and why the Cairngorms remain Britain’s last great wilderness.

The gravel road is empty, spooling towards the horizon as far as I can see. The air is the driest I’ve breathed, the sun is hot and the altitude high. We’re still in winter, they claim, not yet spring – how can it be? Racing through the emptiness, my heart rate stays annoyingly high, my power annoyingly low. I’ve not had enough time to adapt to the conditions since landing, and I’m on the back foot. My body is on autopilot, going through the motions to get to the finish line.

I’m in Namibia, in southwest Africa, taking part in the UCI Gravel World Series. The race situation – struggling, hanging on – is familiar, but the setting is unlike anything I’ve seen before. While my legs are churning around near-automatically, my eyes are continually distracted by wildlife: baboons, oryx and springboks. It’s like riding through a David Attenborough documentary. After nearly five hours of torrid racing, I cross the line in sixth place, 18 minutes adrift of the winner, Namibia’s reigning national road race champion Alex Miller.

How I ended up here owes much to my change in cycling mindset three years ago. When it became clear I wasn’t going to accomplish my dream of turning pro while still in the U23 ranks, I promised myself I’d continue racing – by saying yes to every opportunity. If I wasn’t going to race the Tour de France, I was at least going to travel the world and race everywhere else. So, when the prospect of Namibia was put to me, there was only one possible answer. On paper, it was a race, but more importantly it was a week-long adventure. I’d never been to Africa, and this was as good an excuse as any.

Namibia is three-and-a-half times the size of the UK but has 67 million fewer people, a population of just 3.1 million. It borders Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east, South Africa to the south, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west. Out on the road, it’s hard to imagine reaching a border – no end is ever in sight and the sheer scale is baffling. It’s one of the emptiest countries on Earth, and that emptiness makes for a unique cycling experience.

Touching down at Hosea Kutako International Airport, some 45km east of Namibia’s capital, Windhoek, I got an immediate taste of what was to come. The airport itself was tiny, and the 40-minute taxi ride to the city revealed vast swathes of nothingness. I could tell this place was unlike anywhere I’d been before. The time in Namibia aligns with central Europe, so although it’s a long flight, there is little risk of jetlag. Starting a bike tour from Windhoek makes sense: there’s the nearby airport and decent infrastructure, as this is where almost 15% of the population lives. It’s an extremely safe place to visit and, given the lack of traffic, almost everywhere is suitable for touring by bike. Though the flat expanses can feel boring in a car, on a bike the spaciousness is liberating.

My unofficial tour guide for the week is Dan Craven, a born-and-bred Namibian and six-time national road race champion. Dan raced in the UK with Rapha-Condor from 2009–2011, before graduating into the WorldTour with Europcar in 2014. He retired in 2020. We first met in our adopted home city of Girona, Spain, and we’ve stayed in touch ever since. For years he’d been telling me I needed to explore his country. With Dan as prospective guide and a UCI World Series race on the calendar, no further encouragement was needed.

We have two other guides: husband and wife Martin and Chrystal Freyer. Martin is a multi national champion in almost every discipline, and he and Chrystal have bikepacked across the world. Having them with us brings yet more local knowledge – I was going to get a real insight into Namibia from three people who really know it.

Chrystal follows in a support truck, which allows us to ride without luggage on our bikes and throw caution to the wind when it comes to route-planning. With so few places to stop for supplies, touring Namibia without a support vehicle would be challenging at best.

Ahead of the adventure, Dan had warned me that you have to pre-plan in Namibia. You can go hours without being able to get water, and the tar roads have to be avoided by bike. My trip began with the Khomas100 UCI race, which took us from Windhoek some 160km north to the edge of Okahandja. The gravel roads between the two cities roll up and down for as far as the eye can see, passing through not a single settlement.

We have four days of touring planned, and the first, the day after the race, takes place on gravel trails more like farm tracks than roads. Even the few local riders who have joined us are in new territory. Hours pass without seeing a car; the endless terrain rolls past, becoming more and more sandy. Crossing one of many dried-up river beds, I approach too fast and somersault over the handlebars. My body is fine, bar a small cut on my shoulder, but a part of my pride remains in that Namibian river bed.

Our destination for the first night is Omaruru, Dan’s hometown. It’s an arduous six-hour ride on legs already tired from the race. The final few kilometres are ridden on tarmac, which feels like a red carpet after all the sand.

The Onguza Bicycles workshop is our headquarters for the night. This has been the hub of Dan’s life since leaving behind European racing, producing handbuilt steel bikes that he hopes to export across the world. Seeing the process in person is mesmerising. Everything measured, filed, and built by hand.

Rather than sleeping in the workshop, we spend the night under the Omaruru stars, camping in a riverbed on the edge of town. It’s like being in a Top Gear special as our convoy of cars heads into the farmland and Dan’s Land Rover gets stuck in the sand. Our tents are barely up as the sun drops behind the mountains. Sitting around the campfire in this riverbed in Namibia feels a million miles away from, well, everywhere.

Namibia’s modern history has been shaped by colonial rule. From the late 19th century, the country was under German rule. After World War One it was ruled by South Africa and was known as South West Africa. This meant it was subjected to apartheid until gaining independence in 1990. The legacies of that past are still visible. Leaving Omaruru the next morning, our route passes through a township of tin shacks and sandy yards. The divide isn’t as glaring as in some neighbouring countries, but it’s unmistakable. The legacy of segregation runs deep.

The next day is anything but plain sailing. We ride 50km and call it a day at Erongo Rocks – 50 of the roughest kilometres I’ve ridden in my life. The washboard surface is miserable to ride across, with not a single smooth kilometre. Our grand plan of nearing the coast is thwarted by an average speed almost 40% slower than planned. Entering the campsite, a sign warns of rhinos – another reminder that you don’t come to Namibia just for the riding. The campsite gives me a new perspective on the phrase middle of nowhere. We speed-hike up to the top of the Erongo rocks to take in the sunset over the savannah – the most epic I’ve ever seen.

Being so far from anywhere, there’s little light pollution, and the Milky Way is visible as I’ve never seen it before, a brilliant spectacle. Around the campfire, the evening ends with a braai, the Afrikaans word for barbeque. It’s a ritual that encompasses collecting the firewood, building the fire, huddling around it for warmth and, of course, eating. The air may be hot and dry in the day, but the moment the sun drops, it turns cold. With the campfire as our centrepiece, we eat and chat into the night.

Riding in Namibia reminds me why I first started riding bikes: not just the novelty of being here, but the strangeness, feeling so small in this vast landscape – nothing and no one around to notice my presence. To pass through unnoticed feels like floating in space, and so far away from my normal chaos of chasing race results. Riding here is not about distance, speed or power, but something rawer and realer.

Floating is even more apt on our final day, as it takes us to Moon Valley, near the coastal town of Swakopmund – a place that retains a German flavour from colonial times. The valley is a breathtaking lunar landscape, hundreds of little hills packed close together – a bike park created by nature. There’s a childlike thrill, each choosing our own course, going up and down natural banks, flowing in and out of nature’s haphazard trails.

Namibia’s vast, open landscapes leave me with an altered sense of cycling and why it matters to me. It’s no longer about racing, mileage or even the bike itself. It’s about space – the kind that slows you down, makes you look around, and forces you to accept how small you really are. Our trip ends with the long drive from Swakopmund back to Windhoek. The car is quiet; everyone’s spent. It’s been anything but a normal racing trip, and it’s one I’ll never forget. As we leave, a strange nostalgia settles in – as if I’m saying goodbye to a part of cycling I hadn’t realised I’d needed to find.

How to get there and where to stay

How to get there
Flights from London cost £800–£1,200 return and take around 15 hours, often including a layover in Addis Ababa, Johannesburg or Frankfurt. A tourist visa (£65), completed and paid online or with local currency on arrival, is required to enter Namibia.

Where to stay
Plan your route carefully between Windhoek and Swakopmund – it’s the best area for gravel riding and has the most reliable infrastructure, though accommodation can be sparse. Campsites and basic lodges start around N$500–1,000 (£20–45) per night, while mid-range guesthouses and safari lodges cost N$1,500–2,500 (£60–120).

When to travel
The best time to ride is May to September, during Namibia’s dry winter – clear skies, cooler days and little rain. Summer (October–March) brings heat, wind and occasional storms.

Touring by bike
A handful of trip operators run cycling tours in Namibia. If doing it self-supported, it’s strongly advised to ride in a small group and hire a vehicle, which gives the option to be flexible with plans and take turns riding. Many roads are rough. I rode an Enve Mog with 50mm tyres and would not advise anything narrower.

Vaccinations, currency and communications
Consult your GP at least eight weeks before travel. Vaccinations depend on your itinerary and flight layovers. The Namibian dollar is pegged to the South African rand. Carry some cash, although card payment is widely accepted. Buying a local SIM card at the airport is recommended, as e-sims do not work in Namibia.

"Voulez-vous le filet de bœuf ou l’agneau?” asked Léa, our smartly dressed cheffe de rang in the dining room of the Hôtel de France in Mende. Choosing between beef and lamb would end up being one of the few decisions I’d have to make all fortnight. It was late June, and I was sitting, dazed from exhaustion, in the loveliest of restaurants with the best of company – my brothers Trevor and Chris – halfway through a fully supported 1,600km (1,000-mile) epic from the Atlantic coast to the French Riviera.

The three of us dining like this, basking in the woozy afterglow of an active day, made me nostalgic for our family holidays of the 1970s. Simpler times, when our parents would march or cycle us across large tracts of rural Wales or Scotland. Decisions, however small, are the architects of our destiny.

My brothers and I were close as children, but our decades of life decisions had the unintended consequence of pulling us apart. Latterly, we’d seen one another only at Christmas, when conversations were as dull as the weather forecasts they rarely strayed beyond. Now in our late 50s and early 60s, finally free from the relentless obligations of young families and careers, we’ve made the grown-up decision to reunite for a 13-day adventure worthy of our younger selves.

For logistical ease, we chose a guided tour, Saddle Skedaddle’s ‘St Malo to Nice Classic’, which carves a sweeping crescent from Brittany and Normandy in the northeast to Provence in the south. However, as we brushed the Breton sand off our cycling shoes, we had no idea that France was on the verge of suffering its second-worst heatwave on record. We were about to ride into the four à pain – the bread oven.

Land of butter

St Malo is a difficult city to depart. Blessed with an endless promenade of fine seafood restaurants and a medieval old town, it was tempting to stay put. But adventure called, so with our stomachs heavy with croissants, and our heads light with excitement, we were off.

Leading us were our wonderfully Gallic guides, Luc and Nicholas, who took turns riding with us or driving the support van. Nothing was ever too much trouble for Luc, strong as an ox and always armed with a joke. Nicholas, a slender, powerful rider, was equally good-natured, and, because he hailed from Nice, this ride would deliver him to his doorstep.

My younger brother Chris is the strongest and lightest rider among us. Trevor, forever trying to keep his younger siblings in check, is easily the most competitive, compensating for any age-related loss of fitness with his admirable mental strength and sheer tenacity. Me? I just try to keep up. The first few days eased us gently into our coast-to-coast escapade. As we waved farewell to the intimate beaches of the Côte d’Émeraude, and bid adieu to a hazy Mont St-Michel, its silhouette partially shrouded within a soft sea mist, the flat, fertile Breton countryside opened up before our wheels.

Northern France is a dairy stronghold, where pasture and vast fields of wheat dominate the landscape, and butter defines the cuisine. We would have to put many kilometres beneath our tyres before groves of gnarled olive trees would force a fundamental change in flavour. During these early, relatively flat days, we formed a steady paceline for the first few hours. With little effort required, conversation – weighty issues and immature banter in equal measure – flowed easily, interrupted only by the clattering exhaust note of the occasional tractor.

The three of us looked forward to our mid-morning coffee stops enormously. Invariably, Luc and Nicholas would guide us to a picturesque village square, with the most French cafe imaginable, bang next to a pâtisserie groaning with pastries. One of my favourites was the impossibly quaint village of La Guerche-de-Bretagne, with its glut of timber-framed medieval buildings. Soaked with caffeine and loaded with tartes aux fraises, chaussons aux pommes, and pains aux raisin (we’d convince ourselves that this level of carb-loading was a necessary part of our fuelling strategy), we’d fragment, riding at our own pace for the next 40km or so until lunch.

The picnic was the second highlight of the day. Under the shade of sweet chestnut trees, we’d feast on bread, local cheeses, pork rillettes, and a variety of salads. This extended break provided Trevor and Chris a chance for some good-natured vocal sparring. A common theme was their cycling prowess from that morning’s ride, although this could extend to any aspect of life where one of them spotted a weakness in the other that could be exploited. Remarkably, the fact that Chris could ride circles around him never diminished our big brother’s enthusiasm for such swordplay. Bless him.

Eventually, tiring of baiting Trevor, Chris would give impromptu history lessons – his inability to recall basic historical facts, let alone dates, made these lessons sketchy at best.

“The Hundred Years’ War, which ravaged this part of northern France from about 1250 to 1450, er, hang on, that can’t be right…” Trevor would take these intellectual retreats as his cue to school himself, and the rest of us, in French grammar, helped along by Nicolas. It was a relief to get back on the bike.

Within three days, we’d crossed a broad, sleepy Loire and were fast heading into the Dordogne. By now, it was apparent that there was something very wrong with Trevor’s backside. He was performing a perpetual waltz in the saddle, a cheek-to-cheek glide on the first two beats, punctuated by a brief hover on the third. Saddle sores were making their mark.

After an emergency stop at a pharmacy, which tested Trevor’s mime skills as much as his newly honed French grammar, he reappeared cheerfully waving a large assortment of gels, salves, ointments and – inexplicably – a large tube of Durex lube. We’ll never know whether it was his poor acting ability or his shaky grasp of French anatomical terms that was to blame.

The Dordogne region ushered in subtle changes in the landscape and a significant shift in the weather. As we navigated twisting roads through increasingly steep wooded hillsides, the sky appeared less expansive, and the horizon closed in. We started to notice terracotta roof tiles for the first time, replacing the plain clay tiles – tuiles plates – favoured in the north. It was getting hotter. The mornings were cool enough, but the afternoons grew oppressive and sticky.

Early starts became an unwelcome but prudent solution, with the three of us hitting the road by 7:30am. I’d sometimes leave slightly earlier, but within 15km I’d hear whoops of “Salut!

Allez, Allez, Allez!” breaking the still air as Trevor and Chris closed my lead before passing me, the bright taillights of their Wahoo Trackr radar units dancing away into the distance. For ourselves to leave early was worth it, not only to escape the heat but also for the extra time it allowed us to explore the day’s destination. Brantôme, a charming medieval town completely encircled by the languid River Dronne, was a particular highlight. The three of us enjoyed a memorable afternoon at Restaurant Côté Rivière, spent sipping chilled glasses of Bergerac Sec.

Land of Oil

Fittingly, the border between the land of butter and the land of oil is more a messy smear than a sharp line. The department of the Lot lies between the two; its traditional cuisine shuns dairy and olives in favour of rich globules of duck and goose fat. We had entered a no-man’s land – the Lot is sparsely populated – where confit de canard, foie gras and cassoulet stew reign supreme.

The road south into the hills from Souillac was greasy from overnight showers that refused to quit, and we relished their damp, clingy coolness. Chris, a Lake District local, no stranger to hills or downpours, was in his element, taunting me from above as we climbed steadily towards the precarious clifftop village of Rocamadour. I could never catch him when we were nippers; some things never change, except now it made me smile. Pedal stroke by pedal stroke, the earthy fragrance of petrichor filled my nostrils with every inhale. Life was good.

From a mist-shrouded yet majestic Rocamadour, our journey turned a corner. We would now be travelling as much east as we were south. I kicked myself for not discovering the Cévennes d’Ardèche earlier. A bewitching southeastern corner of the Massif Central, it’s an enticing wilderness of oak forests, moorland, limestone plateaus and granite outcrops. Home to roe deer, mouflons, beavers, griffons, otters and very little traffic, it’s a cyclists’ paradise.

However heavenly the Cévennes d’Ardèche, the intense heat was now hellish. With my GPS computer recording temperatures nudging 40°C, we responded by pouring bidon after bidon of water over our heads, never missing the opportunity to swim in the icy streams that lined the route.

Despite the heat and 2,000m of ascent, the experience of riding 150km from the Ardèche to the foot of Mont Ventoux in a day defies superlatives. Ridden in the early morning light, the Gorges de l’Ardèche – known locally as the ‘European Grand Canyon’ – is utterly breathtaking; the road twists and turns, writhing like a serpent over the churning Ardèche River, the golden limestone cliffs towering above. It’s precisely the kind of terrain my Look 785 Huez was made for.

By contrast, crossing the flat, dull Rhône Valley was an unwelcome distraction, but our spirits lifted as we exited up the steep Gorges de la Nesque. This generous second helping of hairpins pounded the legs, but the views far across this rugged ravine more than made up for the punishment. What a way to arrive in the Vaucluse. That evening in Sault, sleep enveloped me gently, like a soothing balm. With a demanding 110km day ahead, Trevor and I set our alarms for 6am, by which time Chris planned to have already summited the gruelling Mont Ventoux, extending his day by a further 52km.

The next morning delivered provençal riding at its finest. The cycling gods, or rather our guides Luc and Nicholas, dealt us a fair hand of ascents and descents, ultimately guiding us to the purple haze of the Plateau de Valensole, a remarkable 800sqkm plain of lavender fields. As we rode on, the soporific scent of lavender tickling our noses and the buzzing of a million bees ringing in our ears, Chris, tired from his effort on Ventoux, bonked just a dozen kilometres from our hotel.

Trevor and I, proud to play our part as benevolent older brothers, managed to partially revive him with handfuls of under-ripe bananas and a litre of cold milk from a local Intermarché. After some coaxing, he was steady enough to ride triumphantly, albeit a little bloated, to the ancient hilltown of Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, our stop for the night. Another day, another dramatic canyon.

This part of Provence delivers banger after banger, this time the Gorges du Verdon, famed for the Verdon River’s vivid turquoise waters. Roughly 700m of ascent over the first 11km is rewarded by 1,500m of exhilarating descent over the next 60km, punctuated only by the occasional ramp. This proved to be the perfect playground for Trevor and Chris, both competent descenders pushed to new limits by sibling rivalry.

Arriving in Nice was a bittersweet moment. Hotter and more congested than a cauldron of thick, simmering Bouillabaisse, the city was a shocking assault on the senses, an abrupt full stop to our journey’s end. The aquamarine Med may have obliged with a jewel-like sparkle, and, though the clink of our celebratory champagne glasses rang true, I pined for the times I reconnected with my brothers in the quiet forested lanes of the Cévennes d’Ardèche.

Fraternité reaffirmed

Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité. It’s impossible to escape France’s national motto, it’s carved into every village mairie, school and library. It’s even engraved into the euro coins that rattled across marble countertops to pay for my mid-morning cafés noisette. Initially, a familiar three-word phrase that meant little to me personally, as the kilometres ticked by, it gained greater resonance.

Liberté satisfied my nostalgia for more youthful times, when the bicycle gave the three of us unbridled freedom for the very first time. That sense of liberty was reignited in France. Cycling may not appear to be a great vehicle for Égalité, but so focused were we all on battling the climbs and the elements, any notion of superiority evaporated in the hot, dry air.

I found the word Fraternité, from the Latin root frāter, meaning ‘brother’, especially apt. Childish bickering may still occasionally ride roughshod over our relationship, but ultimately, we all always want the best for one another. In the cool early Provencal mornings, our egos suitably refreshed, every ramp was a race. But, in the cruel heat of the afternoon, we’d tackle the hills as a group, supporting one another with encouragement and the offer of a wheel to draft.

The same holds in everyday life. If I’m going through a difficult time, I’ll turn to my brothers for help. I may not always like what they have to say, but I’m reassured that it’s coming from a good place. The experience of Fraternité – a hard-won solidarity forged from steely determination and hot tarmac – was the most enduring and beneficial gift of our time together in France.

KEY INFORMATION

HOW TO GET THERE

The nearest international airport to St Malo is Rennes. The 75-minute flight from London Gatwick with EasyJet costs about £50. Sailing overnight from Portsmouth to St Malo is a solid, if slow, option. Ferries cost from £222, and the journey time is 11 hours. The flight home from Nice, also with Easyjet, is about £75.

WHERE TO STAY

Charming hotels and chambres d’hôtes (B&Bs) are plentiful along the entire route. Expect to pay €110-170 for a comfortable room, including breakfast.

ORGANISED TOURS

CW travelled with Saddle Skedaddle, whose 15-day tour (13 days of riding) is priced from £4,395, including shared accommodation, breakfast and picnic lunch, guides, support vehicle and local transfers.

Single-room supplements apply, and flights, bike hire, and evening meals are all extra.

WHAT TO RIDE

Simon rode a Look 785 Huez Pro Team Edition, a climbing-biased endurance bike. Its 52/36t semi-compact chainset, matched to a climb-friendly 11/34t cassette, proved a versatile choice for this trip. Chris and Trevor hired Giant Defy Advanced endurance bikes from Saddle Skedaddle. All three brothers rode with Wahoo Elemnt Roam head units for navigation, and Wahoo Trackr Radar for increased visibility and peace of mind.

To me, Brittany and cycling are inextricably linked. It started when I was a skinny kid in the 1970s, taking family trips and trying to hold my dad’s wheel on the roads around Brest, Quimper, Carnac, Tréguier. Then camping trips as a penniless student – I watched the 1989 Lemond/Fignon showdown in a bar in Dol de Bretagne. Later, as an only slightly less penniless adult, I’d follow the Tour de France whenever it headed into this great heartland of cycling.

My wife Carole and I were there for the Tour this summer, bikes on the back of the van – but somehow managed to go home without having turned a single pedal stroke. Slackers.

To make amends, we headed back for a couple of days in late August, determined this time to explore parts of Brittany we hadn’t visited before, and to find out not only why it’s so cycling-friendly but why it’s been such a fertile breeding ground for generations of top riders.

There may have been only four Breton winners of the Tour – Lucien Petit-Breton, Jean Robic, Louison Bobet and Bernard Hinault – but between them they have 11 titles out of a possible 104 – more than 10%, and nearly a third of all French wins. The region has no obvious Tour contender right now (although Brest’s Maëva Squiban is a bright hope on the women’s side) but Brittany still punches well above its weight – last year, Bretons made up a fifth of the French pro peloton. It was time to explore the reasons why – starting in the countryside.

Once settled by Celts who’d fled Britain following Anglo-Saxon invasions, Brittany is a land of striking contrasts. Rugged, rocky coastline frames a fertile interior of rolling farmland. Gentle and welcoming in summer, it turns wild and unforgiving in winter. To get a proper feel for the place, you need to see both sides of its personality.

We start by the sea, exploring the coast between Saint-Malo and Saint-Brieuc. The former, an old, walled city, seems barely changed since the days when corsaires sailed out to terrorise passing ships. In fact, Saint-Malo was almost completely destroyed during the second world war, but afterwards was rebuilt as authentically as possible. Heading west across the river Rance at the hydro-electric barrage, through Dinard and Ploubalay, there’s a nice mix of country roads and little bays and inlets. You could explore here for days.

Dimly remembering a rocky outcrop with stunning views, I’m keen to take a look at Cap Fréhel. It seems half of France has the same idea, though, so we turn away from the snarled-up scenic north coast, cross the little peninsula and drop down to a lovely little road meandering along the bay to Port à la Duc. Thankfully, we get this beautiful spot to ourselves. From here we turn inland towards our overnight stop at Quintin, and start climbing.

Brittany doesn’t have any proper mountains but it does have lots of tough, punchy climbs that favour tough, punchy riders, and they don’t get much tougher – or more literally punchy – than Bernard Hinault, whose home town is next on our itinerary. ‘The Badger’ won the Tour five times and the small town of Yffiniac is understandably proud of him. There’s a stone bust of him in the mayor’s office, and a few weeks before our visit they’d even named a roundabout after him to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the last of his yellow jersey victories.

We’re not in Yffiniac to honour Hinault’s palmarès, though; we’re here to pick up VeloRoute 408, which runs for around 200km from Saint-Brieuc on the north coast of the peninsula down to Lorient in the south. We’re not doing the whole thing, but the section from Yffiniac to the lake at Allineuc is only about 40km and runs through some beautiful countryside. We get to the lake just as a thunderstorm rolls in, so we duck into the local crêperie for galettes and cider and wait it out. At this point it becomes clear I’ve not done enough homework.

The next stretch of VR408 is a Voie Verte, a canal towpath. Flat, well surfaced – easy, right? Wrong. The canal at La Rigole d’Hilvern dried up decades ago and only the towpath remains. It’s basically a 60km farm, much of it rutted and muddy. We quickly rule it a no-go for our road bikes, and retrace our route to pick up the car and head to our next destination, which couldn’t be more different from a muddy farm track.

