Preparing a Cycling Event — Time Trials, Mediofondo, Granfondo and Century: Hours, Long Rides, Intervals, Fuelling and Taper

A cycling event can last twenty-five minutes or eight hours. A time trial is a solo effort against the clock, ridden at about the highest power the rider can hold for its duration; a mediofondo or a granfondo is a mass-start ride of three to eight hours for most amateurs, ridden mostly below threshold, with the hard minutes concentrated on the climbs. The two ends ask for the same foundation — a large amount of easy riding and a threshold that keeps rising — and differ in what is built on top of it: threshold work and aerodynamics for the time trial; long rides, power on the climbs, fuelling and riding in a group for the mass-start events.

This document describes how a preparation for a cycling event is built, from a rider's first weeks to a time goal: what each event demands, how long the preparation lasts, how many hours a week it reaches, how the long ride grows, the key sessions, the weekly structure, the taper, the fuelling and how a target time is judged. It complements the general cycling document, which covers the principles of power-based training and strength work for cyclists in general.

What the Events Demand

Event	Distance	Typical amateur duration	Average intensity	What decides it
Short time trial	16–25 km (10 miles to 25 km)	25–45 min	about FTP, slightly above for trained riders	threshold power, aerodynamics, even pacing
40-km time trial	30–50 km (25 miles)	55–90 min	about FTP, a little below for less-trained riders	threshold power held for an hour, the aero position
Mediofondo	70–110 km	2½–4½ hours	about 70–75% of FTP; climbs near threshold	aerobic base, power per kilogram on the climbs, group riding, fuelling
Granfondo, century	120–180 km; a century is 160 km (100 miles)	4–8 hours	about 65–70% of FTP	durability, fuelling, pacing, long-ride experience
A first event	40–110 km, ridden to finish	2–6 hours	conversational	time in the saddle, comfort, eating and drinking

Time trials: threshold and air

In professional riders, short time trials are raced at about the intensity at which blood lactate reaches 4 mmol/L and longer ones a little lower, near the lactate threshold; for amateurs both sit around the functional threshold power (FTP). On the flat most of the power goes into pushing air — about four fifths of the resistance at 30 km/h and about 90% at 50 km/h — so two levers decide the result: the power the rider can hold, which threshold training raises, and the drag of rider and bike, which position, clothing and equipment lower. The best pacing is close to even, a little harder uphill and into the wind; a fast start costs more time later than it gains. For scale, the world hour record on the track is 56.8 km: no amateur time trial is faster than that pace.

Mediofondo and granfondo: base, climbs and the group

A mass-start event is ridden mostly below threshold, but not evenly. In an amateur alpine event of 230 km and 5,500 m of climbing, recreational riders took about ten hours at an average heart rate of 77% of their maximum, spending about 40% of the time at 80–90% of maximum and about 14% above 90%. Three things decide most amateurs' time:

• Power per kilogram on the climbs. In a hilly sportive of almost 200 km with four long climbs and about 3,500 m of ascent, riders who finished in under six hours climbed at about 4.3 W/kg, those under seven at about 3.4 and those under eight at about 2.9; climbing power explained almost all of the difference in finishing time. Faster riders were lighter, had ridden the event more often and trained more — about 15½, 13 and 9½ hours a week in the three groups.
• Durability. What a rider produces after several hours matters more than what they produce fresh. Even professional cyclists' best power for efforts of every length fell by about 2–3% after 15 kJ of work per kilogram of body weight and by 6–10% after 45 kJ/kg, and the stronger riders lost less. Long rides, volume, fuelling and strength work all build it.
• The group. In a small paceline a following rider meets 50–70% of the air resistance of riding alone, and in the middle of a large bunch only 5–10%. Riding in a group — holding a wheel, eating while riding, descending in company — is a trained skill, and an hour sheltered in a group is energy saved for the last climb.

These events are long for amateurs: in a one-day event with routes of 167, 225 and 312 km, riders with a median age of about 47 took a median of about 7½, 10 and 12½ hours, at 22–25 km/h including stops. Cut-offs vary by event: one alpine granfondo closes its 138-km route at an average of about 13–14 km/h from the first start, while a Gran Fondo World Series event closed its 120-km route after five hours, 24 km/h.

The first event: finishing

For a beginner the first mediofondo or granfondo — or a sportive's short route of 40–70 km — is a test of time in the saddle more than of fitness. The plan's job is to make the rider comfortable for the expected duration, able to eat and drink on the bike, and well inside the event's time limit.

