They're easy to complete if you ride regularly, and most of them can be done on indoor trainers as well as out on the road. Some challenges will focus on distance, or altitude gained, others on searching out new places to ride. They're designed to be a bit of fun, and keep everyone motivated through the year, no matter what annual total they're aiming for.

This month, no matter the overall distance goal you're aiming for in 2025, your first challenge is to complete your longest ride of the year. And if you like climbing then the second goal should be right up your (hilly) street! (Hint: kill two birds with one stone and nail both in just one ride…)

Sign up to the MyWhoosh Big Ride Challenge and choose one of the four distance goals - 500, 1000, 2500 0r 5000 miles

Scroll down the page for previous monthly challenges and extra inspiration!

June Challenges

CW Mini

1 Complete your longest ride of the year
2 Ride to a local viewpoint

CW Midi

1 Complete your longest ride of the year
2 Find and ride a new hill

CW Maxi & CW5000

1 Complete your longest ride of the year
2 Log a seasons best on a climb

Previous Months' Challenges

The Mini
May
1. Ride Bingo Spring! Find 5 things from the list below
Hospital, runway, bad cycling infrastructure, boat moorings, bike shop, milestone, library, POI or tourist attraction
2. Ride for three hours in one week
April
1. Find a spring scene and take a photo
2. Complete a 20 mile ride
March
1. Complete a one hour ride
2. Find and ride a new hill
February
1. Be active for five consecutive days
2. Complete a 10 mile ride
January
1. Join a group ride
2. Exercise ten times this month

The Midi
May
1. Ride Bingo Spring! Find 6 things from the list below
Hospital, runway, bad cycling infrastructure, boat moorings, bike shop, milestone, library, POI or tourist attraction
2. Ride for five hours in one week
April
1. Find a spring scene and take a photo
2. Complete a 30 mile ride
March
1. Ride four days in one week
2. Do a sunrise or sunset ride
February
1. Log a 40 mile week
2. Find and ride a new road
January 1. Join a group ride
2. Ride three times in one week

The Maxi
May
1. Ride Bingo Spring! Find 7 things from the list below
Hospital, runway, bad cycling infrastructure, boat moorings, bike shop, milestone, library, POI or tourist attraction
2. Ride for seven hours in one week
April
1. Find a spring scene and take a photo
2. Complete a 50 mile ride
March
1. Gain 15k vertical feet in the month
2. Do a sunrise or sunset ride
February
1. Complete 750 minutes of riding
2. Find and ride a new road
January 1. Join a group ride
2. Complete a 30 mile ride

CW5000
May
1. Ride Bingo Spring! Find 8 things from the list below
Hospital, runway, bad cycling infrastructure, boat moorings, bike shop, milestone, library, POI or tourist attraction
2. Ride for 10 hours in one week
April
1. Find a spring scene and take a photo
2. Complete an 80 mile ride
March
1. Gain 20k vertical feet in the month
2. Do a sunrise or sunset ride
February
1. Complete 1,000 minutes of riding
2. Find and ride a new road
January 1. Join a group ride
2. Complete a 50 mile ride

This page will be updated at the start of each month with a new set of challenges for all our riders. You can also be notified of the monthly challenges via the Big Ride Challenge WhatsApp group

Sign Up For The MyWhoosh Big Ride Challenge

Rather than pitting one against the other, smart riders now combine indoor control with outdoor variety to optimise performance, consistency, and enjoyment.

Whether you’re chasing race results, building endurance, or just trying to stay on track through winter, each setting offers unique benefits.

According to cycling coach Paul Mill of Elitecycling the keys are balance and flexibility. By structuring your week to include both targeted indoor sessions and skill-building outdoor rides, you can maximise gains while keeping motivation high and burnout at bay.

The perfect balance for peak performance

The debate around indoor versus outdoor cycling has evolved beyond ‘which is better, to how do I use both to get better?’. “The smartest riders strike a balance,” says Mill. “One that fits their goals, lifestyle, and environment.”

For committed cyclists fitting training around work, family, and social life, Mill recommends a flexible and realistic training structure every week.