You’ll know the Mûr de Bretagne climb as a staple of the Tour de France, and on race day it’s a riot of noise and colour. But subtract the clamour and what’s left is a graffitied stretch of tarmac up a hill in the middle of nowhere.

As we climb through the town, there are vestiges of the recent Tour everywhere; the town hall remains wrapped in polka dots and all the shop windows and public spaces are still decorated. Out of the town, we take a brief downhill, across the N164, and then it’s just a straight run to the top.

After a steady initial drag, it ramps up sharply, the middle section averaging around 10%, with spikes over 15% before it flattens out over the top, and you come to a halt gasping in a windswept gravel layby. There’s not even a nice view. Mont Ventoux it ain’t – but the authorities have recently installed a big sign congratulating you for conquering the climb of… no, it’s not the Mûr de Bretagne after all – that’s the name of the nearest town. It’s the Côte du Menez Hiez, ‘menez’ meaning hill or mountain in Breton.

We’re running out of time but we squeeze in a visit to the beautiful walled village of Moncontour, where we find cobbles, tiny back lanes, charming houses and a really good brass band playing outside the church. Leaving our campsite the next morning we get an unexpected bonus. Under the trees in the park next door is an asphalt oval, lumpy and leaf-strewn but recognisably a velodrome.

It was built in 1909 and during its post-war heyday, from 1948 to 1984, it hosted an annual event as part of the post-Tour circuit of criteriums and exhibition events where the big names of the peloton faced off in a series of largely choreographed races in a village fête atmosphere.

We decide that it would be rude to leave now without doing a few laps in homage to those great days.

Cycling in Brittany is a reminder that the sport is about far more than racing or ticking off famous climbs. It’s about the landscapes that shaped the riders I once watched on grainy TVs; the small towns that still celebrate their heroes decades on; the hidden lanes where I first struggled to hold my dad’s wheel; the quiet bays where the road runs out; and the climbs so much steeper than they looked on the screen.

Each new road on this short trip has revealed another layer of the region’s rugged character and rich history. No wonder it has produced so many champions. And the best part is that there’s always more to discover. We’ve barely nibbled at the edges this time, but I know Brittany will keep calling me back just as it has been ever since those first family trips all those years ago.

Essential information for riding in Brittany

How to get there
The easiest way is via Brittany Ferries from Plymouth, Poole or Portsmouth into Roscoff, Cherbourg, Saint-Malo and Caen respectively. Another option is to fly into Rennes (Easyjet flies from Manchester and Gatwick from as little as £25 each way) and hire a bike. Abicyclette Voyages in Rennes rents out all types of bike (from €160 per week).

Where to stay
We stayed at the very modest Camping Municipal in Quintin. One night for two people, a tent and a car came to a mighty €7. Don’t leave without spinning a few laps on the ancient open-air velodrome next door.

When to go
July and August are very busy – Brittany’s hugely popular with French tourists, but it’s a real draw for Dutch and Germans as well. Autumn is quieter, with less pressure on hotels and campsites, but don’t leave it too late as many campsites will be closed by the end of September.

Eating and drinking
If you’re a seafood fan, you’ll be in heaven anywhere on Brittany’s coastline. We enjoyed a world-class plateau de fruits de mer for lunch in Cancale, just east of Saint-Malo. If you prefer terre to mer, the lamb from the Prés Salés (salt marshes) is hard to beat, though pricey.

On a more modest budget, you’ll find galettes (buckwheat pancakes) filled with cheese, ham, mushrooms for less than €10. Top it off with a slice of Far Breton (a sort of custard flan with prunes) or Kouign-Amann (pronounced ‘queen uh-mon’), a rich, buttery pastry.

Cycling routes and events
Brittany is well served with cycling routes, from quiet, well-signposted rural roads (VeloRoutes) to a network of canal towpaths and old railway lines (Voies Vertes or Green Ways). The website brittanytourism.com is a good place to start, and links to the main France Velo Tourisme site for maps, elevations and more.

Brittany loves its bike racing, and highlights include the epic Tro-Bro Léon in May (called the Hell of the West for its hellish farm tracks and cobbles - and the winner gets a piglet. Yes, really). The more conventional GP de Plouay and Bretagne Classic take place in late August. For more, visit: cyclisme.bzh

Thanks to
Our thanks to George Bazley, who races with Montoir Atlantique Cyclisme, for joining us in Brittany to model for photos.

Cycling in Brittany - local knowledge

We caught up with Cyclo Club Chateaubourg, spectating near Vitré on stage eight of this year’s Tour. The club’s vice president Olivier Cavaloc says club cycling in the region is on the up.

“It’s a pretty healthy scene. When I started 30 years ago, we had 30 licence-holders, and now we have 105. We organise four or five rides a week. Today’s ride out to watch the Tour will be about 110km. Local favourites? David Gaudu, Warren Barguil, Kévin Vauquelin.” [Other club members heckle: “He’s not local, he’s from Normandy!”] “It’s real cycling country here. It’s not like the Alps, where you can’t ride in the winter. You can ride all year round. You have to be tough, but the rain’s not that cold.”

Breton local Marie-Françoise Lendrein and her husband were parked by the road for the Tour’s Mûr de Bretagne stage. “It’s lovely – a great atmosphere,” said Lendrein. “We’re from Finistère. Normally we follow every stage of the Tour but we’re getting older and it’s getting harder to find somewhere to park the van by the side of the road, so this year we’re just doing the Brittany stages.

This year, by accident, we were next to Adrien Petit – he’s retiring soon and he’s not riding the Tour but he was out to cheer on his Intermarché-Wanty team-mates. We’ve known him for years. A lovely man.”

What does it take to secure a contract with a WorldTour team? Single-digit body fat? Through-the-roof endurance? Muscles chiselled from granite? All these are useful, but what about something more specific and measurable? For that, we turn to an old metric, a new term and a recent revelation.

“Our experience suggests that the rider’s performance after 3,000kJ of work done is where we should be looking to identify quality juniors who could make it at WorldTour level,” says John Wakefield, director of development at the Red-Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe under-23 development team. “That’s a higher number than we expected when we started this project.” On a professional level, this development will help scouts refine data search. At recreational level, discovering the impact of kilojoules – that is, spent energy – on your performance will help you beat fatigue and race stronger. All in all, it’s time to talk workload, durability and why 3,000 is the magic number – for budding professionals, anyway.

Race-winning metric

Remco Evenepoel’s transfer from Soudal Quick-Step to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe for the 2026 season somewhat eclipsed the team’s signing of four other riders, including the Belgian’s Quick-Step team-mate Mattia Cattaneo, and Gianni Vermeersch from Alpecin-Deceuninck. The latter duo, at 34 and 32 years old respectively, are proven on the WorldTour, unlike young guns, Brit Callum Thornley and Aussie Luke Tuckwell, both stepping up from the German outfit’s under-23 development team, the Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe Rookies, which launched at Continental level earlier this year. At time of writing, Thornley had won twice in 2025 – at the British National under-23 TT Championships and the time-trial stage at the Sibiu Cycling Tour in Romania. Tuckwell’s best result was second on GC at the Giro Next Gen. But beyond race results, what made these two riders such promising prospects in the eyes of the team’s selectors?

VO2max and power-profile data remain important, of course, but energy spent – measured in kilojoules – has become the magic number in talent-spotting. The epiphany came at the World Championships in Zurich last year, when Italian Lorenzo Finn of the Red Bull junior team, Grenke Auto Eder, won junior road race gold. The analytics team would later discover that when he rode away from Spain’s Héctor Álvarez with 20km to go, Finn had already burnt through 3,000kJ. “Until then, the research had suggested around 2,000kJ was the threshold for identifying good junior and under-23 talent,” says Wakefield. “But this performance told us 3,000kJ was the benchmark we should be looking at.”

Hours before the real race starts. Take Evenepoel’s 2023 Liège-Bastogne-Liège triumph. The Belgian completed the 257km parcours in 6:16.11, averaging 41.3kph (25.7mph) at a cadence of 93rpm, having burned 5,965kcal. How does this relate to kilojoules? One kilocalorie equals 4.184kJ, so Evenepoel’s 5,965kcal equates to 24,975kJ of total energy expended. But viewed through a cycling lens, that figure assumes 100% efficiency – as if every joule burned became forward motion. In reality, cyclists are only 20-25% efficient, with most energy lost as heat. Assuming midpoint efficiency of 22.5%, Evenepoel’s true mechanical output comes out at 5,615kJ. We don’t have access to his power file from LBL, but we do know that the Belgian’s race-winning move came with 33km to go on the Côte de la Retoute, meaning he delivered a peloton-breaking burst of power after he’d already done 5,000kJ of work. If you want to drop the world’s best, that’s what it takes.

Going hard, then harder

How does this knowledge of work done translate to training objectives? To find out, we turn to another Liège winner, Dan Martin. “At the start of my career, we’d separate long rides and shorter, interval-heavy rides,” he says. “But later that changed to long, hard rides with intense efforts at the end – to mimic the intensity patterns of races. My coach and I achieved that via training to kilojoules for goal races.” The focus switched to developing performance after a huge amount of work had already been done. “Liège in 2013, when I won, was the first year I’d really focused on matching kilojoule count in training to the race itself,” Martin adds. “While my competitors might have been doing six or seven hours easy, I’d ride pretty hard for four hours followed by two hours of motopacing with sprints at the end.” Martin’s benchmark as a top WorldTour pro was 5,000kJ, beyond which he’d repeat hard two- to three-minute efforts to match the demands of the Ardennes Classics. “I’d train harder than the profile demanded, in search of that bit extra.”

Ambitious US riders would train harder than their local races demanded, explains Allen. “There was no choice,” he says. “Once they’d secured a contract in Europe, their races would be longer and more competitive… Our US riders are used to doing 2,500 to 3,000kJ of work [in a race], whereas the European events can be over 5,000kJ. That’s a huge gap, so we had to do a tremendous amount of additional work to prepare them for Europe.” Does this mean we should all be focusing on kilojoules? “The problem with kilojoules in isolation is that it doesn’t take into account intensity,” says Allen. He points out that doing 3,000kJ of work by pootling along at 10mph is very different from doing 3,000kJ-worth of tempo.

Being able to perform after having ripped through 3,000kJ represents excellent durability – the concept of maintaining power after prolonged physical exertion. At the highest level, this counts for more than a rider’s performance when fresh. “It’s a fancy name for the concept we’ve used for years: stamina,” says US coach Hunter Allen, co-author of the best-selling Training and Racing with a Power Meter, “but whether you call it stamina, fatigue resistance or durability, it’s all about matching the demands of a race. Certainly at the professional level, you’re often riding at tempo or sweetspot for three, four or even five hours before the real race starts.”

How amateurs can use kilojoule benchmarks

So what does this mean for amateur riders – how can you use kilojoules as a useful benchmark? To start with, you’ll need a power meter. Then perform two tests: one when fresh, and one when fatigued. For the fresh test, warm up for 20-30 minutes, then ride a 20-minute max effort, akin to a time trial. Record your average power output for this effort. On another day, ideally in similar conditions, ride steadily in zones two to three until your head unit shows 2,000kJ of work (or 2,500kJ if you’re very well trained). For most riders, that’s around two-and-a-half to three hours of riding. Spin easy for five to 10 minutes, then repeat the 20-minute effort, noting your average power for this 20 minutes. Now compare your fresh versus fatigued 20-minute power. A difference of 5% or less means you’re very durable; 5-10% is moderate durability; a drop of over 10% between the two shows your durability needs some work.

Bear in mind that weight is a major factor here. A lighter rider is likely to have to ride for longer to hit their kilojoules benchmark. A heavier rider might hit 2,000kJ in two hours at endurance pace, whereas a smaller rider might take three hours. A small female rider who weighs 50kg, for example, might be better off setting herself a 1,500kJ target. “Age is also a consideration,” adds Allen. “As you grow older, your VO2max drops, making it harder to sustain the higher watts needed to rack up a workload of 2,500kJ.”

Broadly speaking, recreational riders who do less than five hours of training a week are likely to find their durability challenged after 1,500kJ of work. An amateur racer who trains at least eight hours a week should be able to perform quite well beyond 2,000kJ. High-level amateurs and budding professionals should be targeting that magical 3,000kJ figure. At the top level, the best WorldTour pros are able to produce race-winning efforts even after 5,000-6,000kJ of work.

How to up your limit

How do you raise your kilojoules bar for greater durability? First, by understanding that kilojoules are basically a proxy for aerobic capacity. Tolerating heavy workloads requires you to do big volumes of Zone 2 work – as popularised by Tadej Pogačar. However, this advice comes with an important caveat from Allen. “Your training needs to take into consideration time restraints,” he says. “The professionals train 20-30 hours a week, which means they’re doing around six hours of intervals each week. That’s a lot.” He believes amateurs doing six to 10 hours a week should not aim to replicate the 80/20 split of high and low intensity. “Most amateurs simply don’t have the luxury of riding at Zone 2 for that much time. Instead, you need to spend more time at tempo and sweetspot pace, just beneath your threshold, as well as VO2max and FTP intervals. This will boost your ability to burn fat, sparing glycogen [stored glucose] for the harder parts of your race.”

Nutrition also comes into the kilojoules equation, namely on-the-bike feeding. A major limiter of performance beyond muscular fatigue is fuel availability from glucose and glycogen. If you’re not sufficiently fuelled, the body shifts more toward fat oxidation, which is great for endurance pace but not great when looking to hit threshold or sprint efforts. That’s why, on longer rides, you should consume 60-90g of carbohydrates per hour.

Being able to belt out high power after a hefty amount of work – whether it’s 2,000kJ, the magic 3,000kJ for aspiring pros, or 5,000kJ for superstars like Evenepoel – is the essence of race-winning performance. Understanding and tracking your kilojoule workload brings clarity to what used to be guesswork, revealing how long you can truly perform before fatigue sets in. Whether you’re chasing road race success or simply want to put your mates to the sword in the final miles of long rides, the principle is the same: build the engine, fuel it well, and teach it to keep firing when the tank feels empty. Get that balance right, and you’ll not only raise your kilojoule ceiling – you’ll redefine what you thought was possible on the bike.

Monster workloads, mega numbers

71,500kJ: Estimated total mechanical energy expenditure of a Tour de France rider across the 21 stages

76,000kcal: Estimated total metabolic energy expenditure of a Tour de France rider across the 21 stages

6,000kJ: Approximate amount of work done by a rider at the sharp end of a one-day Classic such as Paris-Roubaix

6.5%: Drop-off in 20-minute TT performance by well-trained amateurs after a defined prior workload, versus 12.5% for weaker riders – according to a 2025 study by Barsumyan et al.

60g: Amount of carbohydrates per hour needed to extend your durability

5,000KJ: Workload beyond which the world’s best riders are still able to launch and sustain efforts at close to their ‘fresh’ FTP

The full, original version of this feature was published in the 30 October 2025 print edition of Cycling Weekly magazine – available to buy on the newsstand every Thursday (UK only) while digital versions are available on Apple News and Readly. Subscriptions through Magazine's Direct.

"It’s been almost too hot,” Simon shouts above the roar as we stride along Galway seafront, leaning into the wind, eager for our first pint of the trip. We’d almost walked past him – just a pair of rain-spattered glasses and a nose poking from the small ‘o’ of his waterproof hood. Too hot? From anyone else I’d assume irony, but Simon is a solicitor by trade, and I know when he’s about to deliver evidence. Sure enough, he recounts a glorious yet sweltering ride down through Donegal, the heatwave breaking only last night – just in time for our arrival.

It’s late June, and my partner Anton and I have one goal: to strike out west as far as the land will take us, not stopping at the coast but pushing on to the offshore islands, until there’s nothing in front of us but sea. The motivation is complicated, but we’ll get to that. Our friend Simon has been here a week already, camp-and-ride touring in his van, and is joining us for a sociable finale to what has been, by his account, a Saharan slog. “Don’t worry,” I assure him as he savours a long draught of cold Guinness, “we won’t be succumbing to heatstroke over the next few days.” I hold up my phone: five grey clouds in a row, three with raindrops, one with a shyly peeping sun.

The next morning, it’s almost a relief that it’s only drizzling as we collect the bikes and load them into the van. A short drive takes us to Rossaveel, where the passenger ferry departs for our first island: Inishmore (Inis Mór, meaning ‘big island’), the largest of the Aran archipelago. Overnight provisions strapped to our bikes, we freewheel down to the quayside and join the queue huddled under an undersized shelter. Standing there waiting to swap a landmass with almost limitless riding terrain for a 12-square-mile rock in the Atlantic, I remind the other two that we’re here on a voyage of discovery.

Earlier in the year, I’d read about an Irish government policy offering up to €84,000 (£73,000) to anyone willing to buy a derelict property on an offshore island and make it habitable again. It was part of an effort to reverse a stark trend: in 1911, Ireland had 124 inhabited islands with a combined population of 24,700; by 2016, that number had fallen to just 2,734 islanders on 23 islands. Coming from a corner of southern England where new housing estates are being thrown up on every scrap of brownfield despite our already jammed, potholed roads, depopulation struck me as an enviable problem. Then again, I was probably romanticising – and if I was to avoid the cliché of looking to the islands to fulfil, in the words of historian Diarmaid Ferriter, “a utopian ideal of escape from oppressive urbanisation,” I needed to get a real taste of island life.

The edge of Europe

Disembarking onto Inishmore, any notion of underpopulation vanishes. The place is abuzz with tourists, most of them zooming around on hired bikes. Pedalling west towards our B&B, we find ourselves in near nose-to-tail traffic: wobbling riders of all ages, veering as the views distract them or as sightseer minibuses steam past in the opposite direction. It’s a joyful scene – so many families enjoying themselves on bikes – but the theme-park vibe isn’t quite what I’d had in mind. My worry lifts as I’m reminded that tourists move in predictable herds. Beyond the cafe and the Aran sweater shop at the island’s central crossroads, the roads empty and the western horizon is ours. Even more miraculously, the sun is beginning to break through the clouds.

With blue sky expanding above us, the road first kicks up with a near-20% ramp, before easing into a gradual descent towards the Aran Islands’ westernmost tip. On either side, green fields give way to a vast limestone patio that was scoured smooth by Ice Age glaciers but which looks like a runway laid expressly to launch us off the edge of the continent. The road ends where the glittering Atlantic begins, and as we roll down onto the promontory, I understand what Seamus Heaney was getting at when he called the Aran Islands “three stepping stones out of Europe”. Standing with the ocean lapping at my feet, the thought that the next landfall is America makes the world feel suddenly too big and too small at the same time.

That evening, as we ride back towards the harbour for dinner, a strange grunting cuts through the otherwise perfect silence. Not quite a honk, not quite a bark – more like a dog trying to cough up a goose – it’s coming from the rocky outcrops on our left. We stop, squint our eyes and realise that some of the rocks are squirming: a group of at least eight seals are holding a very vocal soirée. Minutes later, at our own feeding frenzy at Joe Watty’s pub, we plot the next day: a quick historical excursion before a dash back for the ferry and onward to our next island. Simon insists on three courses, worried by a rumour that a planned power outage might jeopardise his full Irish breakfast.

Faithful to our plan, we rise early and hike up to Dún Aonghasa, the clifftop fort built some 3,000 years ago. Three massive stone walls enclose a semicircle around the cliff edge – though why a sheer drop into the Atlantic ever needed defending is anyone’s guess. As we clamber inside, Simon is still lamenting his cold breakfast when a lone Frenchman raises his clarinet and starts playing a reedy dirge. It creates such a haunting ambience that I’m convinced this place was built for ceremony, not war. Between us and the sea, there’s no fence, no railing, just open sky – and I’m not about to become the day’s sacrifice. Dropping to my stomach, I wriggle seal-like to peer over the edge. Far below, gulls and gannets are specks against the dark sea, and scale is once again called in question: the 100m drop looks at least a kilometre.

By midday, we’re back on the ferry, watching Inishmore recede behind us. Our first task back on the mainland is to get ourselves rapidly ensconced in the nearest Spar, stuffing our faces with baguettes and flapjacks to fuel the afternoon’s ‘transition stage’ to Clifden. The route northwest is classic Connemara: long, serene stretches of peat bog, sparkling loughs on either side, and the horizon jagged with the Twelve Pins and Maumturks. With the wind behind us and only gentle undulations to overcome, we pass more donkeys than cars, and very nearly sail all the way without incident – until Anton takes an unexplained tumble less than 500m from the hotel door. Thankfully it’s just a graze – nothing that can’t be salved by Clifden’s plentiful supply of liquid medicinals.

Taking the Sky Road

Morning brings bright sun, a chilly breeze and the promise of our next island. The direct route to the ferry is only a few miles, but when the scenic alternative is called the Sky Road, it’s impossible to resist. Sweeping views over the bay more than justify the extra climb while demanding more photo stops than our ferry schedule allows; by the time we roll onto Cleggan quay the boat is already being loaded. “I’ll probably say this only once: water creates spray,” deadpans the gruff ferryman, “and there’s a good few million gallons of the stuff out there,” he rolls his eyes seaward as he shepherds us below deck.

Stepping ashore on Inishbofin (Inis Bó Finne, meaning ‘island of the white cow’) – current population 180, down from 1,400 in 1841 – the contrast with Inishmore is immediate: no hint of tourist trap, and no other cyclists in sight. After dropping our panniers at the hotel, we pedal to the shop-cum-post office for snacks but end up with a haul of gifts from the gloriously eclectic stock: everything from pro-Palestine pendants to langoustine-shaped beanbags. When the jovial shopkeeper tells us he has lived here for a year, I ask how he’s adjusted to island life. “They’ll carry me off at gunpoint or in a box,” he replies, and I guess that means he likes it. Before we can find out, he shoos us out the door towards the harbour ruins, warning the tide will cut us off unless we get a move on.

The star-shaped fort at the harbour mouth was built after Inishbofin fell to Oliver Cromwell in 1652, having held out longer than anywhere else. Sheltering from the wind behind its thick stone walls, I shiver at the thought of the priests rounded up and imprisoned here. With the sea encroaching, we hurry back across the causeway, and it takes a moment to realise why I’m singing Elvis Costello on repeat. After one too many choruses of ‘Oliver’s Army’, Simon interrupts to point out that beneath the chirpy melody lies a tirade against centuries of British colonialism in Ireland, Palestine and beyond. Only on this western fringe could 400 years of history leap so lyrically into the present. Speaking of wild edges, the tide has kept us to a tight schedule, so we’ve the rest of the afternoon free for a lap of the island.

As we plot our route at the roadside, a farmer pulls up and starts untying a gate: “Are you lost? You’d do well to get lost here.” He has a point – Inishbofin is only 3.4 miles long by two miles wide. “I need you to help me. You’ll stand there, and you there,” he commands, and we grin noncommittally, assuming he’s joking – until he roars off into the field, dispatching his sheepdog. Only then do we realise we’re human barricades, blocking the flock’s escape down the road. The pressure feels absurdly high, but proving ourselves up to the task brings an almost unseemly sense of achievement. Stragglers safely through, we resume our ride and promptly take a wrong turn – lost after all – just as the first fat drops of rain spatter our forearms. Within minutes it’s lashing down, and we hightail it to the nearest shelter, a cafe serving homemade cakes and local beers. As the storm begins to look set in for the evening, so too, inevitably, does our drinking.

Change as good as a rest

Back at the Doonmore – the westernmost hotel in the British Isles – dinner is served in what Andrew Murray, the owner, tells us was once his great-grandfather’s bedroom. We continue to drink as steadily as the rain, proudly recounting our special moment as herdsmen. Murray nods and says he can explain it, but only in Irish: meitheal. There is no equivalent word in English, but it has to do with neighbourliness and mutual reliance – something island communities can’t survive without. It reminds him of another special quality of Inishbofin which he recognised only after Covid. Returning guests suddenly seemed extra appreciative of the island, and he couldn’t understand why – until someone pointed it out: here, nothing had changed.

By the time we squeeze into the hotel’s wood-panelled bar, every table is taken, with more still arriving, coats and boots dripping. We edge in at the bar, and before long fiddles and an accordion appear at a corner table. There’s no mic, no announcement – only a quiet word from Murray that the lead musician is a member of Idaho country-rock band Reckless Kelly. His songs are mostly cowboy ballads full of time-worn longing, and in the pauses between them, he and the others mull over their origins – old Irish and English folk tunes carried back and forth, slowly reshaped to fit new landscapes. Listening in, I’m struck by the endless ache and energy of departures, and reminded that ours is close at hand: we leave in the morning.