Before the Block: Starting Point, Readiness and Length

Starting from zero

A new runner is limited by tissues not yet used to impact; a new cyclist much less so, because pedalling carries no body weight. What limits a new rider is time in the saddle — the seat, the hands, the neck and lower back — the position on the bike, the skills of traffic, braking, cornering and descending, and eating and drinking on the move.

• Frequency first. Three rides a week as soon as possible, with a rest day between them at first. Untrained adults who commuted by bike at least three times a week improved their peak power and aerobic capacity over a year, and the more minutes they rode, the more they improved: a first event needs regular riding before it needs hard riding.
• Then duration. Each ride grows by about 10–15 minutes a week, the weekend ride more, until the rider can ride an hour continuously three times a week.
• Then intensity. No structured intervals until about four weeks of three rides a week and a ride of about 90 minutes; short sprints and cadence work can start earlier.
• Check the bike. Saddle height is the most important setting: a 5% change in saddle height changes knee motion by about a third and knee loads by about a sixth, while changes under about 4% of leg length seem not to matter. A basic fit before the hours grow prevents most knee complaints.

The first mediofondo or granfondo is a distance goal, ridden at a conversational effort, with the long ride as the plan's key session; a time goal comes with the next event.

Readiness

An event-specific block starts from a base, not from zero. The table gives the base this app asks for before the specific weeks; below it, the first weeks of the plan build that base.

Event and goal	Rides a week	Hours a week	Longest ride in the last eight weeks
Time trial, finish	2	1.5	45 min (short), 60 min (40 km)
Time trial, time goal	3	3	90 min
Mediofondo, finish	2	2	90 min
Mediofondo, time goal	3	4	2:30
Granfondo or century, finish	3	3	2:00
Granfondo or century, time goal	3	5	3:00

These thresholds are the coaching consensus, not trial results. They match the start of the published plans for a first century — three rides a week and a long ride of about two hours — and they are the shortest base from which the lengths below reach each event without the long ride growing faster than 15–30 minutes a week.

How long the preparation lasts

Situation	Time trial	Mediofondo	Granfondo or century
Below the readiness base, or a first event from little riding	8–12 weeks	12–16 weeks	16–24 weeks
With the base, first time at the distance	8–12 weeks	8–12 weeks	10–14 weeks
Experienced at the distance, with a current base	6–10 weeks	8–12 weeks	10–14 weeks
Low current volume, returning after a break, or 50+	12–16 weeks	14–18 weeks	18–24 weeks

These lengths are coaching practice. Cycling organisations' plans for a first 100 km or 100 miles last eight to ten weeks from riders who already ride about two hours at a time. As for any race, the plan is built backwards from the event: the taper ends on the event, the specific weeks sit before it, and the base fills whatever time is left. A plan that would end weeks before the event extends its base instead.

Weekly Volume

Cycling volume is counted in hours, not kilometres: a kilometre on a climb, in a headwind or in a group costs very different amounts of work, and an hour does not. In the hilly sportive above, faster riders trained more hours; in the one-day event of 167, 225 and 312 km, riders preparing the longer routes trained a median of about 9, 10 and 12 hours a week, on three or four days. Professional road riders in a pre-season block trained about 19 hours a week (women about 17).

Peak week by event and target

The row is set by how demanding the target is: the FTP per kilogram it asks for (see "Judging a Target"), in the categories power-meter makers use after the classic power-profile tables.

Category	Men, FTP in W/kg	Women, FTP in W/kg
Untrained	under 2.23	under 1.90
Fair	2.23–2.78	1.90–2.35
Good	2.79–3.92	2.36–3.32
Excellent	3.93–5.04	3.33–4.29
Superior	5.05 and above	4.30 and above

Target asks for	Short time trial	40-km time trial	Mediofondo	Granfondo or century
Finish, or an untrained-level FTP	2.5–3.5 h	3–4 h	3.5–5 h	5–7 h
Fair	3–5 h	3.5–5.5 h	4.5–7 h	6–9 h
Good	4.5–7 h	5–8 h	6–9 h	8–12 h
Excellent	6–10 h	7–11 h	8–12 h	11–16 h
Superior	9–14 h	10–15 h	11–16 h	14–20 h

These are coaching-practice peaks, consistent with the amateur data: sportive riders who climbed at about 2.9, 3.4 and 4.3 W/kg trained about 9½, 13 and 15½ hours a week. They are reached in the last weeks before the taper; they are not starting points. A rider begins from their own recent hours, measured over the weeks they actually rode. Riders on three rides a week sit at the low end of their row; the high end needs five or more.