• 2–3 indoor sessions: focused, high-intensity, and time-efficient
• 1–2 outdoor sessions: longer, lower-intensity, and skill-oriented

This split allows riders to hit their performance targets while making the most of their available time - and keeping motivation high through variety. “Flexibility really is the key,” says Mill. “You get the physiological quality indoors and the emotional and technical benefits outdoors.”

Indoor cycling's superpowers

Indoor cycling workouts are great for structure and control. Sessions like high-intensity intervals - VO2 max or anaerobic efforts - benefit from the lack of interruptions. You can lock into exact wattages, hold precise cadence, and stick to recovery periods without worrying about traffic lights or terrain. Ideal indoor sessions include:

• VO2 max and anaerobic intervals: Riding indoors gives you maximum control and intensity
• Threshold workouts: It's easier to hold consistent power targets for 10-60 minutes indoors
• Cadence drills: Isolating and monitoring your technique is simpler without distraction
• Structured intervals: Riding indoors helps you to be more precise with your work-rest ratios
• Race simulations: Taking part in an indoor event like those in the MyWhoosh Sunday Race Club provides you with a high intensity workout, indoor unpredictability, and race-readiness

Outdoor riding's rewards

Outdoor riding is still essential - especially for building endurance and road skills. “There’s no substitute for the mental and physical variety that comes with real terrain, weather, and the dynamics of riding in a group,” insists Mill. Best outdoor sessions include:

• Endurance rides: Longer, steady rides that build aerobic capacity are – for many – easier to do IRL
• Group rides: You can, of course, ride in a huge group in an immersive indoor world but tactics, positioning, drafting and even etiquette are best learned on the opened road
• Technical skills: Cornering, descending, riding in crosswinds, avoiding potholes – you simply can't get better at mastering these skills in front of a screen
• Hill reps: Real, highly variable, gradients challenge your technique and strength differently than simulated climbs

Outdoor hills are worth repeating

“Outdoor hills offer the best training for real-world climbing,” insists Mill. Riders engage more muscles, adapt to changing conditions, and refine technique - standing vs. seated, power delivery, and pacing.

“Outdoors is also better for neuromuscular coordination and handling torque,” Mill adds. “But indoors can work if you’re short on time, daylight, or local terrain.”

For indoor hill simulations, Mill recommends smart trainers paired with rocker plates and gradient simulators to replicate the feel of climbing. “Sure, the latest iteration of cycle training apps add visual immersion - but real-world rides still provide the most full-body engagement.”

The greater outdoors?

The psychological impact of training location can’t be ignored. Riding outdoors offers a powerful mental reset. The exposure to light, nature, and open space boosts mood, the exploration of new routes keeps cycling engaging while the real-world variables – other road users, potholes, force 9 gales and the like – develop mental adaptability and tactical thinking.

On the other hand, indoor training is more efficient in that there’s no faffing with kit, no dealing with traffic, no major mechanicals to stop you in your tracks. Indoor training is – usually – quite laser-focused. (As in the controlled environment helps you hit training targets). There are no issues around sticking to your plan even in the depths of winter either, and thanks to virtual races and group rides there’s no lack of motivation. “Mixing both avoids burnout,” says Mill. “You stay physically sharp and mentally fresh.”

Indoor reality checks

Modern indoor training platforms offer an impressively close simulation of outdoor cycling. Riders can race, climb, and train with precision. But there are still some limits.

That’s why Mill advises blending both styles. “Use indoor training for control and intensity, use outdoor riding to build technical skills, experience real-world conditions, and reconnect with why you ride in the first place.”

It’s not really a question of indoor versus outdoor these days. It’s how to use each to maximum effect. Structured intensity indoors, long steady work and skill-building outdoors, and a training plan that respects your time, weather, and mental energy. “Get the best of both worlds,” says Paul Mill. “The gains come when you combine the control of indoor with the adaptability of outdoor. That’s real training.”

For this I blame Jean Francois Bernard, a cyclist who in the late 1980s - along with Laurent Fignon - had a fair go at replacing Bernard Hinault as the darling of French cycling. I can still recall his Mont Ventoux time trial at the Tour de France in 1987 – a race against the clock he won in searing heat with spectators half a dozen deep urging him to the summit.