I think again about that grant, the islands’ need for newcomers. Could I buy a derelict cottage here, start afresh? It’s a tempting idea: the constancy, the kindness, the music. Yet it’s daunting too: the remoteness, the power cuts, the endless rain that has us drinking instead of riding. The next morning, with weather and time against us and our heads as thick as the mizzle, we walk the island’s road-free Westquarter. It’s not just unspoiled, but Edenic: gannets slicing into shoals offshore, flutey flypasts from territorial oystercatchers, seals bobbing in the bays. Can all this really stay the same, I wonder, as another squall slaps my face. “Any sign of your heatwave?” I ask Simon as he scans the sea through binoculars. Anton half-jokes that if climate change carries on, this could end up the only place still cool enough for a summer holiday, Europe’s last party island. It’s a sobering thought, and one that makes up my mind: we’ll have to come back, not for what’s stayed the same, but to see how much has changed.

Key travel information

● How to get there

We flew with Easyjet from London Gatwick to Shannon (£60-£100 return), then took an hour’s taxi ride to Galway. The Inishmore and Inishbofin ferry crossings take 30-40min and cost approx €25 return.

● Where to stay

On Inishmore we stayed at Kilmurvey House, a large B&B beside the main beach (from €149; kilmurvey-house.com). In Clifden, the Quay House offers harbour views and startling animal skins (from €190; thequayhouse. com). On Inishbofin, Murray’s Doonmore Hotel is the heart of the island’s music scene (from €120; doonmore.com). All prices are double/twin room per night.

● Bike hire

Our bikes were provided by West Ireland Cycling in Galway, which offers a quality fleet of Trek touring, road and gravel bikes (€25–€50 per day): westirelandcycling.com.

● Irish islands by bike

A longer trip could follow the Wild Atlantic Way, hopping between the Arans, Inishbofin, Inishturk and Clare Island before a final night of live music in Westport.

Thanks to Claire McCune and Tourism Ireland.

This article was first published in the 23 October 2025 print edition of Cycling Weekly magazine – available to buy on the newsstand every Thursday (UK only) while digital versions are available on Apple News and Readly. Subscriptions through Magazine's Direct.

This week, we ran a piece about someone rediscovering the love of cycling. Without the shackles of heart-rate monitoring and pace-setting, Sean Russell was able to enjoy the landscape around him in a way he couldn’t when in pursuit of personal bests and training goals.

He saw deer galloping in fields, and took time to enjoy the rolling hills. “I looked down at my speed and saw it was just 23km/h, and that was perfect,” he concluded.

Russell’s pursuit of the slow lane has struck a chord - though one commenter under his post, Blue (and I), still marvel at a 23km/h average speed. It is something many agreed with.

“It's so easy to fall into the over competitive side of cycling, and so important to get back to the roots of your motivation, that is, the joy of riding your bike in the countryside. Competition is fun, but it can become addictive and, ultimately, unhealthy,” wrote Guido, another commenter. “A good balance helps your cycling passion to stay sustainable in the long term.”

Many people commenting on Russell’s article too have been “serious” cyclists, reforming either because of age, or for a lost sense of joy that had become dislodged on long, hard training rides.

“In my early 70s, I favour something in between the leisurely ride and the all-out race, a ride that will keep me in shape without being overly strenuous,” M. Bellefeuille wrote, noting that this balance-point allowed him to enjoy the spectacle of “the mighty St Lawrence River [in North America] as I ride along it!”

Another seasoned rider “with over 750km and hundreds of races in my legs” counts the 23km/h rides as the “pinnacle of my cycling life!” He, too, has kept hold of the simple joy of riding a bike outside. “(Almost) every ride continues to be amazing, just like that first ride, many decades ago!”

It’s easy to fall into the delicious trap of chasing goals. It’s easy, too, to forget that Strava is a kind of social media, a tool to measure yourself not only against your previous workouts, but against the people you follow, and the friends you ride with. It’s addictive, one commenter reminds us.

“A very important lesson in life is that there will always be someone better/richer/slimmer/taller than you; it’s a fool's errand chasing the top spot,” they wrote. “Ride your bike for yourself, not anyone else.”

The people responding to Russell’s story of lost and rekindled love met the article at different stages in their own journey with our sport. Some bolstered by the permission to go slower, to ride differently. Others, however, are at Russell’s pain-point, when his desire to ride had fallen flat.

“I haven’t been riding for about six weeks now, and still don’t feel any desire to do so,” Sammy said. “I hope that in time I will be able to go out on my bike and just enjoy the ride and not race my hardest every time . That would be great to ride under no pressure at all.”

Larry, on the other hand, taps out a comment, joy sparking: “I was not much good at racing anyway so why was I ruining a nice ride? If it wasn't fun why do it? I still overdid things despite not racing and am paying the price but with e-bike now I can have fun without worrying about making my heart issues worse.”

One seasoned time triallist pitched in, swapping Garmin-monitored summer training sessions with off-season rides designed purely with enjoyment in mind: “heart rate, cadence, power – so what?”

So, shake off the shackles of fast, tough training rides, fellow cyclists! Regain the joy of riding, and then maybe stick a tracker in your back pocket and see how you feel.

The goal is - for me anyway - to be like one of the commenters under the original article, for every ride to feel like the first, but mostly just to maintain the pleasure of cycling, no matter how hard you decide to push yourself.

Christmas Eve 2018, and Niall Quiggin is on his inaugural ride with a group known as 'the Posse'. It's the kind of training session happening all across the UK as cyclists burn a few festive calories before the big day. Only this ride is different.

Sitting among the group of amateurs is the greatest sprinter of all time: a man who just six years later would win his 35th stage of the Tour de France, beating the record Eddy Merckx had held for almost 50 years. Mark Cavendish was raised on the Isle of Man and still returns frequently - it's not unusual to spot him out training here. And he's often happy to share his expertise.

"It was one of my first times out with the group," explains Quiggin. "We were doing a lap of the island and, for whatever reason, I wasn't riding tight enough. Cav absolutely laid into me. I've ridden with him quite a few times since then and when you get something wrong, he will rip the back end out of you." That kind of insight has helped 30-year-old Quiggin go from strength to strength.

He's an advocate for the island and has joined Cycling Weekly because he wants more cyclists to see what this place has to offer. We meet him in late June, just weeks before he heads to Orkney to help secure team gold in the Island Games, a biannual event that attracts competitors from places as far-flung as the Falklands, Bermuda and St Helena.

He often trains with the very best Manx riders. "With a population of just under 85,000 people, we must have the highest per capita number of professional riders in the world," says Quiggin as we pedal away from the Bee Gees statue in Douglas, the island's capital (the Gibb brothers were born here before the family migrated to Australia).

I'm not here to learn about Manx music, but to discover how the island - a self-governing Crown Dependency that is only 33 miles long by 13 miles wide - produces so many world-class cyclists. In doing so, I also want to find out if it's worth a visit for those of us hoping the magic might brush off. Cav may have retired but the talent keeps coming: among the current crop, there's former national time trial champion Lizzie Holden, UCI WorldTour riders Becky Storrie and Max Walker, and Tekkerz CC's Matt Bostock.

Wild and wonderful It's early morning as we pedal along the promenade and take on the first incline, avoiding the tracks for the horse-drawn trams that will be heaving with tourists later today. We are sightseeing too, on the lookout for golden postal and telephone boxes in nearby Onchan, painted to celebrate local rider Peter Kennaugh's Olympic gold in London 2012.

They were briefly repainted red in 2022, until locals campaigned for them to stay gold for the foreseeable future. It's the motorcycling TT races that most people associate with the island and which have clearly led to investment in the road surface. It feels like a magic carpet ride in comparison to the potholed routes I'm used to riding in England.

"The road quality is really good here," agrees Quiggin as we head north along the coast. "It's super grippy which is great for training, but if you ride regularly on the Isle of Man you have to learn to deal with the hills and the wind ."

The island's often wild weather played a part in forming the skills of its greatest rider, reckons Quiggin. "When you watch Cav in a sprint, you can see how much thought goes into his positioning. He's always reading the wind, making sure he's sheltered until the last moment ."

If you can beat the Isle of Man's squalls, you can beat anyone. "It's not just about raw speed or power," adds Quiggin. "He knows how to use the elements to his advantage ." I tuck low as we drop into Laxey, the village where Cavendish's mum lives, and then stand on the pedals to savour the steady gradient of the Ramsey Road, with views that open up across the rugged coastline beyond.

This island is packed with the kind of scenery that lures you out of the door and gets you exploring one headland after another. I'm keeping my eyes peeled for curlews and hen harriers.

There's even a population of about 1,000 red-necked wallabies hiding in the woods-still on the run after they escaped from the island's Curraghs Wildlife Park in the 1960s. Quiggin leans into corners, displaying his local knowledge on the long descent into Ramsey. He wants to introduce us to Andrew Roche, a 53-year-old cycling coach and former pro who competed in seven Commonwealth Games.

Inside Roche's shop the walls are decorated with jerseys worn by big-name Manx riders as well as his own Commonwealth top, signed by Cav, who was his team-mate in 2006 and 2010. "When I turned professional in 1996, there were just 10 registered pros in the whole of the UK and I was the only one on the island," says Roche.

"That was in [Chris] Boardman's era, but in our heyday we had 10 professional riders on the island alone ." The opportunity to represent the Isle of Man in both the Commonwealth and the Island Games gives young riders something to aim for, explains Roche, who plays down his own achievements.

"When you live on the same island as the record holder for Tour de France stage wins, it feels a little inconsequential," he says. "Cav still says that it's one of the best places to ride: the roads are quiet, the scenery is brilliant and you often bump into top riders as you cycle around the island ."

Sure enough, on the road to the village of Bride we pause to talk to Sam Brand, who races for ProTeam Novo Nordisk, all of whose riders have type-one diabetes. Having raced in two Commonwealth Games, he explains that he wants to demonstrate that diabetes need not define or limit anyone. As we are about to wave him off, 'the Posse' come tearing past in a tight group, all tucked low. Minutes later, a peloton known as the 'Scone Run' - a group of older, gnarlier riders- hurtles past in the opposite direction.

Friendly community A coffee stop by the motor museum is swiftly followed by a pinch flat that refuses to reinflate, so we limp to the Sulby Hotel where a group of riders lend us a pump. One even gives us directions to his house and the location of a track pump in his back garden, should we need it.

This could be the friendliest community of cyclists I've ever met. We need good tyre pressure for the climb ahead. Chris Boardman set the record for the Snaefell Mountain Course in 1993, with a time of just under one hour and 24 minutes for the 37.7-mile route. That record held for 22 years before Kennaugh beat it by six seconds in 2015.

But we've been advised to avoid that road. There are no speed limits on the Isle of Man and a fleet of Maserati sports cars getting off the ferry this morning will be hoping to hit maximum velocity as they crest the summit. We don't want to be sharing the roads with them on a grinding ascent in poor visibility. Instead we ride through Tholt-y-Will glen, on a narrow road that follows a tumbling mountain stream and leads to a quieter 450m climb of Snaefell. It may be small but the island is packed with hidden glens, forests, wild coastal roads and sections of gravel for more adventurous days out.

With a deadline to return our borrowed bikes, we have just enough time for the initial steep switchback before retracing our steps to the eastern coast of the island. With the rain hammering down, there is one final sprint on the rollercoaster stretch of road overlooking Peel, before we say goodbye to Quiggin at the Tynwald Hill in St Johns.

This structure was established by Norse settlers and is the site of the oldest working parliament in the world. The earliest Viking raids were in 798 AD and you can find traces of Norse culture dotted around the island from nearby Peel castle built in the 11th century, to the Balladoole burial mound near its southern tip. Maybe some of that DNA is still swilling around the island and responsible for its good cycling genes.

The making of Cav The Isle of Man's prodigious cycling talent is certainly starting to make sense: there's the weather, the ascents, the opportunity to represent the island in international competition and the fact that young riders - and visitors like me can easily find themselves in the company of established pros.

But there's one factor that outweighs all of this and can be found at the National Sports Centre (NSC) in Douglas, the perfect end to any tour. It's here that a nine-year-old Mark Cavendish started his career under the guidance of Dot Tilbury. "I remember Mark turning up for the first time," says Tilbury, carrying a heavy scrapbook of news cuttings from the hundreds of cyclists she has mentored.

Among them is a treasured image with a young Cavendish: "I'd say to him, 'what are you going to do today?' and he would say 'I am going to win'," she says, beaming with pride.

On Tuesday night each week, some 300 kids descend on the NSC for Tilbury's training sessions. How anyone controls that number of young people is beyond me, but Tilbury, who is in her 70s, has an energy and drive that is quite astonishing.

For the last 20 years she has been the key to developing local talent but she is keen to shine the light elsewhere. "When Mark won the World Championships [in 2011], we signed up 572 kids," explains Tilbury. "His impact is huge. He loves the Isle of Man. He loves coming back here ."

And he's back this week, at the very racetrack where he started his career, which is being renamed in his honour. Hundreds of young riders have gathered at the Sir Mark Cavendish Raceway to watch him set the 'record' for a lap that they can measure themselves against.

There are kids on balance bikes and mountain bikes, oversized racers and top-end machines. It is Tilbury's 'wide funnel' approach that ensures the Isle of Man will be producing great talent for years to come. After the speeches, Cavendish is swallowed up in a scrum of young cyclists all clamouring for his autograph.

He's in his element, taking time to talk to everyone, signing anything thrust under his nose and telling kids to "dream big". Tilbury's latest prodigies look like professional riders in waiting, and in an impromptu team sprint around a hotel car park, it's all I can do to keep them in sight. What impresses me most is their attitude, the etiquette and respect that Tilbury has instilled in them.

Until next time On the ferry the following day, I watch the island slip over the horizon in the company of cyclists Geoff and Lisa. "We ride here most years," says Lisa. "We got a late ferry here on Friday evening, rode into the night and bivvied out. There's so much to keep coming back for ."

We share notes and they urge me to come back to explore the south of the island, which they describe as wilder and even more beautiful. Who knows, I might sign up for a Manx race in the hope that I find myself in the company of Cav and a host of other pros. More likely, though, I'll return with a gravel bike, bivvy and pair of binoculars to discover the island's wildlife and more adventurous terrain.

KEY INFORMATION

How to get there There are flights to the Isle of Man from locations across the UK but the best way to arrive on the island is via ferries that run from Liverpool, Heysham, Dublin and Belfast. You can take your bike, and you can book at steam-packet.com.

When to go: The weather is best from May to September, but avoid the last week of May and the first week of June when the TT Races dominate the island.

Where to stay: We stayed at the Comis Hotel about 6km out of Douglas (from £99 per night, comishotel.com). The Devonian in Douglas is well priced, has secure bike storage and is close to the ferry (thedevonian.co.uk).

Events and routes: The Gran Fondo takes place on the island in July. This 137km route on closed roads attracts local celebs like Tyler Hannay and Ruby Oakes (granfondoisleofman.com). There are also shorter 72km and 32km routes available. You can find a host of road and MTB events at cycling.im. Riding a full loop of the island, you'll cover 100-150km. Snaefell and Cronk ny Arrey Laa are essential highlights for climbing connoisseurs. And there's a host of gravel routes right across the island.

Bike hire: We hired bikes from Cycle 360 (cycle360.com), which has a range of road, gravel and mountain bikes, as well as a cafe serving excellent coffee. It is owned by competitive cyclist Mark Horsthuis. He recommends bringing wet weather gear-and we would agree!.

"Is it safe?" and "What was it like going up Alto de Letras?" Those are the two questions I'm asked whenever I mention that I spent a chunk of February this year cycling in Colombia. The first question comes from non-cyclists, the second from riders who know their climbs - usually with a glint in their eye.

They know that Letras is the stuff of legend: 80km uphill, rising from steaming valleys to the thin air of a 3,680m pass. It was lined up for day three of our 10-day tour across the Andes - but I knew there was going to be so much more to this amazing country than one massive climb.

The seed for the trip was planted during a tour in the Alps last summer, when our Saddle Skedaddle guide told me that Colombia was his favourite place to ride. He'd done nine tours from Bogotá to Cartagena via Medellín, and spoke about lush mountain scenery, soaring climbs and wall-to-wall sunshine. Back home in the Lake District, flicking through the itinerary of the trip, and weighing it up against another grey February in Cumbria, the choice was easily made: I booked immediately.

Bogotá breath training

Our group was a mix of riders from the UK, US, Australia and New Zealand. All were very experienced riders curious about tackling terrain beyond Europe's familiar climbs like Mont Ventoux or the Galibier. We quickly discovered that in Colombia, cyclists aren't a nuisance - we're part of the national story. That sense of being welcome underpinned the whole trip.

Our start location was Bogotá, which sits at 2,640m above sea level. The tour operator suggested arriving early to acclimatise to the thin air. It was sage advice. On my first day, I set out to hike up Mount Monserrate (3,152m) assuming that, fit from my winter training, I'd be fine. Instead, I found myself gasping for breath as locals of all ages and sizes breezed past. A preview of what was to come.

On Sundays, Bogotá closes more than 120km of roads to cars, turning them over to cyclists, runners and families - known as the weekly Ciclovia. We were not there to join in, unfortunately, but a couple of us managed a short ride the day before our tour proper started. This included the main climb out of Bogotá as well as a visit to Egan Bernal's shop. We were to learn that Colombians have a deep respect for their cycling stars - not only Tour de France champion Bernal, but Rigoberto Urán, Nairo Quintana and riders from previous eras such as Luis 'Lucho' Herrera and Martin 'Cochise' Rodríquez.

Our short shake-out ride had helped settle our nerves, but nothing could have prepared us for dropping from the high plateau into Colombia's deep valleys. The tour proper began after a short transfer out of the capital to avoid the worst of the traffic. With the busy streets behind us, we set out through rolling country, which remained the theme of the next two days: terrain lumpy enough to keep the effort honest at all times.

Passing through Colombian towns was endlessly distracting: the noise, the music, the roadside cafes, motorbikes buzzing past, colourful lorries with burnished chrome, and children waving and shouting encouragement.

By day three, we were in Mariquita, 495m above sea level. The Letras ascent would take us up to 3,680m in one continuous climb. The stats are intimidating: over 80km of uphill and 4,100m of climbing - making it one of the longest road climbs in the world. It begins, unsurprisingly, in the heat. As we hit the lower slopes, it began to pour with rain - and didn't cease for the next 40km. With the temperature at 34°C, the downpour was more relief than hindrance, lending the climb a lush, tropical feel as rain dripped from the roadside banana leaves.

The initial gradients were 'grippy', averaging 7% for the first 5km. It's not the steepness but the sheer scale of the mountain that plays tricks with your head. Half an hour in, we had barely dented it. Hours later, we were still going. The average gradient of 4% is skewed by five mid-climb descents; the true average of the uphill is closer to 6%. As we rose, the landscape transformed. Jungle gave way to farmland - still plenty of trees, but interspersed with open pasture.

Beyond halfway, as the air thinned, so did the tree cover, replaced by rocky crags, while the road stretched endlessly upwards ahead of us. Clouds skimmed across the tarmac, and it was now getting cold. The group spread out into ones and twos. Support vans leapfrogged us, our Colombian drivers emerging with fresh fruit, water, energy bars and bocadillos-guava paste blocks that became our fuelling saviour.

The stalls selling fresh fruit and drinks, commonplace on the lower slopes, were now far behind us. Trucks ground past, always patient to give us plenty of space. I found myself in a rhythm, counting off the kilometre markers on my head-unit, trying not to contemplate the number still to go.

Hours blurred into each other. Anxiety about the possible effects of the high altitude affected us all, though thankfully no one succumbed to any serious sickness. That said, none of us were immune to the effects of reduced oxygen, and it became steadily harder to suck enough air into our lungs to sustain our complaining quadriceps. Over the final 20km, my breathing and heart rates were noticeably higher, and my speed considerably lower.

Reaching the pass wasn't about a burst of glory - more relief, disbelief and quiet satisfaction. Seven hours for some, less for others, but everyone who got to the top was proud to do so (the Strava KOM is an incredible 3:01:53 by Colombian Didier Chaparro). Standing there in the cool mountain air, with the world spread out below, we remembered that this was just day three. The Andes had far more in store for us.

Treasures and treachery

What followed were days of climbing and descending, up one valley wall and down the next. The climbs weren't as long as Letras, but many were steeper, and all came at altitude. Occasional rain swept in without warning, soaking us in minutes, then the sun returned as if nothing had happened.

The road surfaces were generally good but never predictable: speed humps of almost infinite variety and ingenuity, some of them very vicious, would appear like an ambush at the bottom of descents, while drains lurked at the edge. Roadworks came upon you suddenly, providing scant warning before the road deteriorated into a quagmire. On some descents, there were treacherous patches of tarmac with undulations redolent of a fairground ride. But traffic was generally light, and drivers consistently courteous. Compared to the UK, it felt like another world.

The length of the descents was truly breathtaking - some of them seemed neverending. On the busier roads, this meant overtaking multiple lorries - not something I'd consider doing in the UK, but made possible in Colombia in part by the polite nature of the drivers, who would often signal to let you know when to overtake.

Wildlife kept surprising us: vultures circling above as we drank in a cafe, later to be seen stripping the flesh off hides pegged out by farmers alongside the road. Hummingbirds darted around hotel gardens, colourful macaws flashed majestically over the jungle vegetation - and we even saw wild pigs swimming in the lowland wetlands.

Towns offered strong coffee, plates of rice and beans, grilled chicken or steak for a few pounds. Simple, filling, perfect for tired legs.

It was easy to make connections in the group; we bonded through the rhythm of the riding: long climbs tackled at our own pace, descents shared with wide grins, evenings spent swapping stories over cold beer - until the tiredness overwhelmed us.

Much Maligned Medellin

Famous for all the wrong reasons, Medellin was the mid-point of our tour and provided the setting for a rest day. It is beyond the scope of this feature to describe what the cities of Colombia have to offer; suffice to say that Medellin has a vast array of fascinating sights and sounds.

My particular favourite was a tour up into District 13, one of the favelas that the cities in South America are infamous for. After days spent in the countryside, this was a complete contrast. Loud music of every genre assaulted our ears from every direction, street art painted every building in vibrant colours, and the sublime smells of the street food filled the air.

Hordes of people on foot competed for space with moped riders forced to a crawl as we were guided towards one of the highest spots overlooking the city. The guide explained how the favelas had been transformed by escalators and cable cars, enabling residents to access work in the city below, with a concomitant reduction in crime. Not once did we feel threatened or in any danger.

The final days brought a dramatic change. A 30-mile descent took us from the mountains into the heat of the lowlands. Humidity replaced cool mountain air as the green valleys gave way to wetlands and flat plains. On our final stretch to Cartagena on the Caribbean coast, roadside rubbish heaps were a dramatic contrast to the pristine hills we had been cycling through for days before.

Arriving in Cartagena after 10 days of riding, the city's colourful colonial streets felt surreal. Tourists thronged the plazas, music spilled from open doors, the sea shimmered in the background. Finally it was time to relax and reflect on our trip.

So why should a cyclist choose Colombia? For me, three things stood out. The riding itself: incomparable climbs, varied landscapes, a mix of challenge and exhilaration. Second, the culture: in Colombia, cyclists are heroes, drivers respect you, children wave from doorways, and cafe owners ask about your route. Lastly, the sense of adventure: weather, altitude, unpredictability - but always rewarded by views, food and friendship.

Be warned, though, cycling in Colombia isn't easy. The climbs are long, the altitude tests everyone, and the days are demanding. But that's exactly what makes it unforgettable. For me, Colombia wasn't just a cycling holiday. It was the trip of a lifetime.

Key Information for riding in Colombia

How to get there: Direct flights from London to Bogotá take around 11 hours and cost anywhere between £600 and £1,200 return, plus £75-£100 each way for a bike box. Transfers from Bogotá airport are straightforward. We flew with Iberia from Manchester via Madrid.

When to go: The best time for cycling in Colombia is December through February, and July to August, which are the drier periods. Temperatures are fairly constant throughout the year, though it is of course cooler at altitude.

Where to stay: Hotels ranged from very basic to modern city stays. Expect £40-£80 per night if booking independently. All welcomed cyclists, with safe bike storage.

Organised tours: We travelled with Saddle Skedaddle. Their 13- day Colombian tour costs from £3,995 including accommodation, most meals, guides, support vehicles and transfers (flights not included). Two Colombian drivers provided daily support, handing out water, fruit and energy bars.

Eating and drinking: Meals are hearty and affordable: grilled meat or chicken with rice, beans, plantain and salad for £7-£12. Fruit is abundant - pineapple, mango, guava, papaya - and bocadillos (guava paste) are a cyclist's favourite. Coffee is available everywhere but can be rough-and-ready outside the big cities.

What we rode: Chris took his own bike, a 2014 Pinarello Dogma 65.1 with Campagnolo Super Record groupset, 50/34 chainset and 11-28t cassette - for him, this provided a plentiful spread of gears for the climbs. Colombian terrain can be unforgiving, wet and muddy, so if you're worried about ruining your pride and joy,

The My Whoosh Big Ride Challenge can be anything you want to be, and for Stephe Fletcher it’s a great motivation to get out and ride his bike.