Progression and lighter weeks

• Beginners grow by minutes, not percentages: about 10–15 minutes per ride per week, and one more ride a week before longer rides.
• Trained riders grow by about 10% a week between loading weeks. Cycling's overuse problems are mostly of the knee and lower back — over half of professional riders reported lower-back pain and about a third anterior knee pain in a year — so the ceiling is set by fatigue, saddle comfort and position as much as by tissue tolerance. No cycling trial has tested progression rates; 10% is the coaching consensus also used for running.
• A lighter week every third or fourth week cuts volume by about 25–35%, keeps a shorter long ride and at most one short quality session — the coaching consensus, as for runners. Masters riders and riders above about eight hours a week use every third week. After it, the plan resumes at the level of the last loading week.
• Reach the peak three to five weeks before a granfondo and two to four before a mediofondo or a time trial, and hold it for two or three weeks rather than peaking for a single week. A rider already near the peak for their target does not climb further: the block shifts its effort to the quality of the key sessions and the long ride.

The Long Ride

The long ride builds durability, fat oxidation and comfort in the saddle; it is where the event's food, drink, clothing and bike are rehearsed, and in the specific weeks where the event's intensity is practised on tired legs.

Event	Longest ride	Notes
Short time trial	1:30–3:00 by level	aerobic base; easy throughout
40-km time trial	1:45–3:00 by level	aerobic base; some tempo
Mediofondo	3:00–4:00 by level, up to about the expected event time	tempo blocks and surges in the specific weeks
Granfondo or century	4:00–5:30 by level, about 85% of the event distance when that fits	goal-intensity blocks and the event's fuelling in the specific weeks

• It starts where the rider is: the longest ride of the last eight weeks, not a number from a table.
• It grows by 15–30 minutes per loading week — about 15 minutes while under two hours, up to 30 minutes (10–15%) once longer — and is shortened by about a quarter in lighter weeks rather than dropped. Published plans for a first century add 5–10 miles a week from a two-hour ride.
• It reaches most of the event. Plans for a first century build to about 85 miles, 85% of the distance, and plans for a first 100 km to 90–100 km; a rider who can comfortably ride half the distance can usually finish the whole, which is the least a preparation should reach.
• It is capped by time. Coaching practice stops it at about five and a half hours even for slower riders: the recovery cost of a longer solo ride outweighs what it adds, and the event itself — with feed stations and groups to shelter in — costs less per hour than a solo ride. No trial has set this cap; it is the consensus.
• The longest rides fall five to two weeks before the event: the last about three weeks out for a granfondo and two weeks out for a mediofondo.
• It takes a large share of the week. A first-century plan of three rides a week — a long ride growing toward 85 miles and two weekday rides growing from an hour to about two — puts about 60% of the week into the long ride; with four rides it is about half, and less with more. Cycling's low impact allows a larger share than a runner's long run. The day before and the day after are easy, and heavy leg strength work stays at least 48 hours away.

Weekly Structure and Blocks

Hard sessions are never on consecutive days, and the day after the long ride is easy or off. The long ride is not counted among the quality sessions, even when it carries tempo blocks.

Rides a week	Quality sessions	A typical week
2	1 (none in the first weeks of a first event)	a quality ride of 60–75 minutes midweek, the long ride at the weekend
3	1	a quality ride, an endurance ride with cadence work or sprints, the long ride
4	1; 2 for trained and competitive riders	quality, endurance, quality or endurance, long ride
5 or more	2	two quality rides with an easy day between, endurance and recovery rides, the long ride

Two quality sessions a week are enough for almost every rider. A block that concentrates intervals — one week with five interval sessions, then weeks with one — improved VO2max by about 5% and power at a low lactate by about 10% in trained cyclists, where the same work spread at two a week changed nothing; it belongs to experienced riders with a stable base.

The plan is built backwards from the event: the taper ends on it, the specific block sits before the taper, and the weeks before that split into a base and a build.

