The best bike sessions to do in winter

Many people assume you should be riding long and slow over the winter. But is this right?

Strict, steady winter base training can be effective for professional riders, who can log 30-hour plus weeks. The sheer volume they’re able to do provides the training stimulus and gives them the deep base of endurance fitness they require for the heavy racing load they have to contend with in-season.

However, even for pros, the concept of just doing steady work over the winter has largely fallen out of favour.

Should I do low-intensity sessions?

For non-pros, who are having to juggle work, family and other commitments and can only probably manage 5-15 hours weekly, sticking purely to low intensity is a waste of precious training time – especially for triathletes who are also having to find time for swimming and running, too.

Training load is a combination of volume and intensity and, if both are low, you’re not going to be giving your body any significant training stimulus to adapt to. The only way to create training load on limited time is by including some intensity.

By taking this quality/less-is-more approach, you’re also far more likely to stay healthier over the winter, train consistently rather than binge and bust and, by not heading out for hours on end no matter what the weather, can keep your training a pleasure rather than a chore.

How should my bike training be split in winter?

So, what should you be doing on the bike through the winter assuming you can probably manage three bike workouts a week?

You should aim for two higher intensity mid-week rides, which, as the nights draw in and the weather gets worse, can be on the turbo. You can do structured workouts or, if you need the added motivation, try a Zwift race.

Most races sandwich a solid threshold effort between a hard start and hard finish – not particularly scientific but surprisingly effective.

At the weekend, if you can get out for a longer ride, brilliant, but it doesn’t need to be an epic 2-3 hours. It should include some focussed efforts and maybe some sprints, which is plenty to keep your endurance ticking over.

Don’t limit yourself to the road either, hit the trails – it’ll be far more pleasant and safer especially if it’s icy. If the weather is truly awful or you’re short of time, jump on the turbo. Ninety-120 minutes is plenty as there’s no freewheeling and, if you include some harder efforts, you can easily match the training load of a longer outdoor ride.

• How to maximise your training gains in winter

Top image credit: Getty Images

Nik Cook Freelance bike writer

About

Nikalas Cook is a writer, author, coach and athlete based in the Peak District. He specialises in health, fitness, endurance and adventure sports. Having studied a postgraduate degree in Health and Exercise Science, he worked for eight years as a top personal trainer in London. He was the editor of Totally Active magazine and writes for numerous specialist magazines and websites including 220 Triathlon, Outdoors Magic, Trail Running and Trek and Mountain. He has also edited the British Cycling member’s website, the Insight Zone. He’s written for national newspapers and magazines including The Times, The Financial Times, The Daily Mail, GQ, Men’s Fitness and Red Magazine. But he’s probably most proud of being Derbyshire Life’s beer correspondent. Nik has written two books (Marathon Training: Get to the Start Line Strong and Injury-free; Peak District Trail Running: 22 off-Road Routes for Trail & Fell Runners) and his third, entitled The Road Cycling Performance Manual, was published by Bloomsbury in June 2018. He has also worked with Nigel Mitchell on his book, Fuelling the Cycling Revolution, and with Martin Evans and Phil Burt on their book, Strength and Conditioning for Cyclists. He’s completed numerous cycling challenges including the Trans-Wales MTB stage race, the Fred Whitton, the Raid Pyrenees and both the Paris-Roubaix and Tour of Flanders sportives. Competitively, he likes to combine his cycling with running and has previously won gold in his age-group at the ITU World Long Course Duathlon Championships at Powerman Zofingen.