While some riders comfortably hit the 5,000 mile target, for Stephe joining Cycling Weekly’s challenge for its first year back in 2020 is what gave him the motivation to up his mileage. And since then he’s hit the target every year except 2023, when a crash on a slick bike path left him with a broken leg.

“It is an extra motivation to just do it,” Stephe tells us from his home in Cumbria a few weeks after clocking up 5,000 miles for 2025 and adding his name to the finishers list. “Apart from ’23, I've always done the CW5000, and four of the years, have [gone on to do] 10,000. I was a bit disappointed I only got the 3,000 in the year of the [broken] leg. But even then, I thought that's pretty good, to be quite honest.”

Stephe’s first two-wheeled memory dates back longer than he cares to admit, riding on a triple tandem with his family as a very young child. A bike promised for passing his 11+ school exam only arrived when he was 15 and the family moved to Peterborough, but his relationship with cycling was more utilitarian, using it mainly for commuting rather than sport.

A club runner of a good standard, Stephe had to find another outlet for his exercise after a hip replacement due to the onset of arthritis. ““I could still do a bit of running,” Stephe explains. "But I thought it was more sensible, and the surgeon said that the best thing was to take up cycling, so I thought, why not? I got a Trek Domane did a few sportives and then it progressed from there.”

Though he’s moved around the country over the years, his home close to Penrith in Cumbria gives Stephe a multitude of riding options, from the relative flat of the Eden Valley to the Fells and Lakes, some of England’s steepest and highest climbs are all close by.

“I do quite a lot of cycling in that area,” he says of the Eden Valley. “I cycle up to Brampton, and then from Brampton into what I call the Empty Quarter, which is a bit north of Brampton, there’s virtually nobody there, it's very, very quiet, very nice. Sometimes foray into Scotland, but that means getting through Carlisle, which is not the most bike friendly city.

“We’ve also got the Solway coast, from Carlisle and goes right round to Maryport, the flattest areas are all out that way, and you get views across to Scotland. I also go over to Norfolk a couple of times a year. My partner was from Norfolk, and my son lives in Norfolk.

Norfolk is also the scene of Stephe’s longest ride, a 247 mile circumnavigation of the county ridden in 2022. “I did that ride in her memory, and also to raise a bit of money for one of the Alzheimer’s charities.

“I started about three in the morning and I finished at 11 o'clock at night. This was in June, so there was plenty of daylight. If you take the stops out, i, I averaged round about 15.3mph.

“It was my partner that got me into the fitness stuff, and it did me the power of good. I'll always thank her for it.”

The 2025 MyWhoosh Big Ride Challenge medals have landed in the CW office and are ready to be shipped out to those who have completed their mileage target for the year.

Priced £8.99 (including UK postage and packaging) the medals are made of recycled metals and come with a satin ribbon. There's also a certificate signed by the editor. Riders based elsewhere in the world can still order a medal, but might have to pay a little more for the postage. If when trying to purchase a medal it doesn't let you complete the order, it maybe because your country or region isn't registered on our system. Email us with your details and we will make the necessary changes.

Most Big Ride Challenge riders use Strava to log their miles, but any mile logging app or website is fine. As long as the screen grab shows your name and mileage it is proof enough.

You can even use a spreadsheet - as many people do, or a good old fashioned Cycling Weekly mileage chart, that the magazine has been printing every year since the 1920s. Once you've completed the distance you set yourself, send proof to cycling@futurenet.com and we'll add you to this year's finisher's list.

>> Ridden 5,000 miles? Order your CW5000 medal here

>> Ridden 2,500 miles? You can order a Maxi medal here

>> If you've ridden 1,000 miles, order a Midi medal here

>> If you rode 500 miles this year, order a Mini medal

If you've just found the MyWhoosh Big Ride Challenge, it's never too late to sign up. All miles ridden from January 1st count towards the total, so you may have already completed it! Once you sign up you'll receive monthly challenges throughout the year, can join the private Facebook group and join our Thursday evening social rides on MyWhoosh.

The aim of the MyWhoosh Big Ride Challenge is to inspire our readers to ride all year round, setting them an annual goal and smaller monthly targets along the way. If you managed to hit your targets in 2025 it's something to celebrate and be proud of.

When you've hit your target, simply email us and let us know. All we need is proof of your mileage, which can be a screen shot of your Strava profile page with your name and annual mileage clearly shown. Of course we'll accept all other ride logging sites or apps, as well as spreadsheets and even the good old CW mileage charts. Printed in the pages of the first issue of CW each year since the 1920s

Once you've completed the distance, you can order your exclusive 2025 finishers medal to hang round your neck, or display in your pain cave. Anywhere people can see it.

And don't forget, it's never to late to sign up to any of our challenges and increase your mileage. Sign up is completely free and gives you access to a private Facebook group and you'll receive updates and emails with your monthly challenges.

The Mini - 2025 finishers

A challenge for riders aiming to ride 500 miles in 2025

Justin Payne
Don Rollins
Paul Leader
Zi Yi Chiang
Mini Chiang
Yvonne Henry
Joey Wood
Hayley Henderson

The Midi - 2025 finishers

Riders completing The Midi have ridden 1,000 miles in 2025

Michael Wrack Date completed, August 8
Mark Wood
Andrew Killington
Chloe Godsman

The Maxi - 2025 finishers

Everyone listed below has ridden 2,500 miles in 2025

Bryan Sweephurst Date completed, September 21
Graham Nix Date completed, September 25
Nicola Simpson Date completed, November 29
Christopher Woodcock Date completed, December 18
Louise Owen Date completed, December 31
Derek Tuckwell
John Kemp
Alex Latimer
Chris Breese
Ian Ward
Paul Lingwood
Mark Waldron
Elizabeth Coleman
Stefano Andreani
Lorraine Globe
Rob Hord
Andrew Osborne
Richard Price
Adrian Stokes
Sarah Whitmore
Bob Gingrich
Penny Stainthorpe

CW5000 - 2025 finishers

Running since 2020, this is our original challenge; you'll need to have ridden 5,000 miles in 2025 to get your name listed below.

Mark Pritchard Date completed, May 8
Hugh Mulligan Date completed, May 13
Michael Padwick Date completed, May 13
Justin Lomas Date completed, May 15
Alastair Flood Date completed, May 30
Alex Graham Date completed, June 16, has finished the challenge six years running
Kevin Palmer Date completed, June 22
Lonnie Maddox Date completed, June 22. Fourth year in a row
John Binczyk Date completed, June 23
Mike Smith Date completed, July 3
Gordon Reid Date completed, July 6
Stephe Fletcher Date completed, July 17
Dave Cox Date completed July 19
Gari Jones Date completed July 31
Andy Cartlidge Date completed, August 1
Ian Udell-Hart Date completed, August 6
Ivan Dawes Date completed, August 11
Stephen Crabbe Date completed, August 17
Stuart Lafferty Date completed, August 21
Donald Pearce Date completed, August 25
Katherine White Date completed, August 26
Elaine Scott Date completed, August 26
Nic Paton Date completed, September 4
Jordan Smithcroft Date completed, September 8. Second year running
David Swait Date completed, September 8
Stuart Hambling Date completed, September 10
Steve Dickinson Date completed, September 13. Completed the CW5000 five years running
Dr Caroline Simcock Date completed, September 18
Tom Niersbach Date completed, September 18
Peter Robinson Date completed, September 21
Andy Morris Date completed, September 22
Andrew Bayliss Date completed, September 25 Completed the challenge five times.
Peter Jackson Date completed, September 24
Stacey Larkin Date completed September 26
Martin Carr Date completed, September 27 Completed the CW5000 five years running
Emad Sidhom Date completed, October 6
Ian Smith Date completed, October 10 Completed the CW5000 six years running
Stuart Ridley Date complete, October 11
Phil Ward Date completed, October 12 Completed the CW5000 six years running
Ian Miller Date completed, October 12
Berry Puyk Date completed, October 15
Daryl Verrion Date completed, October 22. Completed the CW5000 five years running
Andy Hopper Date completed, October 26
Josh McClain Date completed, October 27
Jacquie Wright Date completed, October 27. Completed the CW5000 five years running
Kevin Bannister Date completed, October 28. Completed the CW5000 six years running
Ian Long Date completed October 29
Chris Reeve Date completed, October 30
Richard Wilson Date completed, October 31
Martin Belfield-Smith Date completed, November 5
John Wells Date completed, November 8. Completed the CW5000 six years running
David Oakes Date completed, November 17. Completed the CW5000 six years running
Dr Steven Hornstein Date completed November 23. Completed the CW5000 six years running
Robert Dalzell Date completed, November 28 Fourth time completing the challenge
Roland Buzås Date completed, November 30. Completed the CW5000 four times
Dave Woodall Date completed, December 1
Alex Spirrett Date completed, December 2
Paul Godden Date completed, December 7
Gavin Finch Date completed, December 10. Completed the CW5000 five years running
Paul McFarlane Date completed, December 13. Completed the CW5000 four years running
John Nixon Date completed, December 15
Stephen Walker Date completed, December 16. Completed the CW5000 five years running
Paul Dallain Date completed, December 16. Completed the CW5000 five years running
Brent Baga Date completed December 21
John McCabe Date completed December 21. Upgraded from The Maxi
Richard Wilson Date completed December 30
Peter Quinn Date completed December 31
Jonathan Fletcher Rogers Date completed December 31
Mark Swanson
Giles Cudmore
Robert Moody
Jake Lunt
Martin Power
Kelvin Knight
Simon Hickman
Shuan Elphick Completed the CW5000 three years in a row
Steve Cockram All miles ridden on a fixed gear bike (65/85")
Kelvin Knight
Paul McDougall
Geoff Myatt
Mark Gilburt
John Blair
Tim Banks
Paolo Morandi
Tony Green
Robert Welham
Steve Aguiar
Leslie Reissner
Jason Taylor Completed the CW5000 five years running
Mark Parlour
Mary Boothroyd
Gary Boothroyd
Chris Baird Completed the CW5000 six years running
Barry Simpson
Liv Fitz-Poole Completed the CW5000 six years running
Ken Houghton
Daryl Marsh
Chris Ronan
Ben Blackport
Oliver Dyson Completed the CW5000 five years running
Paul Taylor
Rob Philips Completed the CW5000 six years running
Richard Simpson
William Strickland-Boundy
Tom Macfarlane
Wolfgang Greiner
Les Buist
Pete Nicholson
Paul Oliver Completed the CW5000 two years running
Scott Digert Completed the CW5000 five years running
Ron Bradley
Steve Woodward
Richard Curtis
Darryn Mitchell
Hugh Mulligan
Terry Belbin
Robert Moody
Mark Lansdown
Bernard Crossley
Colin Whitehouse Completed the CW5000 three years running
Nick Pollard
Nigel Peacock
David Vallis
Steve Bell Completed the CW5000 six years running
Steve Tyler Completed the CW5000 five years running
David Parker
Michael Edwards
Stuart Finnie
Stephen Mander
Tim Woolridge
Nick Blyth Completed the CW5000 five years in a row
Neil Withnell
Amanda Benstead
Nick Sunley Completed the CW5000 six years running
Stephen Osgerby
Simon Sutton
Howard Smith Completed the CW5000 six years running
Jonny Miner Completed the CW5000 two years running
Phil Board
Gareth Olley
Stephen Mander
Roman Bardzik
André Potdevin
Andrew Luck
Simon Bricknell
Chris Leng
Warwick Bradbury
David Brock
Mark Marsden
Nick Wood
John Lunt Completed the CW5000 six years running
James Bowman
Kevin Palmer
Kym Brown Completed the CW5000 six years running
Bryn Thomas
Kevin Keegan
Scott Pestell
Lew Lawton Completed the CW5000 six years running
Adrian Elliott Completed the CW5000 six years running
Alison Matthews
Ole Strøm Pedersen
David Reid
Rob Hayward
Geoff Carter
Keith Scott Completed the CW5000 six years running
David Saleem Completed the CW5000 six years running

10,000 mile hall of fame

Michael Padwick
Alastair Flood
Jake Lunt
Kelvin Knight
Hugh Mulligan
Martin Power
Steve Milner
John Binczyk
Kevin Palmer
Dave Cox

Cycling can mean a multitude of things to each of us, whether it’s feeding a competitive urge, keeping the weight off or pure exhilaration, but few can argue it’s good for our mental health.

Elaine Scott has been cycling for around seven years, starting after her then partner, a time trialist, took her to a race in the Lake District. “What I noticed was women my age taking part,” she tells us from her home near Dumfries. “I thought, maybe I'm not too old at 40 to take up cycling. So I went and bought my first bike just after that, and it just sort of snowballed from there."

Until that point, since her mid-20s, Elaine had been suffering with poor mental health and credits discovering the bike as a major factor in restoring her health.

“I don't say it lightly, I think to a certain extent cycling saved my life. It helped me get out of that spiral, it was depression, anxiety, anorexia, at points I had suicidal thoughts. But you get to the stage you think, I can't live like this anymore.

“Then cycling came along and it gave me a new perspective on things. You know, even after a bad day you can just jump on your bike and have an adventure.” And it was the rigours of riding that soon saw her beating the anorexia.

“I realised that it's like a car, you have to put the fuel in if you want to get somewhere,” Elaine explains. “I remember coming home from work, I’d just started cycling and there’s this hill I just couldn't get up, and then one day I thought I’d just eat a banana before I go, and I actually managed to get up the hill. I just wasn’t eating enough.”

And now she rides a lot and will be known to many of her fellow Big Ride Challenge riders for her regular posts and photos. Whether it be on the lanes around Dumfries and Galloway of the local tracks and trails on the gravel bike, never on the indoor trainer, Elaine is out there most days, come rain or shine.

When the MyWhoosh Big Ride Challenge began she was among the first to hit the 5,000 mile target. “I’ve actually got a letter from Cycling Weekly and one of the little badges. With it being lockdown year I think I did 15,000 miles, these days I’ll probably come out somewhere between six and 8,000 miles.

“At this time of year I try to average between 150 to 200 miles a week, but I have to be careful because cycling can become a bit of an obsession, and I find it more difficult not to cycle than to cycle. My partner does get quite frustrated at times. You have to find the balance and not obsess about it.”

It’s not all been plain sailing though. A blood transfusion after menorrhagia (heavy menstrual bleeding) forced her off the bike, and then, last year she was hit by a car, writing off her gravel bike. That hit her confidence, she’s not been out with Dumfries CC since. But she’s back out getting the miles in, and even collecting her beautiful, new Liv Devote turned into an adventure.

“I picked it up and the rain was like a monsoon, I got to Dalbeattie, I got stuck at the traffic light and then it starts thundering and lightening, so just as quick as I could got to the public toilets and hid in there!”

Pairing smart indoor trainers with training platforms like MyWhoosh has revolutionised how cyclists train, but that doesn’t mean riding on the open road has lost its edge.

Rather than pitting one against the other, smart riders now combine indoor control with outdoor variety to optimise performance, consistency, and enjoyment.

Whether you’re chasing race results, building endurance, or just trying to stay on track through winter, each setting offers unique benefits.

According to cycling coach Paul Mill of Elitecycling the keys are balance and flexibility. By structuring your week to include both targeted indoor sessions and skill-building outdoor rides, you can maximise gains while keeping motivation high and burnout at bay.

The perfect balance for peak performance

The debate around indoor versus outdoor cycling has evolved beyond ‘which is better, to how do I use both to get better?’. “The smartest riders strike a balance,” says Mill. “One that fits their goals, lifestyle, and environment.”

For committed cyclists fitting training around work, family, and social life, Mill recommends a flexible and realistic training structure every week.

• 2–3 indoor sessions: focused, high-intensity, and time-efficient
• 1–2 outdoor sessions: longer, lower-intensity, and skill-oriented

This split allows riders to hit their performance targets while making the most of their available time - and keeping motivation high through variety. “Flexibility really is the key,” says Mill. “You get the physiological quality indoors and the emotional and technical benefits outdoors.”

Indoor cycling's superpowers

Indoor cycling workouts are great for structure and control. Sessions like high-intensity intervals - VO2 max or anaerobic efforts - benefit from the lack of interruptions. You can lock into exact wattages, hold precise cadence, and stick to recovery periods without worrying about traffic lights or terrain. Ideal indoor sessions include:

• VO2 max and anaerobic intervals: Riding indoors gives you maximum control and intensity
• Threshold workouts: It's easier to hold consistent power targets for 10-60 minutes indoors
• Cadence drills: Isolating and monitoring your technique is simpler without distraction
• Structured intervals: Riding indoors helps you to be more precise with your work-rest ratios
• Race simulations: Taking part in an indoor event like those in the MyWhoosh Sunday Race Club provides you with a high intensity workout, indoor unpredictability, and race-readiness

Outdoor riding's rewards

Outdoor riding is still essential - especially for building endurance and road skills. “There’s no substitute for the mental and physical variety that comes with real terrain, weather, and the dynamics of riding in a group,” insists Mill. Best outdoor sessions include:

• Endurance rides: Longer, steady rides that build aerobic capacity are – for many – easier to do IRL
• Group rides: You can, of course, ride in a huge group in an immersive indoor world but tactics, positioning, drafting and even etiquette are best learned on the opened road
• Technical skills: Cornering, descending, riding in crosswinds, avoiding potholes – you simply can't get better at mastering these skills in front of a screen
• Hill reps: Real, highly variable, gradients challenge your technique and strength differently than simulated climbs

Outdoor hills are worth repeating

“Outdoor hills offer the best training for real-world climbing,” insists Mill. Riders engage more muscles, adapt to changing conditions, and refine technique - standing vs. seated, power delivery, and pacing.

“Outdoors is also better for neuromuscular coordination and handling torque,” Mill adds. “But indoors can work if you’re short on time, daylight, or local terrain.”

For indoor hill simulations, Mill recommends smart trainers paired with rocker plates and gradient simulators to replicate the feel of climbing. “Sure, the latest iteration of cycle training apps add visual immersion - but real-world rides still provide the most full-body engagement.”

The greater outdoors?

The psychological impact of training location can’t be ignored. Riding outdoors offers a powerful mental reset. The exposure to light, nature, and open space boosts mood, the exploration of new routes keeps cycling engaging while the real-world variables – other road users, potholes, force 9 gales and the like – develop mental adaptability and tactical thinking.

On the other hand, indoor training is more efficient in that there’s no faffing with kit, no dealing with traffic, no major mechanicals to stop you in your tracks. Indoor training is – usually – quite laser-focused. (As in the controlled environment helps you hit training targets). There are no issues around sticking to your plan even in the depths of winter either, and thanks to virtual races and group rides there’s no lack of motivation. “Mixing both avoids burnout,” says Mill. “You stay physically sharp and mentally fresh.”

Indoor reality checks

Modern indoor training platforms offer an impressively close simulation of outdoor cycling. Riders can race, climb, and train with precision. But there are still some limits.

That’s why Mill advises blending both styles. “Use indoor training for control and intensity, use outdoor riding to build technical skills, experience real-world conditions, and reconnect with why you ride in the first place.”

It’s not really a question of indoor versus outdoor these days. It’s how to use each to maximum effect. Structured intensity indoors, long steady work and skill-building outdoors, and a training plan that respects your time, weather, and mental energy. “Get the best of both worlds,” says Paul Mill. “The gains come when you combine the control of indoor with the adaptability of outdoor. That’s real training.”

Anyone even casually glancing at the MyWhoosh Big Ride Challenge Facebook page will have seen posts showing an array of amazing looking cakes. And anyone looking closely might have noticed just how many of them are posted by just one member.

Living in the South-West of England, Graham Nix has been riding for more than 25 years and wherever he goes has a nose for a great café. And it’s not coffee that makes Graham’s perfect mid-ride stop.

“It’ll always be the cake, friends of mine tell me that I’ve got an absolutely wonderful sniffer, I can find them anywhere,” he tells us, a smile obvious even on the phone. “If there’s a café then I’ll try it and I’ve found some stunning ones over the years. I’ve been doing it since early 2000 and I know which ones crop up, but I seem to be able to find them when I’m in France and all the different places.”

It’s certainly no exaggeration to say that Graham is a regular cyclist, but for him it’s not about training, but more about using the bike at every opportunity, whether that be trips to the shops or holidays, and any kind of ride in between. When we spoke, Graham had just collected the family dog from the groomers, towing him there in a trailer behind one of his collection of bikes, stopping at the supermarket, then collecting him for the journey home.

Not a member of a cycling club, Graham rides with friends, alone, but most often with his wife, Joy. Indeed their cycling lives began together when they bought a tandem, way back in 2000.

“We never dreamt what we would end up doing, it was just for poking around here really.” Soon they were spreading their wings, taking the tandem, or single bikes, on holidays all over the UK and Europe.

“We've done some really strong stuff. We've been out to Italy cycling at the Belvedere Bike Hotel. We've been through Lake Garda, we love cycling in France. We've done quite a few tours with people called Green Jersey Cycle Tours, we've done World War One, World War Two, Normandy, Brittany, Loire, and we’re booked to go to Provence next September.”

And when they left the bikes behind to holiday on a cruise, Graham could be found in the ship’s gym, staring at the horizon while riding a static bike!

“Joy would say that I'm obsessed, and I can't have a conversation about anything without having a bike orientated element to it. I ride nearly every day, and apparently I can be grumpy if I haven't been out, because I just want to go out for a ride, and it doesn't matter how far.

“I think one change more recently is that we're not doing big distances, but I try to do at least one 100 kilometre ride a month. I did that for 50 months, and this winter I did it all outside,” Graham says, adding that in previous years some of those rides had been done indoors, a feat in itself.

As for the Big Ride Challenge, Graham has been with us from the start, hitting the target in the second year of the CW5000, the precursor to the MyWhoosh Big Ride Challenge .

“I think I did something like 4,500 the first time. Previous to it I'd never done 5,000, so it was a bit of a push and it was only just, I think it was 5,032 or something, but I was determined to get there because I was so close. But I suppose I'm in the 3,500 to 4,500 mile category, because I won't do anything ultra long. So it did actually push me to get to 5000 because I was determined to get there.”

As a young lad I loved cycling. Not just your standard riding to the park to feed the ducks type of deal, but a true bona fide enthusiasm for slinging a leg over my bike (a Raleigh Grifter in this case) and making the damn thing dance.

For this I blame Jean Francois Bernard, a cyclist who in the late 1980s - along with Laurent Fignon - had a fair go at replacing Bernard Hinault as the darling of French cycling. I can still recall his Mont Ventoux time trial at the Tour de France in 1987 – a race against the clock he won in searing heat with spectators half a dozen deep urging him to the summit.

Fortunately we had our own Mont Ventoux just down the end of the road. It was at least 100 metres long and the gradient maxed out at a heady 1.8%, but for us it was equal in stature to the Giant of Provence, handily tucked away in a leafy corner of Surrey.

My brother on his Dawes, my neighbours on their Raleigh Burner and Peugeot City Express, we all had designs on becoming the next Sean Yates or Malcolm Elliott - and given the speeds we thundered up this incline a career in pro cycling surely beckoned.

*Record scratch*.....

20 years on the booze

Then my 12th birthday rolled around, and as is customary for a pubescent chap, I seamlessly morphed into a spotty, snarling oik, who couldn’t careless about cycling, or anything other than staying in bed with the curtains drawn feeling perpetually pissed off.

Cycling? Who cared about cycling. It was a daft sport anyway. And look at the clothing they wear. You’d have to be some sort of weirdo to knock about in those threads. I was despondent, bored, angry, and listening to Nirvana at full volume.

And so began a 20-year period during which I became heavily embroiled in the cigarette and alcohol scene. Yes, a dogged campaign to rid myself of as many brain cells as possible was embarked upon, perhaps while invoking a little cardio respiratory disease to boot. You know, just to add the finishing touches to my die-as-young-as-humanly-possible project.

I alighted from my twenties in woeful shape - my stomach had its own time zone and I was in possession of a pair of lungs that were as useful as boobs on a boar. Operation death was moving along swiftly.

Operation 'get fit'

Then my children arrived and it was a bit like waking from a two-decade long fever dream. For the first time since those halcyon days on our own private Mont Ventoux, I was struck by clarity of thought. I looked at my newborns and decided the best way to approach the future was to not be dead. Operation fitness began.

While I had been enjoying my extended sabbatical from reality, James, my brother, had continued cycling, having negotiated his teenage years in a slightly less idiotic fashion.

I knocked on his door, cap in hand, and asked if I could borrow one of his myriad bicycles. After assuring him I wasn’t going to sell it, he wheeled out a Gary Fisher mountain bike and off I rode. And rode and rode and rode.

Things got very Forest Gump - I could not stop riding that bike. I wasn’t going fast, not by any stretch, but I was riding it consistently and I was riding it far. My legs, even on the merest suggestion of a rise in the road, quivered under the pressure – I had no real leg muscle to call upon – and my lungs were still reeling from the gargantuan walloping they’d received by Messrs Benson and Hedges. Yet, I kept riding. I found it hugely therapeutic, incomparably satisfying

A few months after I began cycling, my wife took the children to see her family, meaning I had a week or so to really break in the Genesis cyclo-cross bike I’d recently bought.