Fortunately we had our own Mont Ventoux just down the end of the road. It was at least 100 metres long and the gradient maxed out at a heady 1.8%, but for us it was equal in stature to the Giant of Provence, handily tucked away in a leafy corner of Surrey.

My brother on his Dawes, my neighbours on their Raleigh Burner and Peugeot City Express, we all had designs on becoming the next Sean Yates or Malcolm Elliott - and given the speeds we thundered up this incline a career in pro cycling surely beckoned.

*Record scratch*.....

20 years on the booze

Then my 12th birthday rolled around, and as is customary for a pubescent chap, I seamlessly morphed into a spotty, snarling oik, who couldn’t careless about cycling, or anything other than staying in bed with the curtains drawn feeling perpetually pissed off.

Cycling? Who cared about cycling. It was a daft sport anyway. And look at the clothing they wear. You’d have to be some sort of weirdo to knock about in those threads. I was despondent, bored, angry, and listening to Nirvana at full volume.

And so began a 20-year period during which I became heavily embroiled in the cigarette and alcohol scene. Yes, a dogged campaign to rid myself of as many brain cells as possible was embarked upon, perhaps while invoking a little cardio respiratory disease to boot. You know, just to add the finishing touches to my die-as-young-as-humanly-possible project.

I alighted from my twenties in woeful shape - my stomach had its own time zone and I was in possession of a pair of lungs that were as useful as boobs on a boar. Operation death was moving along swiftly.

Operation 'get fit'

Then my children arrived and it was a bit like waking from a two-decade long fever dream. For the first time since those halcyon days on our own private Mont Ventoux, I was struck by clarity of thought. I looked at my newborns and decided the best way to approach the future was to not be dead. Operation fitness began.

While I had been enjoying my extended sabbatical from reality, James, my brother, had continued cycling, having negotiated his teenage years in a slightly less idiotic fashion.

I knocked on his door, cap in hand, and asked if I could borrow one of his myriad bicycles. After assuring him I wasn’t going to sell it, he wheeled out a Gary Fisher mountain bike and off I rode. And rode and rode and rode.

Things got very Forest Gump - I could not stop riding that bike. I wasn’t going fast, not by any stretch, but I was riding it consistently and I was riding it far. My legs, even on the merest suggestion of a rise in the road, quivered under the pressure – I had no real leg muscle to call upon – and my lungs were still reeling from the gargantuan walloping they’d received by Messrs Benson and Hedges. Yet, I kept riding. I found it hugely therapeutic, incomparably satisfying

A few months after I began cycling, my wife took the children to see her family, meaning I had a week or so to really break in the Genesis cyclo-cross bike I’d recently bought.

I decided to use this opportunity to ride from Land’s End to John o’ Groats… in a pair of trainers and a tracksuit. A few months on from this I rode from the bottom of France to the top, along the mostly flat Avenue Vert.

The seed had officially been sown. My love of riding a bike had been rekindled. I rode without purpose – purely for the love of it – for the following few years. I never really considered my level of physical fitness, this was for my mental health only.

Next however, followed a sequence of events that conspired to make me not only the fittest I’d ever been, but, from an objective point of view, in a pretty high percentile of nationwide fitness levels. Bear with me, I shall explain.

Watt's up

My daughters were around five and six years old at this stage and my wife had gone back to work, meaning daddy day care was front and centre. No long distance cycling sojourns for me then.

But it wasn’t long before I came across what I now consider a sacred pairing – namely, the Wattbike Atom and Zwift. Getting my indoor set-up nailed allowed me to ‘look after the kids’ and ride at the same time, it was perfect. Training with power, though, introduced a level of competition - not necessarily with other people, but as a number to try and beat.

Of course I’d take note of average speeds during outings on the road, but there’s a host of factors at play that make this a highly subjective barometer of how well you're going. Watts however are watts. A pure measure that, on a smart bike, is down to you and you alone. They became a fixation.

To date I have cycled 32,000km on Zwift via races and interval sessions and the all-important power reading at the top of the screen has kept rising. I’m now breathing some pretty rare air, with a 400 plus watt FTP.

It's never too late

For a feature I’ve been researching for the magazine I recently had to undergo a series of fitness tests, ascertaining lung function, VO2 max, bone density and body fat percentages. Had I done this 18 years ago I would’ve been told to go straight to A&E, don’t pass go - you’re falling apart, mate. Seek immediate help.