Block	When	Time trial	Mediofondo	Granfondo or century
Base	first half of the weeks before the specific block	endurance, cadence work, sprints; tempo, then sweet spot	as the time trial; long ride growing	as the mediofondo; long ride growing to about three hours
Build	second half	threshold progression; VO2max every week	sweet spot and threshold; VO2max every week or two; climbing at threshold	sweet spot and threshold; VO2max every other week for trained riders; tempo inside long rides
Specific	last 4–6 weeks before the taper (time trial), 6 (mediofondo), 6–8 (granfondo)	goal-power efforts in the race position; VO2max kept	climbing repeats, surges, long rides with tempo blocks	long rides with goal-intensity blocks and the event's fuelling; sweet-spot climbing
Taper	last 7–14 days	volume cut, short efforts	volume cut, short efforts	volume cut, short efforts

A first event ridden for the finish has no quality sessions until the rider has three rides a week and a long ride of about 90 minutes: the base is the whole plan, and the long ride is its key session.

The Taper

• Cut the volume by about half, keep the intensity. In trained cyclists, a seven-day taper that cut training volume by 50% while keeping the intervals at the same intensity improved a 20-km time trial by about 5%; cuts of 30% or 80% produced no clear gain. Pooled across endurance athletes, only volume cuts of 41–60% improved performance, and only when intensity and the number of sessions were kept.
• Eight to fourteen days. Tapers of eight to fourteen days had the largest effect in the pooled data; seven days and up to three weeks also worked, and a progressive reduction did better than a single step down.
• Hard work before the taper helps trained riders: in elite cyclists, six days of daily intervals followed by a five-day taper raised VO2peak and one-minute power more than a conventional eleven-day taper. It is not for a first event.

Event	Length	Week before race week	Race week, before the event	Last quality
Time trial	7–10 days	about 80% of peak volume	about 50%	3–4 days out: 3–4 × 3–5 min at goal power
Mediofondo	7–10 days	about 75%	about 50%	3–4 days out: sweet spot or threshold, about half the usual work
Granfondo or century	10–14 days	about 70%, long ride about 2½–3 hours	about 50%, no ride over 90 minutes	3–5 days out: tempo or sweet spot, short
First event, finish goal	race week only	—	about 70%	none: easy rides

The day before the event is a ride of 30–60 minutes with a few short efforts — "openers". No trial has tested the format; it is the coaching consensus, and follows the taper's principle: keep the intensity, drop the volume.

The Key Sessions

Endurance rides, recovery rides, cadence and sprints

The endurance ride is most of the plan: zone 2, conversational, from an hour to several hours, ridden genuinely easy — on hills that means low gears. A recovery ride is 30–60 minutes in zone 1 on flat roads after the long ride or a hard day; a day off does the same job. Two low-cost additions fit into endurance rides:

• Cadence work — 6–10 × 1 minute at 100–110 rpm with easy spinning between. Professional riders pedal at about 90 rpm on flat stages and in time trials and about 70 rpm on long climbs; being comfortable across that range is a skill. Low-cadence, high-torque efforts (4–6 × 5 minutes at 50–70 rpm in zone 3) have no strong evidence of benefit and are optional, for hilly events.
• Short sprints — 6–8 × 8–12 seconds, seated and standing, with full recovery: the cyclist's version of strides.

Tempo and sweet spot

Session	Intensity	Progression	Between blocks
Tempo	76–90% of FTP, zone 3	2 × 15 min → 2 × 20 → 2 × 30; for a granfondo, 45–90 min inside the long ride	5 min easy
Sweet spot	88–94% of FTP, zones 3–4	3 × 10 min → 3 × 15 → 2 × 20 → 3 × 20 or 2 × 30	5 min easy

Tempo is close to the effort most amateurs ride a mediofondo or granfondo at, so it is also those events' specific intensity. Sweet spot is the base and build blocks' main session for riders with few hours: more training effect per hour than endurance riding, less fatigue than threshold work.

Threshold

Form	Example	Progression
Threshold intervals	3 × 8 min at 95–100% of FTP, 4 min easy	3 × 12 → 2 × 20 → 3 × 15 → 2 × 25: from about 25 to about 50 minutes of work
Over-unders	3–4 × 9 min alternating 2 min at 95% and 1 min at 105–110%	for mass-start events with surges; coaching practice

Threshold work is the time trial's main session from the build to the specific block, and the one that raises the power a rider holds on a long climb. Recoveries are a quarter to a half of the work time. In trained recreational cyclists, four 8-minute intervals at the highest intensity they could sustain — about 90% of maximal heart rate — improved VO2peak and threshold power about twice as much as four 4-minute or four 16-minute intervals.

