Spring Cycling Motivation

For cyclists in the Northern hemisphere, March is an important month. For most countries the clocks change to Summer Time and we can grab an extra hour of valuable evening daylight. Towards the end of the month Spring officially begins, which generally (but not always!) signals warmer temperatures and better weather.

Many cyclists will have pushed on during the winter months, hitting the indoor trainer and taking on the elements. Whereas some of us, who might have left the bike alone for a month or two, begin to come out of hibernation in March, squeeze into the lycra, and start to get motivated again.

So what’s the best way to build back your fitness and make the most of this newfound motivation to enjoy a summer of cycling?

Start steady

After some months of none or inconsistent cycling your fitness will have dropped, so don’t bite off more than you can chew over the first sunny weekend. You want to enjoy these first longer rides, but not find yourself crying into a can of Coke 30 miles from home. The good news is that you’ll quickly see gains as your fitness will bounce back quickly.

With a drop in fitness you’ll need to ride at a slower speed in order to keep control of your breathing and not go over your anaerobic threshold. When you spend too long working intensely you burn through your energy stores quickly. Your endurance will also have dropped, and more specifically your ability to burn fat will have decreased so you’ll be burning even more carbs and working less efficiently.

The key is to stick to a flattish route (if possible) in these early rides and stay in zone 2 as much as possible (if using a heart rate monitor or power meter). At this pace you should feel like you’re pressing on the pedals, but staying in control of your breathing and able to hold a conversation. On the harder sections try to avoid zone 4 if you can, when your breathing becomes laboured and your legs start to sting!

In these early rides you’ll be working harder than you think and you’ll need more carbohydrate to avoid running out of fuel, so take plenty of snacks and plan a food stop.

Set a goal

To help with motivation and give a focus to your training it’s useful to set yourself a short term goal. This could be an organised event, but could also be a more personal challenge, which can be less stressful and allow you to be more flexible.

Set this goal 2-3 months away from when you start riding. Close enough to be motivating but far enough away to give you time to make an improvement. Also, try to make it fairly specific and measurable, this will allow you to build up the ride difficulty from now to the goal.

Some examples of a personal goal could be:

• Ride a certain length loop, 50 or 100km are popular and achievable targets
• Get a PB time on your favourite local climb
• Ride your favourite 2hr loop at a faster average speed.

Consistency is the key

The most important aspect to increasing fitness is to train consistently and increase the amount of training you achieve steadily over time. This is where Kudo Coach comes in as it will set you an achievable weekly Training Load and suggest workouts that will build up the ride difficulty as you get fitter. This will increase your chances of achieving your goal and reduce the chances of doing too much and losing your motivation.

It’s good practice to look to increase your Training Load over three weeks and then take an easier week. This will allow you to recover both physically and mentally so you are then ready to build up again.

Maintaining your new found Spring motivation is essential, so start steady, be consistent and you’ll be in great shape to achieve your Summer goals.

Bring on the good weather!