Cycling training plan from sofa to 60km

Just starting out the sport of cycling? Or want to reach an achievable milestone? This training plan will help you get there. In partnership with Alzheimer’s Research UK

 

This plan is for: Riders who are aiming to ride 60km but who may not have ridden a bike in a long time or just starting out in the sport and want to improve their fitness from a base level. Or for cyclist's training for a charity event such as Alzheimer’s Research UK Cycling Down Dementia challenge.

This plan will: Make you fitter by gradually building your fitness from a limited active level. It is important to take each week as it comes

You will need: More important than anything else, an attitude to succeed and get out on the bike. It is also the key to have the competence and confidence of riding a bike out on the open road, so if you haven’t ridden a bike for a while go for a couple of shorter rides in a quiet place just to re-accustom yourself with your bike handling skills.

How it works: The training plan is based around 10 weeks training, slowly progressing your long endurance ride and fitness gradually week on week up until you are able to complete a 60km ride. Some shorter, more intense rides are also included within the plan to activate a training response, as well as some cross training sessions which can be used as fitness or active recovery days depending on your personal journey.

Our 2021 training plans are brought you in partnership with Alzheimer's Research UK.

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How to use our cycle training plans

For our training plans, different parts of the rides are described using numbered training zones. The plan is to work at that level of effort for the time given. Making the most of your time means working at the right effort level for you. Here’s how to work out where your training zones are.

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Paul Knott is a fitness and features writer, who has also presented Cycling Weekly videos as well as contributing to the print magazine as well as online articles.  In 2020 he published his first book, The Official Tour de France Road Cycling Training Guide (Welbeck), a guide designed to help readers improve their cycling performance via cherrypicking from the strategies adopted by the pros.