VO2max intervals

Form	Example	Total work
Long intervals	4–6 × 4–5 min at 106–120% of FTP, recovery equal or slightly shorter	16–25 min
Medium intervals	5–6 × 3 min, equal recovery	15–18 min
Short intervals	2–3 series of 13 × (30 s hard / 15 s easy), 3 min between series	13–20 min

• In competitive cyclists, ten weeks of two sessions a week of the short 30/15 format improved VO2max by about 9% and 40-minute power by about 12%, against about 3% and 4% for 4 × 5 minutes of matched effort; in elite cyclists the same format improved 20-minute power by about 5% in three weeks.
• In endurance cyclists, six sessions of 8 × 4 minutes at about 85% of peak aerobic power, or 12 × 30 seconds at 175%, improved a 40-km time trial by 2–3% in three weeks. Pooled across trials, intervals of four minutes or longer improved time trials about 2% more than all-out sprint intervals.
• Every week in the build block before a time trial, every week or two before a mass-start event, ridden hard but evenly: the last repeat at the same power as the first.

Event-specific efforts

Event	Example sessions	When
Short time trial	3 × 10 min → 2 × 15 → 2 × 20 at goal power (about 100–105% of FTP) in the race position	last 4–6 weeks before the taper
40-km time trial	3 × 12 min → 2 × 20 → 1 × 30–40 at goal power (about 92–100% of FTP) in the race position	last 4–6 weeks before the taper
Mediofondo	climbing repeats 4–6 × 6–10 min at sweet spot to threshold; long rides with surges and 2 × 20 min at tempo	last 6 weeks before the taper
Granfondo or century	long rides with 2–3 × 20–45 min at goal intensity (tempo) in the second half, climbs at sweet spot, the event's fuelling	last 6–8 weeks before the taper

The specific sessions also check the goal: if 2 × 20 minutes at 40-km goal power cannot be completed three weeks out, or the tempo blocks at the end of the longest ride fall apart, the goal is too fast. A time-trial rider spends this block in the position they will race in, so that it can be held for the whole distance.

Intensity in Brief

Functional threshold power is the anchor of cycling intensity: roughly the highest power a rider can hold in a long, steady effort. The zones are shares of it; shorter efforts sit toward the top of each zone and longer ones toward the bottom. Without a power meter the app's five heart-rate zones and perceived effort stand in for them (see "Testing FTP, Heart Rate and Effort").

Zone	Name	% of FTP	Heart-rate zone	Effort (0–10)	Typical use
1	Active recovery	under 55%	1	2–3	Recovery rides, warm-up, cool-down
2	Endurance	56–75%	2	3–4	Endurance rides and the long ride: most of the time
3	Tempo	76–90%	3	5–6	Tempo blocks; the average effort of a granfondo
—	Sweet spot	88–94%	3–4	6	Long intervals just below threshold
4	Threshold	91–105%	4	7	Threshold intervals; time trials
5	VO2max	106–120%	5 by the end of each repeat	8–9	Intervals of 3–8 minutes
6	Anaerobic capacity	over 120%	not useful	9–10	Efforts of 30 seconds to 3 minutes
7	Neuromuscular	maximal	not useful	10	Sprints of a few seconds

"Sweet spot" is a coaching term for the top of zone 3 and the bottom of zone 4, not a physiological zone, and no trial has tested it as such; it is used because it gives a lot of near-threshold work for its fatigue cost, which suits riders with few hours.

Distribution. Most of the time stays in zones 1 and 2. In trained cyclists, six weeks of polarized training — about 80% easy, almost nothing at tempo, about 20% hard — improved peak power by about 8% and threshold power by about 9%, against 3% and 2% for a programme with 43% of the time at moderate intensity. Pooled across endurance sports, polarized training improved VO2peak slightly more, mainly in highly trained athletes, but time-trial performance improved equally with a pyramidal distribution (mostly easy, a smaller share at tempo and threshold, a little VO2max work), and recreational athletes gained more VO2max with the pyramidal one. Hard sessions are time-efficient — in active people, two weeks of short sprint intervals, about 2½ hours in all, improved a time trial as much as 10½ hours of steady riding — but they do not build the durability a long event needs. The choice in this app: every plan keeps at least three quarters of its time easy; riders with fewer than about six hours a week and recreational riders follow a pyramidal ladder, with tempo and sweet spot taking a large share of the quality work; trained and competitive riders with more hours move toward a polarized week in the build and specific blocks. Both cap the hard sessions at two a week.

Fuelling and Hydration on Long Rides

A time trial of up to an hour needs no food during the effort: a normal meal two to four hours before, and at most a mouth rinse or a few sips of a carbohydrate drink. Everything changes past two hours.