Now however, the physician was able to reveal a much rosier picture. My bone density was as it should be for a 48 year old and my body fat was 17%. So far, so normal. It was only when I’d pushed myself to the point of absolute exhaustion during the Vo2 Max test that the full extent of my fitness regime was unearthed.

A relative VO2 Max of 60 was recorded with an absolute VO2 Max of 5.2 ml/min - the former putting me in the superior category for my age group with the latter bordering on elite.

Far from trying to blow smoke up my own backside here - although if I don’t do it, nobody else will– this heavily potted version of my road back to a fairly well functioning member of society pays testament to the resilience of the human body.

Regardless of your current situation, whether you’re obese, suffering with ill health or injury or indeed battling a substance addiction, I suspect it’s very rarely too late to flip your lifestyle and take control of your destiny again no matter what your age is. After all, age really is just a number and becoming the best possible version of yourself is just a couple of habit changes away.

Now if you’ll excuse me I’ve got a date with Mont Ventoux… not the real one of course, there’s another one at the end of my road. And you’re never too old to pretend to be Jean Franccois Bernard.

The free-to-use virtual cycling and training platform launched its biggest update yet - MyWhoosh 4.0 - last Wednesday.

The key updates include: 'Custom Workout Creator', which allows users to design, import, and manage their own workouts, tailoring them to specific needs; 'MyShift Virtual Gear Shifting', which allows gear changes through the platform, eliminating the need for real-life mechanical shifting; and 'Dynamic Road Creation', which allows custom route creation with a GPX file.

MyShift can accommodate up to 30 gears, giving a virtual rider essentially every shift they would ever need.

Users can also benefit from an enhanced user interface through a redesigned heads-up display - seen above - and updated ride dynamics, with the promise of an improved drafting engine for faster calculations. There is also an expansion of hardware compatibility.

"MyWhoosh 4.0 is a huge step forward in our journey to create a more innovative and inclusive training experience for cyclists, runners and triathletes," Matthew Smithson, the senior manager of esports, events and game operation at MyWhoosh, said. "We’ve listened to our community and delivered features like virtual gear shifting, which they’ve been eagerly awaiting."

"Along with that, we’re excited to bring in features like the custom workout creator, classic trainer compatibility, and dynamic route creation – all with an improved user interface to make the MyWhoosh experience even better."

The platform was founded in 2019 by Akhtar Hashmi, a CEO of various UAE-based technology companies, including Royal Technology Solutions. Like the latter, MyWhoosh is backed by substantial Abu Dhabi support and funding.

MyWhoosh is also the official indoor cycling platform of UAE Team Emirates-XRG and its star rider Tadej Pogačar. It will host the Esports World Championships again this autumn.

The app is compatible with various indoor cycling trainers, using either Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) or ANT+ protocols. These protocols enable seamless data communication between your equipment and the app.

Call me a fair-weather cyclist, I don’t care. Since 10 November last year, I have ridden exclusively indoors.

I have done long rides: notably a 12-hour behemoth when I bailed out of a Virtual Everesting attempt at 7,000 metres. I have done short rides: a 3km TT around Zwift’s Glasgow crit circuit springs to mind. But mostly I have done medium-sized indoor rides of around an hour. I have done a lot of these - covering about 2,000 miles - and in doing so I have added quite significantly to my threshold power. When I went into the shed at the end of October just about to hold 330 watts for a 10-mile time trial, I can now cover this distance with a reading of 400 sparkling watts on the head unit.

But, spring isn’t too far away. So, over the weekend, I opted to kit up and see how I would fare on the open road and whether or not my interior power converted to an exterior setting.

I cracked open the shed door, squinting. It was all a little bit Salem’s Lot – I half expected my neighbour to come running at me with a sharpened stake and a net of garlic. Fortunately the natural light didn’t liquidate me on the spot and I slung a leg over my Canyon Endurace for the first time in four months and rode into the great outdoors. So, how did the two experiences compare? And, had my indoor riding kept me outdoor fit?