I decided to use this opportunity to ride from Land’s End to John o’ Groats… in a pair of trainers and a tracksuit. A few months on from this I rode from the bottom of France to the top, along the mostly flat Avenue Vert.

The seed had officially been sown. My love of riding a bike had been rekindled. I rode without purpose – purely for the love of it – for the following few years. I never really considered my level of physical fitness, this was for my mental health only.

Next however, followed a sequence of events that conspired to make me not only the fittest I’d ever been, but, from an objective point of view, in a pretty high percentile of nationwide fitness levels. Bear with me, I shall explain.

Watt's up

My daughters were around five and six years old at this stage and my wife had gone back to work, meaning daddy day care was front and centre. No long distance cycling sojourns for me then.

But it wasn’t long before I came across what I now consider a sacred pairing – namely, the Wattbike Atom and Zwift. Getting my indoor set-up nailed allowed me to ‘look after the kids’ and ride at the same time, it was perfect. Training with power, though, introduced a level of competition - not necessarily with other people, but as a number to try and beat.

Of course I’d take note of average speeds during outings on the road, but there’s a host of factors at play that make this a highly subjective barometer of how well you're going. Watts however are watts. A pure measure that, on a smart bike, is down to you and you alone. They became a fixation.

To date I have cycled 32,000km on Zwift via races and interval sessions and the all-important power reading at the top of the screen has kept rising. I’m now breathing some pretty rare air, with a 400 plus watt FTP.

It's never too late

For a feature I’ve been researching for the magazine I recently had to undergo a series of fitness tests, ascertaining lung function, VO2 max, bone density and body fat percentages. Had I done this 18 years ago I would’ve been told to go straight to A&E, don’t pass go - you’re falling apart, mate. Seek immediate help.

Now however, the physician was able to reveal a much rosier picture. My bone density was as it should be for a 48 year old and my body fat was 17%. So far, so normal. It was only when I’d pushed myself to the point of absolute exhaustion during the Vo2 Max test that the full extent of my fitness regime was unearthed.

A relative VO2 Max of 60 was recorded with an absolute VO2 Max of 5.2 ml/min - the former putting me in the superior category for my age group with the latter bordering on elite.

Far from trying to blow smoke up my own backside here - although if I don’t do it, nobody else will– this heavily potted version of my road back to a fairly well functioning member of society pays testament to the resilience of the human body.

Regardless of your current situation, whether you’re obese, suffering with ill health or injury or indeed battling a substance addiction, I suspect it’s very rarely too late to flip your lifestyle and take control of your destiny again no matter what your age is. After all, age really is just a number and becoming the best possible version of yourself is just a couple of habit changes away.

Now if you’ll excuse me I’ve got a date with Mont Ventoux… not the real one of course, there’s another one at the end of my road. And you’re never too old to pretend to be Jean Franccois Bernard.

Virtual gear shifting, dynamic road creation and an enhance user interface have all been announced as part of MyWhoosh's latest update.

The free-to-use virtual cycling and training platform launched its biggest update yet - MyWhoosh 4.0 - last Wednesday.

The key updates include: 'Custom Workout Creator', which allows users to design, import, and manage their own workouts, tailoring them to specific needs; 'MyShift Virtual Gear Shifting', which allows gear changes through the platform, eliminating the need for real-life mechanical shifting; and 'Dynamic Road Creation', which allows custom route creation with a GPX file.

MyShift can accommodate up to 30 gears, giving a virtual rider essentially every shift they would ever need.

Users can also benefit from an enhanced user interface through a redesigned heads-up display - seen above - and updated ride dynamics, with the promise of an improved drafting engine for faster calculations. There is also an expansion of hardware compatibility.

"MyWhoosh 4.0 is a huge step forward in our journey to create a more innovative and inclusive training experience for cyclists, runners and triathletes," Matthew Smithson, the senior manager of esports, events and game operation at MyWhoosh, said. "We’ve listened to our community and delivered features like virtual gear shifting, which they’ve been eagerly awaiting."

"Along with that, we’re excited to bring in features like the custom workout creator, classic trainer compatibility, and dynamic route creation – all with an improved user interface to make the MyWhoosh experience even better."

The platform was founded in 2019 by Akhtar Hashmi, a CEO of various UAE-based technology companies, including Royal Technology Solutions. Like the latter, MyWhoosh is backed by substantial Abu Dhabi support and funding.

MyWhoosh is also the official indoor cycling platform of UAE Team Emirates-XRG and its star rider Tadej Pogačar. It will host the Esports World Championships again this autumn.

The app is compatible with various indoor cycling trainers, using either Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) or ANT+ protocols. These protocols enable seamless data communication between your equipment and the app.

I tried to cycle outside this winter. Oh lord, how I tried. I’d wake up of a weekend and the morning would be full of hope and promise – a day in the lanes beckoned, a few glorious hours with the great British countryside for company. Then I’d draw back the curtains to reveal post-apocalyptic carnage. Wind howled, rain poured, dark clouds convened as far as the eye could see: all paths pointed to the shed and my smart bike.

Call me a fair-weather cyclist, I don’t care. Since 10 November last year, I have ridden exclusively indoors.

I have done long rides: notably a 12-hour behemoth when I bailed out of a Virtual Everesting attempt at 7,000 metres. I have done short rides: a 3km TT around Zwift’s Glasgow crit circuit springs to mind. But mostly I have done medium-sized indoor rides of around an hour. I have done a lot of these - covering about 2,000 miles - and in doing so I have added quite significantly to my threshold power. When I went into the shed at the end of October just about to hold 330 watts for a 10-mile time trial, I can now cover this distance with a reading of 400 sparkling watts on the head unit.

But, spring isn’t too far away. So, over the weekend, I opted to kit up and see how I would fare on the open road and whether or not my interior power converted to an exterior setting.

I cracked open the shed door, squinting. It was all a little bit Salem’s Lot – I half expected my neighbour to come running at me with a sharpened stake and a net of garlic. Fortunately the natural light didn’t liquidate me on the spot and I slung a leg over my Canyon Endurace for the first time in four months and rode into the great outdoors. So, how did the two experiences compare? And, had my indoor riding kept me outdoor fit?

First sensations

The first sensation I felt was joy. Cycling indoors and out are two very individual entities - you don’t cycle inside for fun, you do it to get stronger, to get fitter, your eyes always on the silly little wattage reading on the screen. You are never really free - bound to the shackles of a million different metrics which if for some reason don’t meet or surpass expectations can ruin a session. Cycling outside is liberating in many different ways.

Outdoors 1-0 Shed

Jarring experience

The second sensation I felt was a sudden jolt when half of my bicycle disappeared down a pothole the size of Suffolk. I’d been so busy enjoying the bucolic surroundings that I’d completely forgotten the roads in Southeast England look like a herd of pneumatic elephants has stampeded them. You don’t get asphalt irregularities in the shed, you get billiard table smooth blacktop that treats your bicycle and your derriere with the utmost care. The scoring had been evened.

Outdoors 1-1 Shed.

Climbing grace

It was halfway up a relatively tame ascent that the third outdoor riding sensation caught me off guard. I’d spent the last four months spinning up 8% gradients indoors with souplesse and panache - so why then was I clambering my way so unceremoniously up this unassuming little hill? This is Berkshire, Southeast England – the biggest inclines around here are made by moles. Yet here I was in a battle for breath wondering where all my gears had gone. Then it hit me. For the past four months I’ve essentially been about 50% lighter than I am outside. My smart trainer defaults to a 50% setting meaning ascents are much easier indoors on Zwift or indeed on Rouvy and My Whoosh. Whilst, in theory, it takes the same amount of time to summit - effectively spinning a smaller gear than my bike would allow - getting to the top outside requires a much greater effort.

Gravitational pull in a real-world setting cannot be duped – unless you’re on an e-bike with a 53-tooth dinner-plate bringing up the rear. Factors to consider include the effect of changes in gradient, inertia, and the physical effort of balancing the bike and keeping it upright (more one the physiological differences between climbing indoors and outdoors, here).

Due to being lulled into a false sense of climbing prowess, indoor loses a point here. With time though I’m hoping that this baptism of fire will become slightly less scolding, and I’ll be able to use my higher power numbers to more gracefully – and quickly – negotiate the steep stuff.

Outdoors 2- 1 Shed

Traffic interruptions

I’m not sure about you, but when I’m nearing the crest of the climb at my physiological limit the absolutely very last thing I want to hear is the revving of an engine inches behind my rear wheel. It’s a truly hateful sound. It makes nails on a blackboard sound like a violin concerto. I’m fairly certain that in most cases the driver in question is unaware of the acute distress it causes to the rider - that would be nothing short of sociopathic. But it happens on an all too regular basis when riding outside. In fact cars in general happen on an all too regular basis outside. What Zwift's Watopia lacks in fresh air it makes up for by being completely devoid of any form of motorised vehicle. A solid point, therefore, is awarded to the shed.

Outside 2-2 Shed

Average speed fixation

Disparities in average speeds inside and out are wild. And nothing highlighted this more than when I completed my first 15-mile loop in the lanes in four months – as fast as I possibly could – with an average speed the same as a Zone 1 warm-down on Zwift. Yes, 21.5 miles per hour inside barely registers on the heart rate monitor (110bpm average) while outside it drifts into Zone 4 territory (around 171bpm average).

The only way I can explain such huge differences is that indoors you are more or less obliged never to stop pedalling and therefore average speeds will be a reflection of how much power you’re consistently putting through the pedals. My speeds before and after my winter of shed-work were more or less the same - but it’s still cold, the air is still denser than it will be come spring and summer, and I’m still finding my feet outside. Therefore the shed gets a big point for keeping me fast. Battling metronomically against a virtual parcours for so long has definitely reaped a dividend.

Outside 2-3 Shed.

Power up indoors

As well as big differences in average speeds there were also discrepancies in average power, which was much lower outside. Again, this can, I’d hazard, be attributed to the amount of coasting involved in outdoor riding. Normalised power - which takes into account changes in pace - would be a more accurate barometer when comparing rides outside to sustained work inside, because, it records the effect of accelerations which are more frequent outside when negotiating natural features as opposed to following prescribed workouts.

Regardless, I was very much loath - and always have been - to fixate on power when riding outside. Too many glances at the headset – particularly when reaching for high numbers - obscures your real-life surroundings. For me, power metrics are best left in the shed. However, my speed on the road is as fast as it was after a full season of real world riding and racing last year, and, at 48-years-old my power numbers inside suggest I’m the fittest on the bike I’ve ever been. So, the time spent in the shed was worthwhile.

Outside 2- 4 Shed

Pure, unadulterated joy

Having accumulated a two point lead, it looks like the Shed is en route to the spoils. But for all of its positives – the fitness gains, the smooth, traffic-free ‘roads’ and the practicalities – none, not even when combined, can rival the sensations of riding out on the open road.

Riding inside, however, is sometimes necessary, and is a perfect way to complement your rides outside, and for me, when combined with outdoor pursuits like hiking and trail running, is the best way to spend a winter.

Final result: Outside 5 - 4 Shed, on penalties

Most cyclists scan the weather forecast over the winter months but if you suffer with Raynaud’s a drop or two in temperature, or some windchill, could have serious consequences. It might lead to hours of agonisingly sore fingers and toes and – even more worryingly – an inability to brake or shift gears due to numbness.

The symptoms of this disease - sometimes called a syndrome - which causes blood vessels to contract, leading to the characteristic white fingertips, vary from irritating tingling to excruciating pain. Many a ride has been shelved over concerns about the cold, but there are many ways to prevent an attack.

However, there are solutions available. Let’s explore all the options, from ‘lobster’ gloves to electrically charged socks. Hopefully, with a bit of cold proofing the outcome can be the open road over the indoor trainer.

The science of Reynaud's

According to James Gill, triathlete, GP and Associate Professor at Warwick Medical School, Raynaud’s disease is a vascular phenomenon whereby blood vessels contract in response to cold. This is a natural reaction to a degree but here the reaction is extreme, leading to fingers turning white, or even blue. They are often numb leading to issues changing gear, braking and fixing roadside punctures.

Gill says Raynaud’s can also be triggered by stress. This can be emotional stress but for us cyclists it is more likely to be the ‘biological’ stress of pushing hard on the bike as well as the cold. So, a gruelling three-hour club ride on a frosty day might double your chances of an attack if you are susceptible.

According to Gill the hands and feet are basically the same ‘evolutionary speaking’ so diseases which affect the hands often affect the feet. While medication is occasionally given to Raynaud’s patients, such as the blood pressure treatment Nifedipine, Gill says this is usually only considered in severe cases and it would be preferable to try some of the tips listed above first. “We have to balance benefit verses risk,” he explains. “We don’t want to risk a cyclist come off the bike due to low blood pressure. As with many things in life prevention is better than cure.”

Try ‘lobster’ gloves

There are a lot of winter cycling gloves on the market which claim to be insulating but don’t always deliver the high level of warmth that cyclists with Raynaud’s require. Another issue here is that symptoms vary in intensity from person to person, so one type of glove could work wonders for one rider and leave another with icy fingers.

So-called lobster gloves keep two warm fingers pressed against each other instead of separating every finger as with normal gloves. Just check that they allow you the dexterity to switch gears or reach for the brakes easily. Opting for lobster gloves made by established cycling brand, such as these from Specialized or Giro, will make this more likely.

Layer your gloves

Some cyclists swear by a layering system by wearing thin silky or merino wool gloves underneath a more durable, waterproof one. This has the advantage of trapping and warming air between layers. There are ‘systems’ sold which do this for you by offering two or three different thickness gloves designed to be worn together. Ultimately, though, it’s a trial-and-error business as to whether this works for you.

Cycling Weekly gave the brand Dissent 133 a 4.5 star review for its layering system although noted that dexterity was reduced when wearing all three layers together.

Buy heat pads

Sliding a disposable hand warmer, such as the creations from Hot Hands -into each glove works well for some Raynaud’s sufferers. They will stay hot for up to 10 hours, so certainly for the duration of the average winter ride, but because you can only really position them on the wrist or palm they’ll keep that part of your hands cosy but not solve the main icy fingers issue.

Go electric

You can also buy electric/rechargeable hand warmers, gloves and even socks. Reynaud’s expert and GP, Dr James Gill, is a ‘big fan’ of the electric hand warmer although he acknowledges he is just someone who feels the cold as opposed to a cyclist with Raynaud’s. However, when tech writer Hannah Bussey - who does suffer from Reynaud's - tried the Sealskinz pair, she was smitten.

The issue with some electrically charged gloves is that they heat the palm rather than the fingers which, for some cyclists means they don’t alleviate the symptoms. Most also look fine for hybrids or mountain bikes but look quite bulky to wear while riding a road bike.

Guard against windchill

Windchill can be just as triggering as a colder but calmer day with zero wind. Try windproof outer gloves, with a thin merino wool ‘liner’ glove underneath as produced by the company Ice Breaker. Merino wool is renowned for its insulating properties.

Cold-proof your summer shoes

Reynaud’s can affect any extremities, so sufferers prone to icy fingers often also get cold toes. Sometimes the usual route of layering overshoes and even additional toe covers is not sufficient to keep out the cold, even if they claim to be ‘thermal.’ Some riders go up a size in shoes to accommodate a thicker pair of socks, although it is advised not to jam feet into shoes too tightly as a thin space can between socks and shoes can allow air to warm and circulate. It also may further prevent already restricted blood flow.

Or just invest in winter shoes

If you’ve tried layering your normal cycling shoes with overshoes and/or toe covers to no avail, it might be time to bite the bullet and buy winter ones. Why? They have fewer vents than summer ones, more thermal insulation and look more like boots than shoes as being higher around the ankle to cover gaps between the shoes and bottom of your leg warmers. Fitzik, Lake and Northwave all do winter versions. As always, they vary according to thickness, foot width and the type of riding you want to do (on or off road). Head to our dedicated guide to the best winter shoes for a comprehensive review.

Thaw your hands gradually

While it’s tempting to jump into a steaming bath as soon as you get home post-ride Dr Gill advises against re-heating those fingers and toes up too rapidly. This is likely to cause discomfort or even extreme pain as previously shut down blood vessels reopen. The advice is if you are at home immerse your hands in warm (rather than hot) water. If you’re stuck out on the road Gill advises using ‘straightforward physics’ by making circles with your arms to help shunt the blood back to the fingers. Sometimes wiggling the fingers and toes while riding (if safe to do so!) can stave off some of the worse symptoms.

‘Total numbness and an inability to change gears’

Raynaud’s sufferer of 30 years Lucy Collins has what can only be described as an extensive library of gloves to choose from and these are only the ones that have passed the chilly ride test. Collins estimates she’s spent hundreds of pounds on gloves that promised to keep her fingers toasty and just ended up in the bin. Many a ride has been abruptly aborted on the onset of Raynaud’s which causes total numbness and an inability to change gears, followed by a stressful race home and inability to even get the key in the door. An excruciating pain, which she describes as ‘hot poker pins and needles,’ then sets in as her hands start to warm up. After years of experimentation Collins has settled on Rapha’s Deep Winter gloves with a silk or merino wool liner underneath and Hot Hands hand warmers on her wrists which usually works above 1 or 2 degrees. But even this sometimes fails to prevent an onset and many a ride has been scrapped altogether due to concerns about the cold to be replaced by Zwift. Thankfully the gravel bike provides an alternative cycling option; it’s slower (therefore less wind chill) and allows her to wear slightly thicker gloves. The search for the foolproof solution for the road, meanwhile, continues, as does the expansion of the glove library.

Cycling Weekly readers have been filling out their mileage charts for over 100 years, with the pages traditionally printed in the first issue of the year. Now, even in the age of Strava, our readers are still filling out the form as, pinned somewhere prominent, it still works as a constant reminder of your riding.

Printed in the January 3 issue this year, you can now download the pdf, print it off and start filling it in. There are separate columns for each week of the year as well as boxes for a monthly, and running total. And if you're riding for a charity in 2025, you can also fill in how much you've raised

Even back in the 1930s, much was made of those who had reached 5,000 miles in the year, part of the inspiration behind our CW5000 challenge that now incorporates three other distances challenges.

You can sign up to the 'CW Big Ride Challenge' for free and join our growing community of riders posting about their rides in our private Facebook group. There's also a WhatsApp channel and Strava club.

As well as the annual mileage target our riders sign up to, we send them two easier monthly challenges to keep them motivated throughout the year. From fun, photo based challenges to distance or climbings targets, everyone has their own way of tackling them.

We also post regular questions and polls across the groups to get everyone talking about their fitness and riding habits.

The CW Big Ride Challenge is a fun and friendly challenge that aims to inspire everyone who signs up to it to ride a little more than usual, and enjoy it at the same time. All riding counts, including indoor miles, and those done on e-bikes. It's a personal challenge, not a race.

On the first day of each month we set our MyWhoosh Big Ride Challenge riders two extra challenges to take on. These vary every month, depending on the seasons and where a typical riders's fitness is at that time of year.

They're easy to complete if you ride regularly, and most of them can be done on indoor trainers as well as out on the road. Some challenges will focus on distance, or altitude gained, others on searching out new places to ride. They're designed to be a bit of fun, and keep everyone motivated through the year, no matter what annual total they're aiming for.

>>Sign up to the MyWhoosh Big Ride Challenge and choose one of the four distances

All previous monthly challenges will be listed at the bottom of this page.

MAY CHALLENGES

CW Mini
1. Ride Bingo Spring! Find 5 things from the list below
2. Ride for three hours in one week

CW Midi
1. Ride Bingo Spring! Find 6 things from the list below
2. Ride for five hours in one week

CW Maxi
1. Ride Bingo Spring! Find 7 things from the list below
2. Ride for seven hours in one week

CW5000
1. Ride Bingo Spring! Find 8 things from the list below
2. Ride for 10 hours in one week

Ride bingo list of things to find: Hospital, runway, bad cycling infrastructure, boat moorings, bike shop, milestone, library, POI or tourist attraction

Previous months challenges

The Mini
April
1. Find a spring scene and take a photo
2. Complete a 20 mile ride
March
1. Complete a one hour ride
2. Find and ride a new hill
February
1. Be active for five consecutive days
2. Complete a 10 mile ride
January
1. Join a group ride
2. Exercise ten times this month

The Midi
April
1. Find a spring scene and take a photo
2. Complete a 30 mile ride
March
1. Ride four days in one week
2. Do a sunrise or sunset ride
February
1. Log a 40 mile week
2. Find and ride a new road
January 1. Join a group ride
2. Ride three times in one week

The Maxi
April
1. Find a spring scene and take a photo
2. Complete a 50 mile ride
March
1. Gain 15k vertical feet in the month
2. Do a sunrise or sunset ride
February
1. Complete 750 minutes of riding
2. Find and ride a new road
January 1. Join a group ride
2. Complete a 30 mile ride

CW5000
April
1. Find a spring scene and take a photo
2. Complete an 80 mile ride
March
1. Gain 20k vertical feet in the month
2. Do a sunrise or sunset ride
February
1. Complete 1,000 minutes of riding
2. Find and ride a new road
January 1. Join a group ride
2. Complete a 50 mile ride

This page will be updated on the first of each month with a new set of challenges for all our riders. You can also be notified of the monthly challenges via the Big Ride Challenge WhatsApp group

As bike riders, many of us feel most at home when breathing hard on an upward slope with beautiful vistas all around, so it's sometimes difficult to process the idea that fitness is accrued through rest. That's right – sitting on the sofa reading this article on your phone or your laptop could well be gaining you more fitness than heading out for yet another ride.

But how many rest days should we be taking, assuming fitness gains are what we're after – and what should they look like?

The answers to those questions are mostly down to the individual, and there can be a lot of variation. That said, there are a few useful rules of thumb we can look to.

Why rest anyway?

If training is the process of breaking your body down, rest is the process of rebuilding it, enabling you over time to become a stronger and more accomplished bike rider.

However, the new, stronger you can only emerge with sufficient rest and recovery, as your body repairs fatigued muscles and replenishes the glycogen stores that will enable you to ride hard again another day.

Matt Bottrill is a former National 25-mile champion, and these days he runs a successful racing team and is the owner of Matt Bottrill Performance Coaching. He tells Cycling Weekly: "Your body can only absorb so much load."

How often should we rest?

For most riders, especially at this time of year, when training involves more of a slow build towards the summer months, Bottrill recommends two days off the bike each week.

"If we're looking at the winter phase a couple of rest days would be sufficient for most people," he says, but adds that racers might be OK to do more: "If you're more geared towards performance, you might just want to go for one day."

There are no hard and fast rules around how many days off you should take, he points out, as individual needs vary so much.

"That's when coaching, or understanding how your own body works, kicks in. Because how one athlete adapts to training is so different to the next," he says. The key thing is being able to recover sufficiently to be able to make your 'quality' days count – those when you are performing intervals or riding hills, for example.

Even if you feel like you could ride every day, the smart advice is not to, says Bottrill.

"It's not worth it," he cautions. "What happens is the quality of those sessions, it just starts to dwindle. For the majority of people, you just end up with a flat line in training, ultimately, because your body can only absorb so much. It's definitely not a smart decision."

But taking a day off the bike does not mean you have to take a day off, says Bottrill. In fact, he says, many would benefit from some mobility work and, if you're a bit older, some strength work too.

"A rest day doesn't necessarily mean you have to take the full day off," he says. "Some of that should build in some mobility work, stretching… I think a lot of people would benefit from that. It's about functional movement. That will only enhance performance really.

"Especially for a lot of older athletes, once you're into your forties, you're better off replacing sessions with some form of strength training than having a day off," he adds. "You're getting the most bang for your buck that way."

When to take an unscheduled rest day

The rest days marked up on your calendar aren't the only ones you'll ever need to take. There will be occasions when you're tired or run-down that you're going to be better off taking a duvet day.

"The tell-tale signs are when you wake up and you feel fatigued, a bit sleepy, you need that extra coffee," Bottrill says. Sometimes all it takes is the first hill or effort on the bike to wake you up. But if your heart rate won't rise like it usually does, "then you generally know that you're going to be better off coming home."

And be careful before you rush back into it the following day, he adds, because that initial day of tiredness could be a sign that you need a few days' proper rest.

"If you wake up the next morning and you're still tired, and that's when you probably need to go, 'you know what? I'm gonna back off. Let's take, three days off here,' right?" he says – whereas doing the opposite could see you end up getting ill.

Don't be afraid to take the time off you need, advises Bottrill, and once you're feeling recovered, be prepared to build back slowly.

He suggests a final "check-in" day with no hard riding, just to make sure your heart rate looks back to normal, and then a slow build back up to full speed, for which you should allow twice the time you were ill for.

"If you go out and smash it the first day after you've recovered, it's going to come back and bite you," he says, but adds: "Training is not about one day – it's the consistency that's key."