• How much carbohydrate. For about an hour, a mouth rinse or small amounts already help. For two to three hours, up to about 60 g per hour, about the most a single sugar can supply; beyond about two and a half hours, up to about 90 g per hour from mixtures of glucose and fructose. In a dose–response trial in cyclists, a time trial after two hours of riding improved with every step of intake up to about 78 g per hour, with little extra beyond it.
• Scale with intensity. These rates are for riders working hard. A rider riding slowly for seven hours burns less carbohydrate per hour and does not need 90 g; for most amateurs in a granfondo, 60–80 g per hour is a sound target. Riders in amateur and competitive events took on average about 50–60 g per hour.
• Start early, eat little and often. Eat from the first 30–45 minutes, then every 20–30 minutes; the gut cannot catch up on a deficit built in the first two hours.
• Train the gut. Stomach emptying and intestinal absorption adapt to repeated intake within days to about two weeks, so the race intake is rehearsed on every long ride of the specific block. In a large amateur event almost four riders in ten reported gut complaints during the ride; complaints at rest and nerves before the start predicted them better than what riders ate.
• Drinking. Drink to keep body-mass loss under about 2% of body weight, and never so much that weight goes up during the ride, which risks low blood sodium. A rider estimates their sweat rate by weighing themselves before and after a training ride; amateurs in a long one-day event drank about half a litre an hour.
• Before the event. For events over about 90 minutes, a carbohydrate-rich diet for the 36–48 hours before (about 10–12 g per kilogram a day) and 1–4 g per kilogram one to four hours before the start.

Strength Training and the Hybrid Athlete

• What it improves. Heavy strength training improves cycling economy and the power left at the end of a long ride. In well-trained cyclists, twelve weeks of heavy lower-body work twice a week — four exercises, three sets of 4–10 repetitions — raised the power of a 5-minute all-out effort at the end of a three-hour ride from about 371 to about 400 W, while the endurance-only group did not change; female cyclists improved 40-minute power and economy with the same kind of programme.
• Replace rather than add, when hours are tight. In highly trained cyclists, adding strength work on top of an unchanged endurance load did not improve performance, while replacing part of the endurance training with it — often explosive work — did.
• Dose. One or two sessions a week with moderate-to-heavy loads (about 60–85% of 1RM), two to four sets of three to five compound lower-body movements, well short of failure. Done this way it does not add unwanted muscle mass. One session a week through the competitive period kept the strength gained with two a week before it, and performance kept improving.
• Bones. Cycling does not load the skeleton: among highly trained masters cyclists, 15% had bone density in the osteoporosis range at the spine or hip, against none of the matched non-cyclists. Strength training and some impact — jumps, running, stairs — belong in a cyclist's plan.
• Placement. Two sessions a week in the base, one in the build and specific blocks, none or a very light one in race week. Heavy leg work goes after a quality ride, at least three hours later, or on an easy day — never the day before intervals, a threshold session or the long ride. Lighter strength weeks coincide with lighter riding weeks.

Masters Cyclists (45 and Over)

• The decline is real but modest. Among competitive cyclists aged 25–63, power in a 16-km time trial fell by about 7% per decade, while the intensity they rode at — as a share of their own maximal power and heart rate — did not change with age. Much of the decline in endurance athletes follows reduced training, so consistent training matters more with age, not less.
• Recovery feels slower. Veteran and young cyclists held their power equally well over three consecutive days of hard time trials, but the veterans reported more soreness and fatigue. Masters riders keep at most two quality sessions a week with easy days between, and a lighter week every third week.
• Intervals stay, with repeats of three to five minutes preferred to repeated all-out sprints, and the strength work above stays all year: muscle and bone decline with age and cycling protects neither.
• A longer preparation. A masters rider, or a rider returning after a break, uses the longer end of the preparation table so the hours can grow gradually.

Testing FTP, Heart Rate and Effort

FTP

• The 20-minute test. After a thorough warm-up the rider rides 20 minutes as hard as they can hold evenly; 95% of the average power is the FTP estimate.
• How good it is. On average the estimate sits close to the power at the lactate threshold or the maximal lactate steady state, but the individual error is up to about ±10%, and in some studies the true steady state lay below it. Riders held the estimated FTP for about 50 minutes on average, not 60: recreational riders about 35 minutes, trained riders 42, well-trained riders 47 and professionals 51. Their best hour was about 88% of their 20-minute power for recreational riders, 92% for trained, 95% for well-trained and 96% for professionals. FTP is a training anchor, not a promise of an hour's power, and the less trained the rider, the more it overstates what they can hold for an hour.
• Retest every six to eight weeks, or infer FTP from hard rides and events.

