One-Hour Workout: Do-It-All Bike Session

This do-it-all workout will get you riding easy, hard, and everything in between, giving you a great fitness boost and teaching you how to seamlessly change pace. This helps reflect the demands of racing, especially short-course racing, when it pays to be able to respond to sudden changes in effort and intensity.

The session opens with an easy 15-minute warm-up at a higher cadence (90-100RPM) before a short but feisty 15-minute prep set, which involves a continuous 30 seconds at maximum effort, followed by 30 seconds easy. Use your preferred cadence for these and don’t be afraid to get out of the saddle on the maximum effort intervals, just be sure to keep your cadence high.

The main set involves a challenging mix of easy, moderate and hard efforts: five minutes easy into 10 minutes at moderate effort (think 7/10 RPE, rate of perceived exertion). Follow this up with another five minutes easy before you hit the final five minutes hard. This final piece should be at 9/10 RPE – really try to push it! Throughout all of the main set, use your preferred cadence.

Cool down for five minutes – or more if time allows. Keep your gear selection light and your cadence high.

Do-it-all bike session

Warm-up

15 minutes at high cadence, 90-100RPM

Prep set

15 minutes as 30 seconds max effort; 30 seconds easy. All at your preferred cadence

Main set

5 minutes easy
10 minutes moderate, 7/10 RPE
5 minutes easy
5 minutes hard, 9/10 RPE
All of the above at your preferred cadence

Cool-down

5 minutes (or more if possible), higher cadence