It was about 3am on the Saturday morning, closing in on 36 hours of pedalling, when things started to get interesting. The finer points are sketchy, but It was me and another guy, I remember that much. We were in the wilds of Kent riding through a claustrophobic section of bridlepath, a sunken holloway lit by the powerful lumens of our bike lights. I started to flag and signalled for my riding companion to rein in the pace – he had been gunning it for many kilometres now and I was beginning to wonder where he’d got his legs from. “Hey, wait, I’m falling off the back here!” He ignored me and kept riding, fast. I pressed the issue: “Mate, I’ll let you go, this is too hot for me.” Still nothing.

I got out of the saddle and chased him down to within a few feet of his rear wheel. In a rather bizarre sequence of events, my riding companion then proceeded to fragment into countless tiny particles and dissolve into the night sky. With that, he was gone. Either this guy really wasn’t in the mood for a chat or I was hallucinating. I stopped my bike and slapped myself hard across the face. 

Coming-to from some kind of reverie, I deduced that my erstwhile riding companion had never existed. I was alone in the darkness with a brain working as effectively as a thrice-used teabag. And things weren’t about to improve...

I was riding the Great British Escapades, a 500km off-road ultra event held over the second weekend in June and organised by Kevin Francis, who also designed the Great British Divide, one of the country’s flagship ultra-cycling events. I use the term ‘event’ advisedly – technically, this is not a race but 310 miles just for the hell of it. 

So why the hell was I doing it? Well, at 46 years old, my top-end performance is never going to threaten the business end of any leaderboards, but the good thing about getting older – apart from getting excited about garden centres – is that endurance performance isn’t hugely compromised. Type-one muscle fibres rule for the middle-aged; we’re very much the tortoises to Generation Z’s fast-twitching hares. The Escapades would suit my aged performance characteristics, or so I hoped.

I would be riding through two nights across some of the toughest terrain in south-east England. I was confident I had the physical ability, but mentally this would be above and beyond anything I’d tried before – not to mention the logistics. Yes, the Great British Escapades would be a true test of my middle-aged mettle. This was a chance to see how far I could cycle in a single sitting, and if I got through it, how I would measure up against the rest of the field.

Soggy start

Two full nights lay ahead of us, but just a few clicks out of the start gate at Patrixbourne, Kent, my thoughts were not on dark forests but on the tropical rain clouds currently emptying their contents over my head. Contrary to recent weather forecasts, all 103 participants of the Escapades were bearing the brunt of a vehement downpour. There we were in our slickest summer attire getting soaked to the skin. 

Many around me laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation – how else could we react? Crying would’ve only made us wetter. After two hours of being subjected to Mother Nature at her most scornful, the sun slowly emerged through dispersing clouds. But alas, we weren’t treated to its warmth for long, and just as Rochester, some 50 miles into the journey, materialised on the horizon, the last light of the day ebbed away and we rode into the first night of the Great British Escapades.

I had packed light. Ludicrously light. My sleeping equipment consisted of, well, nothing. My thoughts prior to riding were that if I had nothing to sleep on, I would not attempt sleep, thereby saving time. My contingency plan – in the event my body demanded sleep – amounted to hypothermia and, as a very last resort, death. As the night sealed off the world save for the path lit by my helmet and handlebar lights, I followed the well- trodden North Downs Way west in something resembling cruise control.

By this time, the field had well and truly fragmented. I saw no one ahead of me and no one behind me. Occasionally I’d catch a flicker of a back light in a distant woodland but for now I was very much alone – just tapping away at the pedals making slow but steady progress. At 3am – just before descending the zig-zags of Box Hill – I went to take a drink from my Camelbak and was rewarded with nothing but a dry gurgle. If an ultra- riding handbook existed, the first line on the first page would read something like: “Under no circumstances run out of food and water.” 

Reaching into my back pocket for a fistful of Haribo only to rustle an empty packet, I found that I had contravened rule one and committed the cardinal sin. Happily, however, this was an area I knew well, and if my calculations were correct, the night porter at the hotel at the bottom of Box Hill would just be coming- to from a doze. Time to give him something to do...

Thankfully he let me in, and I necked a carafe of water in the lobby. The bleary-eyed porter looked at me like I’d lost my mind. I wanted to explain that I’d only temporarily misplaced it, but I wasn’t sure either of us were in the mood for existential chit-chat – nor was he amenable to my request for a quick sausage and bacon butty with lashings of HP sauce. So I took my leave and headed back out onto the trail. It was while making my way across Surrey's Ranmore Common, as the beginnings of the dawn chorus started to permeate the air, that the oh-so- familiar feeling of bonking overtook my body. And to make matters worse, I’d just got a puncture.

It’s in an hour of need that you discover the best of humanity. Case in point: having managed to plug the aperture in my tubeless set-up, I attached the adapter to the valve, went to take the first stroke and quite inexplicably pulled my pump apart. So there I sat. Deflated, bereft and very hungry indeed. Five minutes later, however, the cavalry arrived. I’d ridden with Francis Barnett before, during the Pennine Rally, when our paces had seemed closely matched, and likewise here: after 110 miles of Escapades, he was just minutes behind me. “How’s it going?” enquired Francis, handing me a pump.

“Middling to fair,” I replied, “but I’ve balls-ed up my fuelling again.” “Do you want a double cheeseburger? “ he asked.

I continued pumping, laughing at the absurdity of his offer. Who the hell carries a double cheeseburger around with them? He held it out to me, the McDonald’s- emblazoned wrapper rustling as I incredulously took it from him. Was this too a hallucination? Had I fallen asleep in the woods and entered a trailside reverie involving fast food? I kept a close eye on Francis, waiting for him to turn into Ronald McDonald as I took my first bite. As squashed and mangled as it was – Francis had picked it up 60 miles back, in Rochester – this was the best burger I’d ever tasted. Likewise, Francis was promoted there and then to the best person in the world.

Kebabs and carnage

It was 11am when the South Downs first emerged on the horizon. By this time I’d been riding for 18 hours straight and covered 160 miles. According to my tracker, I was currently trundling along in 15th position. The National Park’s neatly nibbled contours were a very welcome sight, marking just over half-distance. The South Downs ridgeline, though not as spectacular as Snowdonia or as visually striking as the Lake District, is for me classic British countryside at its absolute best and remains my favourite place in the UK.

But now, hike-a-biking out of Graffham on a slope so steep that a misplaced foot would see me tumble back to the village in a ball of Spandex and bicycle luggage, I did not appreciate the South Downs Way. My leg power had already been restricted to Zone 2 at the very most, and the next 75 miles to Eastbourne were continuously undulating. There was no other option. I would have to eat my way back to Canterbury. This was no longer a bike ride. It was a quest to redefine the limits of human calorie consumption. Having stocked up at the little convenience store in Graffham, my cheeks bulged with Haribo as I traversed the South Downs Ridgeway. Due to my relative heft, however, and the energy it required to heave my ample frame up and down the climbs, it wasn’t long before I’d put paid to half a dozen packets. This was proving quite a costly exercise...

Riding through the midsummer heat – up Amberley Mount to Washington, from the Devil’s Dyke to Ditchling Beacon and beyond – it was interesting to note that there was no longer any physical or mental pain present. I was absent-mindedly propelling myself across the landscape seeking out sustenance; it was all very Night of the Living Dead. However, after finally reaching the dogleg where the South Downs Way meets the 100-mile home straight back to Canterbury, I found myself revitalised, urgent, with a fresh sense of purpose. I remembered that this event actually had an ending.

Now riding with Adam and Tom (real riders, not illusions) who were also euphoric to have left the godforsaken gradients of the South Downs, we made a pledge that the first town we came across would bear witness to an unprecedented feeding frenzy. We wanted hot savoury food and by god we wanted it now. We were currently maintaining positions 12-14th and a solid hit of salt would replenish some much-needed electrolytes. The poor people of Polegate, th en, did not know what had hit them when 15 minutes later we rampaged through town from chip shop to chip shop seeking every last portion of halibut that remained at 9pm. Eventually we stumbled on the motherload, a kebab shop, which glistened with a utopian aura amid a parade of shops – angels sung, a harpsichord played, the spinning stick of mystery meat turned in exquisite circles. We levitated towards it. It was feeding time at the zoo. Pure savagery. Extreme physical and mental fatigue combined with an enormous quota of food can ultimately lead only to one thing. Sleep. We were now some 32 hours into the ride and although I took a catnap coming down Ditchling Beacon – it’s genuinely amazing what a few fi ve-second snoozes can do the need to lie down was now urgent. So after riding a further 15 miles up the Cuckoo Trail, my acquaintances decided that this was the only course of action and promptly passed out in a ditch. As for me, having nothing to sleep on, there was no other option than to ride on.

It was about now that I started riding with the chap who rudely turned out to be a figment of my imagination, the fi rst of many hallucinations. After he’d taken his leave, I slowly navigated my way around Bewl Water – feeling like I could have drunk the whole reservoir, such was the eff ect of the salt from the fast food frenzy in Polegate. But it was 3am and the world was shut. I sat down on the pavement and took stock. The air in my back tyre was slowly ebbing away, there was no battery left on my phone, and I was on the verge of drinking from a puddle. Self-preservation prevailed: I set my Garmin for the most direct route to the fi nish and pedalled crestfallen into the rising sun.

My Great British Escapades came to an impromptu halt in a place aptly named Wye, in Kent, at 6am. My back tyre was now flat, my pump was still broken – and Wye had a train station. So with 280 miles on the clock, and 38 hours of riding time under my belt, sitting in 12th in the rankings, I called it quits with just 20 miles to go. Am I disappointed? Yes, of course – but lessons have been learnt and experience gained. The fact I was riding towards the pointy end of the race (sorry, ride) has cemented my belief that, when it comes to endurance, age is just a number. This was an adventure, a life-affi rming, rip-roaring roister around England’s rural south-east, and you can bet a bivvy bag to a barn dance that I will be back to right a 20-mile wrong next year.

Let's not beat around the (brown and undernourished) bush: it's hot at the moment. The heat wave may not be around long, which is great news if you like the sun but not ideal for your cycling life if you struggle to ride in the heat.

Riding in the heat this summer may be far more appealing than venturing out on a grim winter's day, but it comes with its own set of challenges to overcome as your body deals with high temperatures.

“Exercising in the heat can lead to fatigue and at worse illness and injury,” Dr Jeffrey Aldous, Senior Lecturer in Exercise Physiology at the University of Bedfordshire, tells Cycling Weekly. "Naturally, given this, it can also affect your performance.”

We've put together six simple tips to follow to help you avoid some common pitfalls when hot-weather riding.

1. Keep hydrated

One of the biggest obstacles with cycling in hot weather is maintaining adequate hydration. You will sweat more as your body naturally tries to cool itself down, but that sweat will evaporate quickly, meaning that it is hard for you to gauge exactly how much fluid you are losing.

Drink little and often when riding, and make sure that you have plenty of drink with you or know of places on your route where you can obtain more drinks.

It is amazing how much drink you can get through on a hot day - drinking two full bottles during a long ride is pretty normal. The worst thing you can do is drink only when you become thirsty. Instead, keep sipping from the beginning of your ride until the end.

Using drinks with electrolytes can be a good idea to replace those lost by sweating, which can cause cramping. Packing ice cubes into your bottle before you leave will help keep your drink cool, at least for the first half an hour, or put your bottles in the freezer before your ride - as long as you remember to take them out!

And don't forget in among all the drinking to pay attention that you are eating enough on your ride, too.

“If you can record your body mass, both before and after your exercise,” Dr Aldous recommends. “Try to consume 1-1.5 litres of water for every kilogram of body mass lost.

"When dehydrated your heart will need to work harder as the viscosity (that is the resistance) of your blood goes up, making it more sticky and harder to pump blood around the body.”

2. Dress for the weather

With a huge array of technical cycle clothing now available on the market at a whole range of prices, there's really no excuse to be throwing on your long-sleeved winter jersey when its 30 degrees and boiling-in-the-bag. Lightweight materials with wicking properties will help you cool off and prevent the uncomfortable build-up of sweat.

A full-length front zip on a summer jersey can help you regulate temperature, and a lightweight base layer can also aid the removal and evaporation of sweat from your skin. The breeze you create by riding along has its own cooling effect, and it's sometimes only when you stop riding do you appreciate exactly how hot it is.

Fingerless cycling gloves and mitts are a better idea for some than no gloves, as sweaty palms can become sore when gripping the bars. Lightweight, sweat-wicking cycling socks are also very cheaply bought from any cycling retailer.

A well-fitting pair of bib shorts are also essential, any rubbing on your delicate parts exacerbated by sweat can cause uncomfortable soreness very quickly. Applying chamois cream before a ride can help. Wear sunglasses with 100% UV filtering lenses to prevent damage to your eyes and stop dust, bugs and flies taking a bath in your eyeballs.

3. Keep an eye on the road surface

Having dealt with snow, ice, rain and potholes during the winter, summer brings a different set of road conditions to be wary of. On very hot days, tarmac can melt, causing patches of slippery or sticky tar as the road surface lifts off in the heat. Aside from the danger of riding on an unstable surface, the tar can become stuck to your tyres, attracting grit and dirt.

Many British councils also use the summer months to surface dress back roads - a process where liquid bitumen in pour on the road surface and a layer of gravel is added. Excess gravel can then accumulate in loose patches, particularly at the side of the road and at junctions, causing tyres to lose traction. Also watch out for wet roads after a summer storm, they can be very greasy, particularly under dense trees.

4. Wear suncream

While some cyclists are proud of their cycling tan as a badge of honour, others find it embarrassing to look as though you are still wearing a white T-shirt when you take your top off. But laughable tan lines are not the main concern - damaging sunburn and the risk of skin cancer due to excessive ultraviolet light exposure are a problem.

Wear sunscreen on the exposed parts of your body: arms, legs, face and in particular the back of your neck. The position on your bike means that the area on the front of your legs above the knee and calves will be exposed to sun more than other area of your legs.

5. Ride in the morning or evening

A very obvious way to avoid the severity of the sun's rays is to avoid the hottest periods of the day for your cycling trip.

“Radiant heat gain directly from the sun is at its greatest in the afternoon and lower during the morning or evening periods,” Dr Aldous says. “This will decrease the physiological strain on your body during exercise.”

There's plenty of daylight in the summer months, so heading out early or at the end of the day can still mean you are riding in the warm, but without many of the hazards.

Riding in the morning or evening can have its own benefits - quieter roads, and spotting wildlife that is usually hidden away as the sun fully rises in the sky.

If you ride in the evening, make sure you are equipped with bike lights in case you're enjoying yourself so much you get caught when the sun goes down. Night riding can also be fun with a decent set of lights - you'll see familiar roads literally in a new light.

Packing a lightweight windproof or vest in a back pocket on an evening ride might also be a good idea if the weather cools down as the sun sets.

6. Adjust your targets 

A heatwave is not the time to try to set a PB on a Strava segment or retest for your best 5- or 10-minute power.

The harder you work the more you will sweat, so if it's really hot and you're starting to feel it and are romping through your drinks, knock off your pace or shorten your ride.

“Exercising in the heat elevates your core body temperature and if you slow down this rise will be less pronounced, allowing you to continue exercising for the full distance or duration in your training schedule,” Dr Aldous says.

“Rethink the time and distance you would like to cover too, as prolonged periods of time in the heat can be dangerous.”

And when you get home…

Pay particular attention to fluid intake when you get home, but also don't forget to eat as you would normally after a ride. Making a recovery drink before your ride and putting it in the fridge ready for your return will provide you with a refreshing, fuss-free cold drink. A cold bath or shower will help you cool off and wash off the accumulated grime. You may also feel you deserve an ice cream or two…

We celebrate everyone who has hit their mileage target in 2024. From 500 to 5,000 miles, however far you rode this year, and however quickly you did it, it's something to be proud of. If and when you complete your challenge email us and let us know, all we need is proof of your mileage, which can be a screen shot of your Strava profile page with your name and annual mileage clearly shown. We'll accept all other ride logging sites or apps, spreadsheets and even CW mileage charts.

Once you've completed the challenge you can order your finishers medal from CW shop. There's a medal for each of the four challenges, and each one comes with a certificate signed by the editor.

It's never to late to sign up to any of our challenges and increase your mileage. Sign up is completely free and gives you access to a private Facebook group and you'll receive updates and emails with your monthly challenges.

CW Mini 

The challenge for those who rode 500 miles in 2024

Adam Araujo
Rebecca Reid
Axel Dowle

>>Order your medal here...

CW Midi

The challenge for those who set themselves the target of riding 1,000 miles in 2024

Andrew Killington - Levelled up from the CW Mini!
Michael Wrack - Date completed 30 August
Emily Roberts
Mark Belshaw
Ben Clowes
James Hargreaves - Levelled up from the CW Mini!
David Woodall
Louise Owen
Richard Bennett

>>Order your medal here...

CW Maxi

Riding 2,500 miles in 2024!

Nicola Simpson - Date completed 2 October
Martin Johanson - Date completed 17 October
Dr Caroline Simcock - Levelled up from the CW Midi!
Richard Barter - Date completed 13 December
William Dyson - Date completed 21 December
James Tobin - Date completed 23 December
Brian Stevenson
Alex Francis
Gane
Paul Taylor
Janice Knight
Peter Goebelsmann
Robert Eagle
Colin Huckstep
Ian Westwood
Philippa Lightowler
Steven Lightowler
Graham Nix
Todd Winkler
Mark Tonks
Rob Hord
Andy Medhurst
John Kemp
Hannah Gill
Neil Dunn
Roman Bardzik
Roy Jones
Matt Agnew
Neil Withnell
Nigel Molloy
Lorraine Globe
Paul Dallian
Simon Bricknall
Sarah Whitmore

>>Order your medal here...

CW5000

Our original challenge distance, running since 2020, for those who complete 5,000 miles in a year!

Lonnie Maddox - Date completed 3 April
Michael Padwick - Date completed 20 April
Robert Dalzell - Date completed 26 May
Justin Lomas - Date completed 4 June
Kevin Palmer - Date completed 17 June
Andrew Bell - Date completed 24 June
John Binczyk - Date completed 27 June
Martin Power - Date completed 6 July
Gordon Reid - Date completed 6 July
Ian Whitehouse - Date completed 12 July
Chris Baird - Date completed 21 July
Ivan Dawes - Date completed 19 July
Steve Dickinson - Date completed 10 Aug
Tom Niersbach - Date completed 10 Aug
Andy Cartlidge - Date completed 14 Aug
Katherine White - Date completed 23 August
Gari Jones - Date completed 28 Aug
Ian Smith - Date completed 29 Aug
Ben King - Date completed 7 September
Martin Carr - Date completed 9 September
Peter Bevan - Date completed 12 September
Geoff Hartley - Date completed 13 September
Andy Hopper - Date completed 13 September
Donald Pearce - Date completed 15 September
Ian Miller - Date completed 15 September
John Walkden - Date completed 17 September
Alex Graham - Date completed 17 September
John Young - Date completed 17 September
Peter Robinson - Date completed 21 September
Stacey Larkin - Date completed 21 September
Stuart Lafferty - Date completed 28 September
Stephe Fletcher - Date completed 1 October
Ian Long - Date completed 6 October
David Oakes - Date completed 12 October
Alexandru Iordache - Date completed 13 October
John Harvey - Date completed 17 October
Berry - Date completed 19 October
Phil Ward - Date completed 20 October
John Wells - Date completed 20 October. Fifth year in a row
Jacquie Wright - Date completed 22 October
Jason Taylor - Date completed 26 October
Martyn Leighton - Date completed 27 October
Michael Owen - Date completed 29 October
Noe Paramo - Date completed 1 November
David Saleem - Date completed 3 November. Fifth year in a row
David Hughson - Date completed 21 November
Paul Batchelor - Date completed 23 November
Anthony Forster - Date completed 29 November
Nick Sunley - Date completed 29 November. Fifth year in a row
Stephen Rowe - Date completed 28 November
Mike Cole - Date completed 30 November
Steven Connolly - Date completed 30 November
Ross Brennan - Date completed 1 December. Fifth year in a row
Ole Strøm Pedersen - Date completed 2 December
David Holland - Date completed 5 December. Fifth year in a row
Ian Ward - Date completed 10 December
Paul MacFarlane - Date completed 11 December. Third year in a row
Howard Smith - Date completed 12 December. Fifth year in a row
Paul Dallain - Date completed 17 December
Stephen Walker - Date completed 19 December. Fourth year in a row
Daniel Cunningham - Date completed 19 December
Lee Phipps-Bartley - Date completed 22 December
Andy Morris - Date completed 22 December
Nigel Peacock - Date completed 25 December
Gavin Finch - Date completed 25 December. Fourth year in a row
Claire Rushton - Date completed 25 December. Fifth year in a row
Stephen Woessmann - Date completed 28 December
Daryl Verrion - Date completed 26 December. Fourth year in a row
Roland Buzás - Date completed 26 December. Third year in a row
Andy Morrise - Date completed 31 December
Tom Fox - Date completed 31 December
Alastiar Flood
Jake Lunt
Janelle Ussery
Richard Tyas
Mark Spreckley
Joel Mason
Alan Todd
Leslie Reissner
Paul McDougall
Arvind Salwan
Barry Simpson
Chris Drake
Jeff Gray
Ian Ransom
Steve Cockram Completed on fixed gear bikes of 65"
John Pearce
Mark Gilburt
Simon Hickman
Martini Holmes
Steve Walmsley
Kelvin Knight
John Mayberry
Rob Phillips - Fourth year in a row
David Vallis
Christopher Ronan
Andy Brock
Mark Welch
James Lowdon
Pete Lamb
Ron Hreha
Mark Marsden
Richard Reynolds
David Reid
Robert Welham
Giles Cudmore
Dave Hale
Pete Franks
Andy Singleton
Dawn Clarkson
Mark Swanson
Les Buist
Oliver Dyson
Nic Paton
James Boardman
Dr Steven Hornstein
Darryn Mitchell
Steve Woodward
Shaun Elphick
Mary Boothroyd - Fifth year in a row
Gary Boothroyd - Fifth year in a row
Colin Whitehouse
Steve Tyler
Nick Blyth
Alan Williams
Marcus Mason
Tim Banks
Tine Aumann
Jonny Miner
John Lunt - Fifth year in a row
Mark Parlour
Amanda Benstead
Bernard Crossley
Kevin Bannister
Andy Delaney
Phil Cox
Jon Barron
Mark Parlour
Andy Preston
Keith Scott - Fifth year in a row
Jordan Smithcroft
Stuart Ridley
Alex Spirrett
Christopher Reeve
Scott Digert - Fourth year in a row
Paul Harnett
Adrian Elliott - Fifth year in a row
Terry Belbin
Ian Udell-Hart
Jonathan Clarke
Andy Knapton
Mal Scriven
Gefrin Price
Manny Diaz
David Phillips
Christopher Walsh
Philip Eagland
Martin Belfield-Smith
Tom Macfarlane
Nora Holford
Ken Castle
Steve Osgerby
Robert Carter
Tim Woolridge
Eifion Owen - Fifth year in a row
Simon Sutton
David Battersby
Phil Hatton
John Nixon
John Corrow
Imran Munshi
Peter Farnley
Chris Leng
Christian Schmidt
André Potdevin
Gareth Olley
Steve Bell - Fifth year in a row
David Brock
Andrew Baylis
Rod Smith
David Hirt - Fifth year in a row
Kym Brown
Mike Edwards - Fifth year in a row
Robert Guilfoyle
Richard Edlepil
Stuart Hambling
Lynne Tennant
Neil Lowdon
Rob Shanahan
Robert Baker
Geoffrey Myatt
Glenn Fishwick
Andy Sharman
David Jory
Patricia Harrison
Tony Green
Paul Harrison
Wayne Moeller Third year in a row

Honorable mention

Andrew Luck - Despite suffering serious illness and going through the necessarly medical treatment that would have curtailed anyone's riding, Andrew almost made the distance, hitting 4,447 miles by the end of the year.

>>Order your medal here...

Zwift marks the origins of cycling esports after hosting three UCI Cycling Esports World Championship events, the groundbreaking Virtual Tour de France that achieved gender parity, and an Olympic Esports Series. Zwift also introduced cycling esports to a global audience through Eurosport, SBS, JSports, NBC Sports Gold and GCN+ broadcasts. Past achievements weren't enough for the UCI, however, which  has granted United Arab Emirates-based technology company, MyWhoosh, the rights to organize the Esports World Championships for three years beginning in 2024. 

"We were very much looking for a platform focused on competition," said the UCI's Head of Innovation and Esports, Michael Rogers, on the decision to move the World Championship from Zwift during a press conference at the Abu Dhabi Cycling Club on January 25. "What MyWhoosh is planning over the long term excited us very much."