Heart rate when there is no power meter

Heart rate sets the zones with the app's five-zone scale, as a share of the maximal heart rate (heart-rate-zones.md). For cyclists:

• The cycling maximum is lower. In triathletes tested both ways, maximal heart rate on the bike was about 4–6 beats lower than on a treadmill and heart rate at the second threshold about 7–9 beats lower. A maximum taken from running or from an age equation is lowered by about 5 beats for cycling zones — a working assumption of this app built on those data, not a tested rule.
• Heart rate lags. It rises with a delay after an effort starts, so VO2max repeats, 30-second intervals and sprints are ridden by effort; heart rate only confirms that the last minutes of each repeat reached zone 5.
• Heart rate drifts. On a long ride at steady power it climbs as the hours pass, and late in a very long event it can fall with fatigue. Holding the same perceived effort is closer to holding the same power than holding a fixed heart rate.
• A rider can also set zones from a 30-minute solo time trial: the average heart rate of the last 20 minutes approximates the threshold heart rate.

Perceived effort

Perceived effort works for every rider and session, and a session rating on a 0–10 scale tracks heart-rate-based training load well. The talk test is its simplest form: while the rider can speak comfortably they are below the first threshold, zones 1 and 2; when speech becomes difficult they have crossed it.

Judging a Target: From FTP to Speed

A runner's speed depends almost only on the runner; a cyclist's depends on the rider and the road. On the flat most of the power pushes air, so speed follows absolute watts and drag; on a climb it lifts rider and bike, so speed follows watts per kilogram; in a group a sheltered rider needs far less power for the same speed. A target time is therefore judged through the power it asks for.

The power a speed asks for

The power to ride at a steady speed is the sum of three resistances divided by the drivetrain's efficiency: air (½ × air density × CdA × speed³, where CdA is the drag area of rider and bike), rolling (rolling coefficient × total mass × g × speed) and gravity (total mass × g × gradient × speed). This model, checked against power measured on the road, explained 97% of the variation in measured power, with an error of about 3 W. The usual values are an air density of 1.2 kg/m³, a rolling coefficient of 0.004 and a drivetrain loss of 2.5%. Measured drag areas of road riders were about 0.30 m² in the upright road position, 0.28 in the drops and 0.26 on aero bars; a recreational rider sitting more upright has more. Bike, bottles and kit are taken as 9 kg.

FTP, 75-kg rider	Flat speed at FTP, upright	Flat speed at FTP, aero bars	20 km at FTP, aero bars	40 km at 95% of FTP, aero bars
2.0 W/kg	about 31 km/h	about 33 km/h	about 37 min	about 75 min
2.5 W/kg	about 34 km/h	about 36 km/h	about 34 min	about 69 min
3.0 W/kg	about 36 km/h	about 38 km/h	about 32 min	about 64 min
3.5 W/kg	about 38 km/h	about 40 km/h	about 30 min	about 61 min
4.0 W/kg	about 40 km/h	about 42 km/h	about 28 min	about 58 min

How much of FTP a rider holds

Duration	Share of FTP	Basis
25–45 min (short time trial)	about 100% for recreational riders, 103–105% for trained and competitive	time to exhaustion at FTP of 35–51 minutes by level; short time trials are ridden a little above threshold
45–90 min (40-km time trial)	about 92% recreational, 96% trained, 100% competitive	best-hour power of 88–96% of 20-minute power by level
2–4 hours (mediofondo)	climbs about 88%, the rest about 70%	endurance-paced riding, climbs near sweet spot
over 4 hours (granfondo)	climbs about 85%, the rest about 65%	durability: power falls as the work accumulates

The mass-start shares are a working assumption of this app, checked against the hilly sportive above: riding its climbs at the power each group was measured at, and the rest at these shares, gives about 5.9, 6.6 and 7.3 hours — matching the groups that finished in under six, seven and eight hours.