Founded in 2019, MyWhoosh has become known for hosting big-money events, like the weekly Sunday Race Club series, with a monthly prize purse of over $284,000 spread across four categories. And the $1 Million MyWhoosh Championship series in April 2023 saw the largest payout in cycling esports’ history, lighting the path to professional cycling esports.

MyWhoosh is an Abu Dhabi-based Avrioc Technologies product and receives significant support and funding from the UAE government. The virtual platform prioritized high-level esports racing, embraced the sport's evolution as a legitimate distinct cycling discipline, and voiced a commitment to accessibility to the free-to-use platform.

Come October, the Cycling Esports World Championship will see its first in-person, live final in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and that will not be the only change to the quest for the virtual rainbow stripes.

"With the privilege of hosting the live final in Abu Dhabi, we are dedicated to changing the cycling esports landscape," says MyWhoosh CEO Akhtar Saeed Hashmi. 

"In a significant move, we are expanding the semi-finals to accommodate over 150 riders, reflecting our broader strategy to foster global growth and inclusivity in cycling esports. The qualification pathways, blending National Federation selections and MyWhoosh's public qualification process, ensure transparency and fairness, opening doors for athletes worldwide."

 Qualification Pathways 

The UCI will use a proprietary algorithm based on the international ranking system and the final athlete standings of the 2022 and 2023 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships to determine the team athlete allotment, with a maximum of 10 riders per team. The National Federations will assign 80% of the semi-final starting spots using their selection criteria. 

To provide opportunities for athletes from emerging countries and those unable to follow traditional pathways in regions without a strong cycling culture, the remaining 20% of semi-finalists will qualify through MyWhoosh's public qualification process, with dates to align with National Federation team selection.

The expanded field will now include 150 men and 150 women in the semi-finals, marking a significant increase and aligning with the UCI and MyWhoosh's broader goal of promoting growth and inclusivity in cycling esports on a global scale.

 The Two Stage Semi-Finals 

The Semi-Finals will follow a two-stage virtual format scheduled for September (exact date to be determined). Stage One will feature a 9-kilometer circuit, utilizing a points system to select the top 80 riders who will advance. Stage Two will be four laps of a 4-kilometer circuit, identifying the top 20 male and female competitors who will progress to the final.

Two wild card entries per gender will automatically qualify, opening the door for high-profile entries like two-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar, who rides for UAE Team Emirates.

It will be the first time all Cycling Esports World Championship finalists will compete in person in a live event using a points-based race format.

“When we have the best athletes in the world in a room competing against each other,” Rogers explains, “it will bring excitement and publicity to the sport.”

In addition to the UCI Cycling Esports World Championships, the UAE will also host the 2024 UCI Urban Cycling World Championships, the 2028 UCI Road World Championships, the 2028 UCI Gran Fondo World Championships, and the 2029 UCI Track World Championships. MyWhoosh is also the UCI's main virtual cycling partner for the next three road World Championships, giving the platform exclusive rights to create virtual versions of the courses.  

Using their industry-leading graphics, MyWhoosh's team of 300 designers and engineers created a bespoke virtual world for the event using their industry-leading graphics. The virtual race routes feature several of Abu Dhabi's cycling venues, like the Yas Marina F1 circuit, where the public can ride free on the track on lender bikes, and cycling infrastructure investments, like the Velodrome, due to be completed in 2025. 

"I see a future where more strategy comes into play in the competition," says the UCI's Rogers. "That’s what we want to achieve with the format for the upcoming Esports World Championship. If you can outsmart the strongest by being more strategic, that creates an interesting race perspective."

 The Three-Race Final 

As we’ve seen in previous editions, the final will again be a multi-race event, but this time, it’s points-based. The final will be an action-packed flurry of 15 to 20-minute races separated by just 10 minutes of recovery. Riders will compete on their own bikes hooked up to Elite’s Justo trainers, the official technical partner of UAE Team Emirates.

For race one, titled The Sprint, riders will be on a 1.7-kilometer flat circuit. Here, the MyWhoosh team took a page from the Formula One playbook, giving racers 15 minutes to set their fastest time through a 300-meter, timed segment. A live leaderboard will track the fastest times as the crowd looks on, and riders will earn points based on their best segment time.

The second race is titled The Strategy and takes place on a 9-kilometer circuit consisting of 6.5 kilometers of rolling hills followed by a four-minute climb, a fast descent, and a one-kilometer flat run-in to the finish line. Points are on offer at the base and top of the climb, and the finish line will award double points.

All Out is the aptly-named third and final race, and the racers will have no other choice if they want any chance of putting their avatar's arms through the sleeves of the virtual rainbow jersey. The 4-kilometer circuit concludes with a 50-second full-gas climb to the start/finish line. Riders will find an intermediate sprint point at the crest of each climb during the 4-lap affair. 

By offering double points at the end of lap 4, Smithson and the MyWhoosh team seek to revolutionize cycling esports and realize their innovative vision for transforming the sport when it comes down to a thrilling final push to the line to crown a new champion using a new format on a new platform.  

When the lights dim in the live event arena, the UCI's Rogers will define success for the groundbreaking partnership with MyWhoosh and the 2024 Cycling Esports World Champions simply as "an event that we will remember."

We’ve acknowledged that 2024 should be the year of achievable cycling goals. It’s about not overstretching yourself or pushing too hard, but aiming for targets you can hit. 

Having a target is incredibly useful as it’s one of the easiest ways to motivate you to get outside - but only if it’s attainable. Cycling coach Scott Maclean acknowledges: “If the goal is unrealistic, you’re not going to be motivated to push for it.” 

To help you on your way this year with your cycling goal-setting, we asked Maclean for his eight must-do steps to creating targets:

1. Have a clear purpose: “People don’t achieve what they set out to do unless they have a clear reason for having the objective in the first place.” 

2. Set interim goals: “Every workout should have micro-goals to get a physical and behavioural response. Don’t be afraid to measure your power to weight ratio or V02 max frequently for signs of progress.” 

3. Stick to a routine: “The biggest obstacle is a lack of consistency. You have to have structure.” 

4. Be flexible: “You can’t manage all the variables, such as work stresses, weather and illnesses, so don’t become disheartened if things don’t go to plan.” 

5. Make it visible: “Write your goal on a wall or put a picture up so you can always see it. It’s a proven tactic.” 

6. Share it: “Tell others about your goal. Your partner or friends asking, ‘Hey, how did the workout go?’ can be really empowering for people. That support network can push you further.” 

7. Reward yourself: “After every session, tell yourself well done. Look at the positives, have a smile. It’s good to be self congratulatory sometimes.” 

8. Prepare the next one: “The best exit strategy is always having the next goal in your head before you reach the end of the current objective – and it’s really important. If you don’t, the completion of your goal could feel like an anti-climax.

If you’re looking for some inspiration, have you considered giving one of Cycling Weekly’s four riding challenges a go? Previously it was the CW5000, but this year we have split it into four separate goals - 500, 1,000, 2,5000, and 5,000 miles.

When the UCI granted the online platform MyWhoosh the rights to organize the Esports World Championships for three years beginning in 2024, taking the event away from previous host Zwift, a collective "What is MyWhoosh?" could be heard echoing across the stunned virtual cycling community.

Contrary to belief, MyWhoosh is not a new entrant on the virtual cycling scene. It was founded in 2019 by Akhtar Hashmi, a CEO of various UAE-based technology companies, including Royal Technology Solutions. Like the latter, MyWhoosh is backed by substantial UAE government support and funding.

MyWhoosh aims to “blend the freedom of pedaling with simplified science, indoors, to motivate a global community with fun, fitness, and competition.” That, and legitimize cycling esports. The platform is known for hosting big-money events, like the weekly Sunday Race Club series with a monthly prize purse of over $90,000. The $1 Million MyWhoosh Championship series, which began in 2023, boasts the largest payout in cycling esports.

MyWhoosh is also the official indoor cycling platform of the World Tour UAE Team Emirates and its star rider Tadej Pogačar. The platform works closely with team coaches and features in-game training content from the UAE Team Emirates performance group.

The unique relationship allows the public to experience the team's training regimen firsthand while providing the team a recruiting tool as well — not unlike Zwift and its Zwift Academy. Michael Vink's standout performances on the platform earned him a spot on Team Emirates.

What is MyWhoosh?

MyWhoosh is an online virtual cycling app with a racing focus designed to welcome the everyday user. The app has an extensive library of world-class workouts, training programs, group rides and a daily calendar of racing events.

The platform boasts top-notch graphics and offers a diverse and engaging range of courses and routes.

Equipment Requirements and Specifications

Like other platforms, MyWhoosh lets you link your smart trainer to your iOS, Android, or Windows device, enabling you to ride or race against cyclists globally. MyWhoosh is compatible with most newer Apple devices, including various iPad and iPhone models (iPad Pro 3, iPhone 11, and above), as well as Android devices (OS 10 and above with a minimum of 5 GB of RAM).

The platform's detailed graphics require a more powerful PC than most platforms. There is a noticeable quality and performance difference between the minimum and recommended specifications. MyWhoosh now supports Mac and Apple TV as well.

Minimum Specs for Windows

• Processor: Intel i5 7th Gen, AMD Ryzen 5
• RAM: 8GB
• GPU: AMD Vega 64, Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti
• Disk Space: At least 10GB
• OS: Windows 10 or 11
• Bluetooth: Version 4.0 or greater

Recommended Specs for Windows

• Processor: Intel i9 10th Gen, AMD Ryzen 9
• RAM: 64GB
• GPU: AMD RX6900 XT, Nvidia RTX 3090
• Storage: NVME M 2.0 SSD (Free space of 15 GB at least)
• OS: Windows 10 or 11

Minimum Specs for MacOS

• Processor: Intel i5 7th Gen
• RAM: 8GB
• Disk Space: At least 10GB
• OS: MacOS 12 Monterey

Recommended Specs for MacOS

• Processor: M1 & above
• RAM: 64GB
• Storage: NVME M 2.0 SSD (Free space of 15gb at least)
• OS: MacOS 13 Ventura

For the best experience on MyWhoosh, a smart trainer is essential equipment. Direct-drive indoor trainers come with a built-in power meter and variable resistance. These features measure your power output and send it to the app, moving your online avatar. The variable resistance simulates real-world conditions, increasing as you climb and decreasing on descents, making the virtual ride more realistic.

The app is compatible with various indoor cycling trainers, using either Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) or ANT+ protocols. These protocols enable seamless data communication between your equipment and the app.

Getting Started on MyWhoosh

MyWhoosh is currently free to use. The first step is downloading the app for your appropriate device from the MyWhoosh website. Registering an account is standard practice and straightforward. Enter your name, age, nationality, weight and height. MyWhoosh uses your height and weight in its speed algorithms, so be as accurate as you can.

When on MyWhoosh's website, remember to enable integrations with third-party fitness and training apps like Strava, Training Peaks and Today's Plan. Also, keep an eye on the Activity Files section, where the app stores all your ride data in a fit file for easy download.

When your registration is complete and you open the app, the first screen you come across is—Select Profile. Tapping on the profile you created brings you to the Device Connection screen. The app searches for your devices, like the smart trainer, heart rate monitor, or power meter, and connects. The Gear icon on the top right of the screen brings you to Settings, where you can adjust equipment, display, and sound features.

MyWhoosh's recently updated User Interface is sleek and user-friendly, serving as the central hub for all rider experiences. Clicking the animated image on the far right takes you to the area for avatar customization, as well as kit and equipment selection. You can make your avatar look and dress to your liking. In addition, various in-game equipment choices with individual performance characteristics exist.

Free Riding, Pacing and Group Riding

MyWhoosh features 82 routes across 12 worlds mostly based on real-life locations, including seven simulated Belgium routes, 11 in Colombia, seven in Australia, and 29 spread across Arabia and the Arabian Peninsula City of AlUla. Combined, the routes cover nearly 1,200 km and exceed 15,000 meters in elevation. Each course presents a unique level of difficulty and interest.

Click on the world of your choice to access a list of route descriptions with a map view and 2-D profile. Choose a route, tap "Ride," and you're on your way.

The Events tab of the UI accesses an extensive list of community group rides, races, group workouts, and MyBunch rides. The feature 'MyBunch Rides' enables riders of different skill levels to ride together. It offers eight "Bot Bunches" that maintain steady speeds in 2 kph increments, starting from 25 kph and going up to Team UAE speeds of 40 kph and beyond.

The MyWhoosh Events Calendar

MyWhoosh's recently revamped User Interface includes a convenient Events Calendar. The platform's calendar feature is a unique and innovative tool for planning your upcoming training, races, and events. It also serves as a log of your past activities.

All races and rides a user selects in the Events tab and connected third-party training plans or workouts will appear there. The platform supports the creation and organization of community events through its website. Are workouts with UAE Team Emirates riders on the horizon?

Training on MyWhoosh

Kevin Poulton, Strategic Partnerships Manager at MyWhoosh, aims to create a comprehensive virtual cycling experience that covers competition, community, and structured training. Leveraging his years of World Tour coaching experience, Kevin has introduced in-game training content that sets a new standard for effective indoor training at the sport's elite level.

The User Interface and Events calendar offers a wide range of individual workouts and complete training plans, catering to all skill levels and training needs. Do you want to train like a pro? The platform also features a selection of favorite workouts from pros of UAE Team Emirates.

Racing on MyWhoosh

MyWhoosh is Pro in its commitment and mission to elevate the standard of elite online racing. However, the platform continually upgrades options for racers of all ability levels with a daily calendar of events. MyWhoosh integrates AI-enhanced Bots to fill race fields.

The team at MyWhoosh prioritizes high-level esports racing and uses it as a catalyst for growth platform-wide. MyWhoosh hosts a weekly racing series called “Sunday Race Club” with a monthly prize purse of $96,000 spread over six categories for both men and women, in individual and team classifications.

The elite-level competition and big money attract top esports pros from across the globe. MyWhoosh aims to legitimize cycling esports through ground-breaking innovation and development of the industry’s most robust validation, verification, and categorization model and a realistic race experience. MyWhoosh automatically runs each racer through a proprietary performance verification system for every elite-level event.

MyWhoosh utilizes a dynamic categorization model. The race commission at MyWhoosh sets the limits based on registered participants and their historical data to attempt to prevent accidental miscategorization.

As for results, MyWhoosh calculates everything server-side and accordingly has the same delay and visuals that all online multiplayer video games have.

The game's physics and draft mechanics are a work in progress and haven't yet reached the realism of Zwift or indieVelo. While the on-screen steering buttons offer a new layer of engagement to rides and races, this feature could use some fine-tuning.

MyWhoosh’s updated Esports Cycling Ruleset [V2.0.8], effective in September 2023, aims to tighten performance verification and categorization and bring the platform up to speed with the UCI’s performance standards. The new pre-verification protocol includes a Power Passport Test, MyWhoosh’s version of Zwift’s ZADA testing. The forward-thinking improvements include a streamlined weigh-in procedure, a more rigid approved hardware list, video identity verification, and cycling identity validation through platforms like Strava, Training Peaks and real-world results.

World Championship and Olympic Aspirations

The MyWhoosh team is all-in on growing this emerging sport through product investment and infrastructure development.

The ultimate goal for MyWhoosh? More UCI Cycling Esports World Championships, the Olympics, a professional racing league that pays racers a living wage and allows them to focus on esports, and continued technical development that lets fans engage with the platform and racers.

The possibilities are limitless for MyWhoosh and its dedicated team, resources, and commitment to legitimizing esports racing. MyWhoosh plans to appeal to the broader cycling community and coexist with the other available platforms.

The graphics are stellar, and the user-friendly interface and efficient calendar functionality are top-notch. The training plan and workout offerings have something for everyone, even the Pros. If you're a racer of any ability, MyWhoosh checks all the boxes. With steadfast commitment and substantial investment, MyWhoosh is securing its place in the virtual cycling and esports landscape.

We all know that cycling is a great cardio workout. It raises the heart rate, and it gets you out of breath. But there is more to it than just heavy breathing. The muscles (and more of them than you might imagine) play a huge part too.

Top-level road cycling isn't known for its beefy physiques, so while you're not going to end up looking like Arnie (who coincidentally is a bit of a cyclist himself), your muscles are going to get a great workout.

It will come as no surprise to hear that the muscles in the lower half of the body do most of the work, but those in the torso and upper body are also key. They've all got different jobs to do, and while some are putting out more power than others, you won't get far unless they're all working.

Let's take a look at the various muscles, in turn, that enable you to enjoy your favourite two-wheeled pastime to the full.

1. Quadriceps

The quadriceps (quad or thigh muscles) are among the largest and strongest in your body, in addition to being the most obviously toned on a regular or serious cyclist. They are a major player when it comes to producing power while cycling, which is primarily during the downstroke when pedalling.

Often thought of as a singular muscle, the quads are actually a group of four (quadriceps is Latin for four-headed): vastus medialis (teardrop muscle on the top of the inner thigh), rectus femoris (muscle on the top middle of the thigh and the only one of the four to start from the hip bone, therefore crossing both the hip and the knee), vastus intermedius (underneath the rectus femoris) and vastus lateralis (along the outer side of the thigh).

These muscles run down from the top of the femur or hip and attach to the knee cap (patella), which itself connects to the tibial tuberosity (the bony lump on the top of the lower leg).

2. Gluteus

The glutes are one of the superstar muscle groups. You may know that the gluteus maximus is the largest muscle in the body, but what you might be less aware of is that it is part of a wider group, which includes the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus.

In terms of the roles these all perform, the gluteus maximus is the powerhouse of the three, producing a huge amount of force. The gluteus medius and gluteus minimus, in contrast, work on hip abduction (bringing the hip out to the side) and stability.

When looking at what muscles are toned by cycling, the gluteus maximus is a big one. Track sprinters, with their huge power outputs, will often have particularly large and toned muscles in this area.

One thing to bear in mind is that many cyclists fail to fully utilise, or activate, these muscles — particularly riders who tend to spend a lot of time sitting down in the saddle. Doing specific strength training with movements that focus on hinging the hips is a great way to strengthen them and increase their force production capacity. Think squats and Romanian deadlifts.

3. Hamstrings

The hamstrings are the muscles on the underside (or backside) of your thighs. They work in tandem with the quadriceps, flexing and relaxing with every pedal stroke.

All the hamstring muscles originate from the hip and attach to the tibia or fibula; the two bones that make up your lower leg, below your knee joint and above your ankle joint. These muscles are responsible for hip extension and knee flexion during the upwards phase (mainly between 6 o’clock and 9 o’clock of the pedal stroke).

Due to their large contribution to pedalling, the hamstrings generally become quite toned from regular cycling, and are often visible as long, defined cords running down the rear of the thigh.

However, because the leg remains bent throughout the pedal stroke, regular cyclists often find they can get pretty tight too, so stretching is extra important.

4. Calves

The calf muscles are made up of the gastrocnemius (the large toned muscle both on the inside and outside of the lower leg) and the soleus (underneath the gastrocnemius but visible on the outside of the lower leg).

These muscles work your ‘dorsiflexion’, which basically means when you point your toe up during the downwards phase of the pedal stroke and at the very bottom of it. You’ll see these muscles often get very toned by cycling, which is the result of a combination of significant recruitment and the fact that many people don’t store much fat in this area.

5. Tibialis Anterior

Running along the front of the shin is the tibialis anterior, which contributes to ankle plantar flexion during the upwards phase of the pedal stroke (between 9 o’clock and 12 o’clock), keeping the knees and ankles stable and balanced. ‘Plantar flexion’, by the way, is just the opposite of ‘dorsiflexion’, i.e. when you point your toes down in the upward phase of the pedal stroke.

Digging deeper

There are plenty of other muscles in the leg that contribute to the pedal stroke, however many of them are deep muscles, meaning that they are less visible. They tend to be more involved in leg, knee, and ankle stability during cycling, however this does not make them any less useful.

There is debate about the necessity of hip extension, knee flexion, and ankle plantar flexion during the upwards phase of the pedal stroke. Some believe that it is beneficial to actively conduct these movements and focus on pulling your legs upwards (often with single leg drills on the bike).

Others believe it is more beneficial to be able to reduce muscle activation on the upwards phase of the pedal stroke and allow the more powerful quadriceps and glutes in the active leg (downstroke) to move the passive leg (upstroke) upwards as part of the opposite downwards stroke (doing high cadence intervals can supposedly assist).

However, generally the body is quite good at finding the most efficient way to produce force, hence why some professionals have been toe pointers and others heel droppers. Similarly, some spin a particularly fast cadence and others grind a bigger gear. The key factor tends to be force generation and muscle activation patterns. Great ways to improve this are resistance training along with a combination of high torque cycling efforts and high speed/RPM cadence drills.

Another interesting element is muscle usage, because when we cycle, it is primarily a concentric force that we are looking to generate. Concentric muscle contractions are where we produce force as the muscles shorten, whereas eccentric contractions are where we produce force while the muscles are lengthened.

Eccentric contractions are what generally result in delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and happen as we walk or run, especially downhill. This is why some elements of running, walking, and resistance training are very useful to incorporate into your training for muscle and bone health, as well as muscle strength.

That said, if maximum gains on the bike are your primary goal, then excessive running isn’t advised as it can be detrimental to overall cycling performance. Add in a bit of cross training and some strength and conditioning work to improve muscular function.

The more you cycle, the more you can improve the amount of work these muscles do and how strong they will be. Adding resistance training into the mix is a great way to boost strength, power, and the appearance of these muscles.

What about the core and upper body?

As a road cyclist, the core and upper body require far less attention as they don’t have a direct impact on the power you’re putting through the pedals.

They definitely should not be ignored, however, as a strong core, back, arms and shoulders are essential to support the body through the pedal stroke, preventing pain and injury.

Together, the core and erector spinae (muscles and tendons running almost the entire length of the spine) stabilise the upper body so you can transfer power efficiently. Cycling alone won’t strengthen these muscles, so incorporating a good core workout is wise. Planks are a good start but there are plenty of other core exercises that are worth the effort.

The arms, shoulders, and upper torso muscles play a small but still significant part too. You’ll see sprinters and mountain bikers, for example, tend to have less of a ‘classic cycling physique’ because upper body strength is more important in these disciplines.

In a cycling position, isometric contractions occur in the shoulders and trunk while producing force, helping to support the weight of the body, maintain posture and provide the legs with a stable platform for power transfer.

If you feel like your upper body needs some work then check out these exercises.

If you have a mid- to top-end smart trainer - and use some of the best training apps for cycling, such as Zwift - then you'll have the option of completing your indoor workouts using ERG mode. But what, exactly, does this setting do?

Put simply, when ERG mode is switched on, your bike trainer will help you ride at a set power output by automatically adjusting the resistance to match your cycling cadence - no matter how fast or slow you turn your legs, the trainer will adjust itself to keep you at that set wattage.

So, given that you have that option, should you be using it? Are there any benefits? Or are there even cases where using it would be detrimental to the goal of the cycling workout you’ve set out to do?

To help you get the most out of the settings offered by smart trainers, we take you through when it is best to use the ERG mode setting, how it helps with maximising fitness gains from your workout, and when you should turn it off. 

What is ERG mode?

First off, let’s dig a bit deeper into what ERG mode is. ERG is short for Ergometer, and what this does is control the resistance so that you can - in theory - maintain a very stable power output. 

Now, power is made up of angular velocity (radians per second, with 1 RPM equal to 9.5492968 Rad/s) and torque (the force you put through the pedals) - what ERG does is balance these two to produce a consistent wattage. 

So let’s say you are riding at 200 watts, this is made up of riding at 80 RPM ((200 / 80 = 2.5) x 9.5492968) producing 23.87 newton meters (Nm) of torque. The smart bike or smart trainer will put 23.87 Nm of resistance into the flywheel, so that you are pushing 200 watts. If you increase the RPM to 90, then the resistance required to produce 200 W is now 21.22 Nm, so the trainer adjusts and decreases resistance. This also works the other way when RPM is reduced and resistance increases.

You can set ERG mode to be on or off on most training platforms and it will be active when you follow either an in app workout or a custom designed session you’ve imported. 

Benefits of using ERG mode for indoor cycling

One of the key benefits of using ERG mode is that it means you don’t need to focus on maintaining a power output during an interval, as the trainer does all the work for you. 

This is great for riders who want to do longer Zone 2 endurance rides and remain under a certain power output, to ensure that they don’t go too hard. And it’s also useful for those wanting to do longer tempo or sweetspot efforts where you want the higher power to stay maintained and not drift below your power targets, as set by your cycling training zones. 

You may have noticed that it’s also sometimes hard to get exactly the right RPM to match your power output when just using your gears. This is where ERG is fantastic as you can change your RPM to whatever you feel most comfortable at, in whatever gear you choose, and the resistance will be applied accordingly so that your target power output is achieved. 

Cons of using ERG mode for indoor cycling

However, there are a few downsides to using ERG mode. 