The checks

1. The target's power. For a time trial: the FTP that rides the distance on a flat course in the target time, in the rider's position, at the share of FTP the duration allows. For a mediofondo or granfondo: the course is split into climbs (the total ascent at an average gradient of about 5%), descents of the same length ridden at low power, and flat roads ridden partly in groups; the target's FTP is the one that rides that course in the target time at the shares above. Its category sets the row of the peak-week table.
2. Against the rider's FTP. In training studies, recreational and trained cyclists gained about 3–12% in threshold or time-trial power over three to ten weeks of structured intervals. The app allows up to 10% for novice and recreational riders, 7% for trained and 5% for competitive riders over a plan of twelve weeks or more, proportionally less over a shorter one.
3. Against a recent event. The same event or course in the last six months is the best evidence of current fitness: a target faster than it by more than about 1% is ambitious. A recent solo time trial converts to an FTP through the same model; a mass-start event does not, because drafting changes the power a time needs by too much.
4. The peak week. The plan's peak, from where the rider starts, against the peak-week table.

The model assumes dry roads without wind, no stops and no technical descents; time at feed stations comes on top, and it cannot know how much of the event a rider spends sheltered. A converted target is a direction, not a promise: if the goal-intensity blocks of the last long rides do not hold, the target is too fast.

Warm-Up and Cool-Down

A runner's warm-up is a walk, and a walk is not running: it is added before and after the run and does not count in the running time. A cyclist's warm-up is easy pedalling, which is cycling: it belongs inside the ride and counts in its minutes.

• Every ride starts with about ten minutes of easy spinning — zone 1 rising to low zone 2, a light gear, a free cadence — and ends with five to ten minutes of easy spinning. For an endurance or long ride that is the whole warm-up: endurance work needs the shortest warm-up, and the first easy minutes complete it (warm-up-and-session-structure.md).
• Quality rides take fifteen to twenty minutes: ten easy, five rising through zones 2 and 3, two or three efforts of 30–60 seconds at the session's intensity, and two to five minutes easy before the first interval. An active warm-up helps efforts longer than a few minutes when the rider starts them warm but not fatigued; a warm-up that is too hard, or ends too close to the effort, makes things worse.
• The cool-down is ten minutes of easy spinning after the last interval. It clears blood lactate faster but does not reduce soreness or improve the next day's performance; it costs nothing on a bike and brings the heart rate down before the rider stops.
• On event day, coaching practice before a time trial is 20–30 minutes with a few short efforts at and above goal power, ending five to ten minutes before the start; before a mediofondo or granfondo, the first 15–20 minutes of the event, ridden easily.

Indoor and Outdoor Riding

• Indoors is efficient: no traffic, descents or stops, and intervals at exactly the prescribed power. It suits weekday quality sessions.
• The same effort gives less power indoors. Recreationally trained men told to ride 40 km at the same perceived effort produced about 27% more power outdoors (208 against 163 W), with a higher heart rate; the indoor rides were warmer and without moving air. Indoor sessions are set by power or heart rate rather than feel, with a strong fan.
• Outdoors is specific. Handling, descending, group riding, eating on the move and the time-trial position on real roads are learned outside. A rider preparing a mass-start event rides the long ride outdoors in the specific block, ideally in company and on climbs like the event's.

Common Mistakes

• Endurance rides ridden too hard, so the quality sessions are ridden tired.
• Intervals ridden above target, turning threshold work into VO2max work and VO2max work into sprints.
• A granfondo preparation without long rides, or a long ride that grows by an hour in a week.
• Training only indoors before a mass-start event: no group riding, no descending, no eating on the bike.
• Training a time trial on the hoods and racing it in an aero position never held for long.
• Stale FTP: zones from a test three months and one block ago.
• A new gel or drink tried for the first time on event day.
• The first climb of a granfondo ridden above threshold with a group that is too fast, paid for in the last two hours.
• A saddle height never checked, ridden for hundreds of hours.
• No taper, or a taper that drops all intensity.

Key Takeaways

1. Build the plan backwards from the event: taper, specific block, then base and build.
2. Most riding stays easy; one or two quality sessions a week carry the intensity — pyramidal for riders with few hours, closer to polarized for riders with many.
3. Time trials are won at threshold and in the aero position; mass-start events on the long ride, on the climbs, in the group and at the feed.
4. The long ride grows by 15–30 minutes per loading week toward a cap set by the event: two to three hours for a time trial, three to four for a mediofondo, four to five and a half for a granfondo.
5. A lighter week every third or fourth week; the peak held for two to three weeks before the taper.
6. Taper 7–14 days, cutting volume by about half and keeping short, intense efforts.
7. Fuel 60–90 g of carbohydrate per hour on rides over two and a half hours, rehearsed in training.
8. A target time is judged by the FTP it asks for, through the physics of air, rolling and climbing.
9. Heavy strength work once or twice a week helps the end of long rides and protects the bones.