Firstly, there is a question about the resistance being applied artificially. Although this is similar to how it is when we climb outdoors, as gravity provides additional resistance, it isn’t the best for those that want to get faster on rolling or flat terrain where the changes in force applied and velocity are very variable. Sometimes it’s good to be able to adapt to those changes as in some cases just training on climbs or in ERG mode can affect performance on the flats. 

This has led some to suggest that overreliance on ERG can reduce our capacity to actually produce power sustainably at higher levels (think sweetspot and up) as we are so used to requiring an artificial resistance to push against. There may be some truth in this, but equally on the flats at speed we have air resistance to push against. 

Others have suggested that ERG limits our mental resilience of being able to hold a set power, but if anything ERG can help at higher power levels (threshold and up) as there is no way to give up or drop the power level down. For some, it may be useful for pushing themselves, but equally you also want to be able to do that without the artificial resistance.

Another downside is the reaction speed of ERG mode. The best smart trainers now have an ERG mode which is very fast to react to changes in either resistance, speed, or the power target of an interval. However some trainers are not as good at this. Let’s say that you have a set of micro intervals, 20 seconds at 120% threshold, with 10sec rest at 40%, for 20 repetitions so a 10 minute block. Changing from very high resistance to very low resistance over a short period of time can sometimes be delayed, so what you may find is that when the 20s effort starts you have a very high RPM and resistance is low, and then when the 10s recovery comes around the resistance doesn’t always drop straight away. 

The ERG spiral of death is probably the most well known issue with using ERG. A few papers have looked into the limiters of cycling performance and suggest that our ability to maintain torque is the biggest factor in maintaining power output. When we are unable to apply the same torque, we reduce the gear so that we can spin a higher RPM and reduce torque applied. 

However in ERG mode this isn’t the easiest, and what often happens is that RPM drops more and more and the resistance applied by the trainer increases more and more. In the end, the trainer wins as your RPM drops to a standstill and an insurmountable level of torque needs to be overcome. Fortunately, this is such a well known issue that many higher end trainers now have an ‘anti-spiral of death’ feature, where they sense when resistance has become too much, reduce it, and allow you to get spinning back up to speed again.

Benefits of using Level or Resistance mode for indoor cycling

For sessions where you want maximal power, such as sprints, or you’re doing micro intervals with lots of changes in resistance, then riding in Level / Resistance mode is the best way to go. This involves keeping the resistance at the hub static and changing it using your gears, or you can adjust the settings so that virtual gradients are applied along with resistance. Using this mode, you can also drop the intensity if required during an effort, rather than being constrained to the power and resistance target set for you by ERG mode.  

The other benefit of Level mode is that it’s a bit more ecologically valid. What this means is that it’s a little bit more like the real world where you have changes in resistance via gradients and efforts are very unlikely to be as smooth or have that constant resistance behind them. There are also some suggestions that riding in Level mode is better for developing better pedalling efficiency than ERG mode. 

When to use ERG mode

I would say all of these little downsides of ERG and benefits of Level are quite marginal, though, and at the end of the day, some of us may find it easier to complete a session using ERG mode simply because it’s one less thing to think about. 

My recommendation would be that for efforts where power is a constant (Zone 1 up to Zone 3/4) and you want to keep it below or above a certain level, ERG mode is the way to go. If you want to do sessions with short repeated efforts, maximals, sprints, or just a session with more resistance variability, then Level / Resistance mode is best to use. Using a mix of the two will ensure that you don’t miss out on the benefits of either of these, and may help to make your overall training experience a bit easier and more enjoyable. 

One of the best things about life on two wheels is that the multitude of cycling goals you can set yourself is enormous! The most important first step is determining what goal will energise and motivate you to get out riding (and we'll be giving lots of suggestions throughout this article!). 

Then, the second most important step is ensuring that your goal is measurable in some way or other - otherwise how would you know when you've gotten there? Wanting to become 'a better cyclist' is a classic goal many people will initially leap for, but it is a bit vague!

You'll want to break down what being a better cyclist means for you - and in some way that's quantifiable. That might be setting a certain time on Strava segment, but it might also be attending a certain number of group rides, riding a different route every time you head out the door or joining the CW5000, our annual milage challenge - whatever will make you tick!  

As the name suggests, that's riding 5,000 miles before the clock hits midnight on December 31st, 2023 - and no problem doing it in metric, it's just that CW8046.72 doesn't sound quite as catchy! It might sound like a lot, but it works out at 13.7mi / 22km per day and we've got a lively community of like-minded individuals for continuing motivation - so do head over and sign up for the chance of earning a finisher's medal.

How to find what motivates you

Fitness

Let's start by looking at goals relating to physical fitness and getting faster. Of all the goals you could have, these are amongst the easiest to get a handle on how to measure them.

It might be that you want to get faster on certain loops, climbs or segments - or hit a particular time covering a particular  distance. We can use speed for measuring all of those. 

Or you might want to focus specifically on your own physical fitness, aiming to be able to hold a higher number of watts for the same heart rate or perceived effort - or we may be able to keep up with faster groups on bunch rides or Zwift categories. 

A power meter is particularly useful here as you can use that (together with a set of scales) to determine your watts per kilo - which is a good indicator for speed, especially on climbs. Otherwise, you can measure your FTP or Critical Power to see fitness improvements there, or you can see PBs in time trial times or moving up road racing categories. Essentially, there are many ways that you can measure these elements.

Adventuring

Another cycling goal you may want to target is one that involves more adventure or exploration. Neither of these are very specific or measurable goals, so you need to break them down a bit and find an aspect that interests you - perhaps there are  specific Sportives, Gran Fondos or gravel events you'd like to ride, or perhaps even going riding in a  specific number of different countries that you have a tick list of. 

There are also goals you can set that are much closer to home. It might be something like using VeloViewer and the 'tile bagging' feature to quantifiably make sure you've ridden on all the roads and trails of your local area. Or you might set a target of going on a bikepacking weekender once a month or drawing up a list of the iconic climbs that are near by you and starting to work through them.

Your imagination is really the limit - just do always question how you're going to measure your goal. If nothing else, it's quite motivating being able to tick off the quarter-way, halfway, two-thirds-of-the-way (and so on) milestones as you go through. But most important is really knowing when you have definitely completed your goal!

Sociability

Then there’s the social and community element of cycling. Especially with lockdowns in recent years, it has been easy to become a bit isolated outside of communities. Group riding offers a great opportunity to socialise with like-minded individuals and become part of a club/group/community. 

Apps like LinkMyRide offer the ability to find group rides near you. Or perhaps there’s a local club you can join with the cycling goal of doing maybe three group rides a week, or joining in with community projects such as leading rides for different groups. 

How to set realistic cycling goals

So we’ve worked out what area of cycling we want to set our goal in, but how do we determine what is realistic? We need to make our goal specific, achievable, and also time-dependent. Going from an FTP of 200 to 400 in a year likely isn’t going to happen, unfortunately!

Fitness

Let’s look at a couple of fitness goals. For someone starting out racing, with an FTP of 200 watts, and a weight of 80kg, we’re going to break down some realistic goals. 

Having just started racing, setting a goal of reaching 3rd or 2nd Category licence in one season is often an achievable goal for most. 52 points total are needed and there are a lot of races available such as criteriums, road races, CX and also some track races. 

This ride may also want to boost their FTP, so a sensible target in a year is perhaps a 20% improvement. As for weight, perhaps dropping 3-5kg over the course of the year - as you don’t want to lose too much too quickly - and getting weight down is only part of the W/Kg equation, where power (watts) is arguably more useful!

Adventuring

For someone exploring, let’s say they live in South Wales, their longest ride is 60 miles, and they want to ride in other countries. 

Being in South Wales, they will be surrounded by a lot of climbs that are part of the 100 greatest climbs. They may want to set a goal of riding all the climbs in that book that are in South Wales during a year. With their longest ride being 60 miles, a realistic target would be to be able to complete 100 miles in one go by the end of that year. 

As for travelling, setting the goal to ride in one other country is often a realistic goal, depending on finances.

Sociability

For community and social cycling goals, there are a few that can be realistically achieved. Perhaps you work during the week so don’t have time to ride much during the weekday, but you could set the goal of completing one group cycle a week with a group of friends or with a club. 

You could also try and do new sorts of group sessions, such as attending a group skills session if a club does that, a velodrome session, or the local through and off ride. If you’re more driven about having an impact on the community, you could set a goal of organising a group ride once a week, a cycling trip for some of the riders, or even a local road race for the club. 

These are all goals that should be realistic, achievable, and doable within one year.

How to best execute your goals

Fitness

When it comes to improving fitness, there are several things to consider. Firstly, you need to be training enough and in the right way to meet the demands of your goal. If it’s a TT, you need to train in an aerodynamic position. 

If it’s a certain W/Kg, then you need to be  fueling correctly to ensure you fuel for the work required, and optimise body composition by avoiding alcohol and processed fatty foods. You may also need to  reevaluate if you hit your initial target early, or illness/injury gets in the way.

Adventuring

For exploring and distance goals, again you need to be training appropriately and resting enough, while also being good at time management. Huge endurance rides alongside a demanding work job can lead to too much stress overall, so planning some big adventure rides when you have less work is a good idea. 

If you are having to travel to places or countries to ride or complete events, then ensuring that you are keeping enough time for family, social, and personal time are also important. Cycling should never be all consuming.

Sociability

Similarly with social goals, you need to take into account the overall work/life/training balance, in this case also possibly organising events. Organising a road race for example isn’t easy, but if members of the club have prior experience then they can perhaps assist you. 

Let’s cut straight to the chase: MyWhoosh is a free-to-use, ad-supported alternative to Zwift which boasts many similar features.

It might not be a brand you’ve heard of, but the chances are you will have seen its branding – even if only subliminally. As official partner to UAE Team Emirates, the MyWhoosh logo has been emblazoned across Tadej Pogacar’s jersey – and shorts.

There’s a lot to the platform and this is just a first look at the headline features that make it a viable option for building fitness and staying motivated while cycling indoors.

But is this free-to-use option is one of best indoor training platforms for cycling? Let's take a look in more detail.

MyWhoosh virtual worlds

With the MyWhoosh headquarters being based in Abu Dhabi, UAE, it should perhaps come as no surprise that desert landscapes feature heavily in the virtual world mix here.

The ancient desert city of AlUla – one of the oldest cities on the Arabian Peninsula and home to Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site - is the home to 8 routes, including a meaty one called ‘Heritage Climb’ which manages to pack 679m of climbing into 39km.

There's also a Middle Eastern Map, Arabia, which features 17 routes including a mix of hilly and flat parcours, includes a loop around downtown Dubai. Australia gets a look in, with seven featured routes, but to save perhaps the best till last, there are nine routes set in Colombia, including a lap around Bogota City - the capital - and a 889m climb up the Paso de Alto.

So there certainly are plenty of different routes to go through and tick off; MyWhoosh has really expanded the route options recently, with 12 worlds, each containing multiple rides, now features. While it remains some distance from offering the variety and number of routes you get with Zwift (It's Watopia world features 120 routes), it has started to close the gap. And of course, it’s free to use - which is a refrain that you could repeat after every observation!

And to hang on that point of monetisation for just a moment, I have to say that I did really quite enjoy how the ads are integrated into the world as little flags on the street, not any banners or pop-ups flashing across the screen. I think it’s really quite nice and unobtrusive - the visual experience even has a certain similarity to being at a sportive or race.

But to address something of an elephant in the room, although I did have the graphics set to high, the world and avatars still looked quite basic. There might have been something I was missing, so I won’t dwell on this point until I’ve spent a bit more time troubleshooting.

MyWhoosh Group rides

The group rides and races aren’t as frequent as they are on Zwift but you still don’t have to wait too long for one to come round - there’s something on about every 15 minutes or so.

Jumping in on the first event that rolled around, there were about 50 people there on the start line, which made a good size group for getting an initial feel for how the drafting works on the platform.

Obviously, there’s only so much you can gleam from just riding around, but there did feel a significant difference between the amount of power I needed to put out when riding in the wheels compared to riding on the front. Whether it’s quite as strong as Zwift’s double draft, I wouldn’t be able to say, though.

MyWhoosh took quite an interesting approach with this group ride. Everyone starts together regardless of ability, and within the bunch there was a total of nine bots that would ride around at an average speed of between 25kph and 40kph (going up in 2kph increments).

Given the ratio of riders to bots was a little over 5:1, it wasn’t really a surprise that the group ended up becoming fairly strung out over the course of the ride - although with clusters around the middling speeds.

The rolling hills will have exacerbated matters as well - with the realism set to 100 per cent, the gradients did really make themselves felt, both when riding a Tacx Flux 2 and an Elite Zumo trainer (I switched when switching between worlds).

MyWhoosh Races

Currently there are two races per day in the MyWhoosh HQ racing series, plus other events such as the Rampage Racing series that plays out over routes of 14-30km and an 8-weeks Masters Series, which provides races for a wide range of age groups.

However, the main event on MyWhoosh is the Sunday Race Club, held each week at 12:00 GMT for the men and 2:00 GMT for the women. Here you get six categories, with the Cat 5 and Cat 6 added to help narrow the physiological metrics within each group and provide a more balanced experience for riders of all levels.

MyWhoosh says that the terrain is quite eclectic, sometimes being pan flat, sometimes packing in 1,000m of climbing and - of course - everything in between as well. Although the winner is the first across the line, there are short sprints, moderate length segments and KOMs to compete in too.

As for prize money, it operates on a sliding scale from Cat 1 to Cat 6, with additional prizes for sprint winners as well as king and queen of the mountains. The pot is distributed evenly between the men and women's categories.

If you want the detail on how MyWhoosh verifies performances, you’re probably best off reading it on their website than me repeating it here. But suffice to say, for the top-level racers, dual power recording, weigh-ins and heart rate date are all par for the course.

But I’m yet to take part in any of that - the group ride was the first event I found and I was jumping around exploring the worlds afterwards, so hang tight for firsthand details on the racing.

MyWhoosh training plans

This is arguably one of the most interesting aspects to MyWhoosh. When I dropped by the MyWhoosh stand at Eurobike, one of the first things they told me was that Kevin Poulton - Zwift’s former leading coach and now UAE Team Emirates coach - was the man behind these training plans.

And the plans don’t shy away from the geeky details - the notes for the road racing plan take you through the different phases of periodization and the bodily adaptations that are being targeted for development.

If you’re anything like me, you’ll very much appreciate the depth on the ‘why’ rather than simply the ‘what’. But if you just want to get on with your training and don’t care about the mechanisms - there’s no problem with just cracking on.

Another nice touch that’s particularly useful is how you can drop into the training plan at the point of your choosing. For example, if you're coming to this in the spring and already have your base training ticked off - it’s great that you can jump straight in with what you’re ready for. And yes, you can also import custom workouts from other apps.

MyWhoosh workouts

Supporting the catalogue of cycling training plans is a bank of workouts that you can pick and choose from and plug straight into your training as it is. You can also see the same strands of detail running through these as you can in the training plans.

There are currently over 720 workouts on the platform, with each one structured around your Functional Threshold Power (FTP), which you can test for on MyWhoosh. With your smart trainer set to ERG mode all you have to do is pedal!

There’s also a handy workout builder for creating your own indoor cycling sessions for turbo training. It’s a very useful functionality to have, especially as it can be a bit of a pain to find an easy-to-use workout creator which is also free-to-use - but as with everything on the MyWhoosh platform, there’s no payment or subscription necessary.

The verdict on MyWhoosh

Let’s get the first things out of the way: MyWhoosh doesn’t look as polished as Zwift and it doesn’t have that gravity which comes from constantly having thousands of people on the platform. Essentially, I don’t think this platform is going to be a Zwift killer.

But with that said, for someone who only rides indoors occasionally and doesn’t want to fork out for a monthly subscription, I think MyWhoosh is a completely viable option - combined with one of the best cheap smart trainers and you have a decent training set-up without breaking the bank. Even for a regular indoor user, if you are seriously looking to cut down on costs, there may well be enough on MyWhoosh to keep you entertained and motivated all year round.

It might be something you haven’t really thought about – along with balancing and steering – since you first learnt to ride a bike, but the cycling cadence you ride at can have a significant effect on your cycling performance.

From peak power production to longer endurance efforts – even injury prevention – there are a lot of reasons to pay attention to the rate at which you turn the pedals. Plus, the training benefits of mixing up the RPM in your sessions might well surprise you. 

There’s a lot more to this metric than you might at first have imagined – and a lot of potentially misleading studies too. So let’s dig into the details on all you need to know about the ideal cycling cadence and how to improve.

Real-time cycling cadence and average cadence are data fields you can select to appear on your cycling computer. Your device can receive this data from a few different equipment set ups.

The cheapest way to measure cadence is by getting a cadence sensor, many of which attach to the left side of the chainstay. A magnet is then attached to the crank arm, and the sensor tracks how many times this magnet passes by it. Some bikes come with one as part of the stock setup. Low to mid-range bikes from Giant’s road bike range are equipped with ‘RideSense’ for example.

Power meters measure cadence themselves, so no need to attach a cadence sensor if you already have one of these. By extension, the same goes for power sensing turbo trainers and smart bikes.

If you come from a strength-based sport such as rugby or rowing, you’re more likely to be comfortable riding at a lower cadence with high torque, whereas if you’re a lighter rider you’ll probably be wanting to spin an easier gear at a higher cadence.

“Power is what riders are looking to improve and that’s a combination of angular velocity, which would be cadence, and the overall torque, which is the force applied through the pedal,” Andy Turner of AT Performance explains.

A lower RPM requires high torque to develop the same power output as a high RPM with low torque - essentially there are different ways to produce a certain number of watts. 

When we talk about cycling cadence, we’re thinking about what’s the most efficient way to produce the power that we’re looking for.

Pros and cons of a low cycling cadence

“A rider might be doing 300 watts at 90 RPM in a time trial, and what reduces isn't the capacity to hold the RPM, it's the capacity to maintain the torque - the force you’re pressing into the pedals - at that RPM,” Turner explains.

“Being able to generate more torque and maintain that for longer is what will help with prolonged performance, and increasing Functional Threshold Power or Critical Power.”

The benefit of riding with a low RPM and high torque is that you get better motor unit recruitment, with more neuromuscular pathways you're able to recruit more muscle fibres within the leg.

“If you're doing a maximal sprint, say around 80 per cent of the muscle fibres are working at maximal force, but some of them don't actually have a neurological link to be contracted to produce the force,” Turner points out. 

“The motor unit activates several muscle fibres at a time, and by doing strength development work each unit can recruit more fibres - it effectively means that you can use more of the muscles that you have.”

The largest gains from strength training at the gym happen early on because of this motor unit recruitment. 

Cycling at a low cycling cadence does put more strain on your muscles and joints though. 

“If you’re riding with a lower RPM that means that every time you’re pushing the pedal through there’s a higher force going through your foot, ankles, knee and hip, and that’s the link to increased stress and injuries,” physiotherapist and bike fitter Bryan McCullough of The Bike The Body notes. 

“There’s no clear evidence that lower cadence equals injury but it’s definitely associated with the development of front knee pain.”

At the same time, it's very good to train with low RPM to develop strength and force development. The key is to build up gradually. 

Pros and cons of a high cycling cadence

A higher RPM can be more effective for performing well at the end of longer events and for improving your cardiovascular system in training sessions. 

“While a lot of studies have shown that lower RPM is more efficient, a slight issue with those studies is that they've generally looked at quite low power outputs and not taken into account some of the neuromuscular fatigue build up that you get from riding at higher torque levels, “ Turner points out. 

And as you go into higher power outputs, a higher RPM can be more efficient. 

“A time trialist such as Ganna is not far off from doing 500 watts for 20 minutes and he rides quite close to that 100 RPM in time trial events because, for him, that's more efficient,” Turner says. “He’s still generating huge torque, but he's combining that with the high RPM to produce an overall really high power output.”

A couple of studies have highlighted that riding at a higher RPM also helps with reducing something called muscle co-activation. 

“When you push down on the pedal stroke, you're pushing down with your quads, but at the same time the hamstrings are actually offering resistive force against it if you're riding at a low RPM,” Turner explains. “Whereas at higher RPMs, that doesn't happen so much and so this results in a more efficient pedal stroke.”

Riding at a higher cycling cadence can be beneficial for completing a training session in the intended training zone as it pushes you towards using your cardiovascular system. 

For this reason, a high RPM can be quite useful for eliciting a better V02 max response when doing efforts. “Quite often people find that when riding at low RPM, they have a lower heart rate because it's not as taxing on the cardiovascular system,” Turner points out. “So when they ride at high RPM, the heart rate often increases. 

“For V02 max efforts, increasing cardiac output is actually what you want so I find high RPM efforts are quite a good way of getting that high cardiac output from people in training, and that can help with improved oxygen delivery to the muscles and also reducing fatigue at the end of longer rides,” Turner says.

Riding at a higher cadence is also something to be thinking about when you’re racing. “If you’re cruising along in the bunch waiting for the next move to go, it’s better to be riding at a slightly higher RPM,” Turner recommends. “If not, you waste time getting up to speed because your acceleration isn’t going to be as quick.”

If you’re in a road race - which tends to be quite a long event - riding at this high RPM for responding to attacks will also help with avoiding the end-of-the-race fatigue build up that you could have suffered with if riding at a low cadence for most of the race. 

But riding at a high cycling cadence is only useful if you’re smoothly executing these fast pedal strokes. If you’re riding at too fast a cadence you may find that you’re bouncing on the saddle and this results in a lower pedalling efficiency. This is where working on developing your pedalling fluidity and perfecting your pedalling technique (which we’ll come onto later) can help. 

Pedalling at a high cycling cadence is also not ideal if you are sticking in an easy gear.

Researchers in one study found that the ratio between oxygen delivered to muscles in your thighs and the oxygen that they take up simply is too low when you keep a high cadence - if you are in a relatively low gear.

For riders with experience this is not a problem because they tend to change up through the gears until comfortable with the higher intensity of exercise at their preferred cadence.

But novices and recreational cyclists sometimes stay in a low gear and spin quickly, even though the overall intensity of their exercise is relatively moderate.

How to improve your cycling cadence

It is beneficial to vary your cycling cadence in training sessions to improve your pedalling technique, work on specific training adaptations and to get comfortable at riding at the lower and higher ends of the cadence spectrum so you can easily adapt your cadence depending on the situation.

Riding at lower cadences will help you develop your strength, while working on your pedalling smoothness as you hit higher RPMs will enable you to pedal sustainably at this top end. 

Improving pedalling smoothness at higher cycling cadences

If you’re a rider who finds you’re always grinding it with a low cadence, ‘rev outs’ is a session which Turner recommends for getting more comfortable with higher cadences. For this workout, find a flat section of road, shift into your smallest gear possible and spin up as quickly as you can. 

“Initially you’ll probably find that you bounce up and down on the saddle quite a lot, but as you get better at it, you’ll find you become smoother and can generate a higher RPM,” says Turner. 

As well as doing these short and sharp spin outs, you can also work at riding at a higher cadence within longer intervals. “Ride five to 10 minutes tempo blocks where you are really focussed on keeping your cadence between 100 and 110 RPM,” Turner suggests. 

Developing strength at lower cadences

To develop your strength at low cadence, you’re going to want to be at a low cadence compared to the high power you’ll be outputting. 

“Find a flat section of road, slow down to a walking pace - so not quite a standing start, but maybe you’re having to turn the handlebars a bit to stop yourself wobbling over - and then in the biggest gear, staying seated and without pulling on the bars too much with your arms, just really focus on driving down with each pedal stroke for 60 seconds,” Turner recommends.

Alternatively, Turner suggests doing 10 minute blocks at around tempo pace in a gear that lets you ride at around 60 to 70 RPM.

With low cadence drills, it’s better to start at a higher cadence and then work your way down. 

“If you start straightaway at, say, 40 to 50 RPM, you can get pain at the front of the knee,” Turner warns.  “When I prescribe riders low cadence efforts, I’ll start with 70 RPM and then when they get better at dealing with that torque load, decreasing the RPM or increasing the power output.

Ideal cycling cadence: Indoors versus outdoors 

Indoor cycling sessions can also be a useful environment for focusing on your cadence as you don’t have any other distractions, there’s no potholes to dodge or traffic to be aware of.

“On indoor training apps such as Zwift, you ride on the virtual roads without the difficulty on [which adjusts the resistance to mimic climbs], and so you can just put it in whatever gear you fancy, and ride at the same RPM or whichever cadence you prefer, throughout the whole session.”

Average cadences also tend to be higher indoors than outdoors, so don’t compare the two.

“I very rarely end up out of the saddle when I’m on the turbo trainer,” Turner notes, “if you’re out of the saddle you’ll generally be at a lower RPM just practicality wise.”

“If you’re riding outdoors there will also be periods where you’re coasting and your pedalling will vary quite a bit with stop starting at junctions, and I think people will probably spend more time generally riding at higher RPMs indoors - it’s just a bit easier to do so.