First sensations

The first sensation I felt was joy. Cycling indoors and out are two very individual entities - you don’t cycle inside for fun, you do it to get stronger, to get fitter, your eyes always on the silly little wattage reading on the screen. You are never really free - bound to the shackles of a million different metrics which if for some reason don’t meet or surpass expectations can ruin a session. Cycling outside is liberating in many different ways.

Outdoors 1-0 Shed

Jarring experience

The second sensation I felt was a sudden jolt when half of my bicycle disappeared down a pothole the size of Suffolk. I’d been so busy enjoying the bucolic surroundings that I’d completely forgotten the roads in Southeast England look like a herd of pneumatic elephants has stampeded them. You don’t get asphalt irregularities in the shed, you get billiard table smooth blacktop that treats your bicycle and your derriere with the utmost care. The scoring had been evened.

Outdoors 1-1 Shed.

Climbing grace

It was halfway up a relatively tame ascent that the third outdoor riding sensation caught me off guard. I’d spent the last four months spinning up 8% gradients indoors with souplesse and panache - so why then was I clambering my way so unceremoniously up this unassuming little hill? This is Berkshire, Southeast England – the biggest inclines around here are made by moles. Yet here I was in a battle for breath wondering where all my gears had gone. Then it hit me. For the past four months I’ve essentially been about 50% lighter than I am outside. My smart trainer defaults to a 50% setting meaning ascents are much easier indoors on Zwift or indeed on Rouvy and My Whoosh. Whilst, in theory, it takes the same amount of time to summit - effectively spinning a smaller gear than my bike would allow - getting to the top outside requires a much greater effort.

Gravitational pull in a real-world setting cannot be duped – unless you’re on an e-bike with a 53-tooth dinner-plate bringing up the rear. Factors to consider include the effect of changes in gradient, inertia, and the physical effort of balancing the bike and keeping it upright (more one the physiological differences between climbing indoors and outdoors, here).

Due to being lulled into a false sense of climbing prowess, indoor loses a point here. With time though I’m hoping that this baptism of fire will become slightly less scolding, and I’ll be able to use my higher power numbers to more gracefully – and quickly – negotiate the steep stuff.

Outdoors 2- 1 Shed

Traffic interruptions

I’m not sure about you, but when I’m nearing the crest of the climb at my physiological limit the absolutely very last thing I want to hear is the revving of an engine inches behind my rear wheel. It’s a truly hateful sound. It makes nails on a blackboard sound like a violin concerto. I’m fairly certain that in most cases the driver in question is unaware of the acute distress it causes to the rider - that would be nothing short of sociopathic. But it happens on an all too regular basis when riding outside. In fact cars in general happen on an all too regular basis outside. What Zwift's Watopia lacks in fresh air it makes up for by being completely devoid of any form of motorised vehicle. A solid point, therefore, is awarded to the shed.

Outside 2-2 Shed

Average speed fixation

Disparities in average speeds inside and out are wild. And nothing highlighted this more than when I completed my first 15-mile loop in the lanes in four months – as fast as I possibly could – with an average speed the same as a Zone 1 warm-down on Zwift. Yes, 21.5 miles per hour inside barely registers on the heart rate monitor (110bpm average) while outside it drifts into Zone 4 territory (around 171bpm average).

The only way I can explain such huge differences is that indoors you are more or less obliged never to stop pedalling and therefore average speeds will be a reflection of how much power you’re consistently putting through the pedals. My speeds before and after my winter of shed-work were more or less the same - but it’s still cold, the air is still denser than it will be come spring and summer, and I’m still finding my feet outside. Therefore the shed gets a big point for keeping me fast. Battling metronomically against a virtual parcours for so long has definitely reaped a dividend.

Outside 2-3 Shed.

Power up indoors

As well as big differences in average speeds there were also discrepancies in average power, which was much lower outside. Again, this can, I’d hazard, be attributed to the amount of coasting involved in outdoor riding. Normalised power - which takes into account changes in pace - would be a more accurate barometer when comparing rides outside to sustained work inside, because, it records the effect of accelerations which are more frequent outside when negotiating natural features as opposed to following prescribed workouts.

Regardless, I was very much loath - and always have been - to fixate on power when riding outside. Too many glances at the headset – particularly when reaching for high numbers - obscures your real-life surroundings. For me, power metrics are best left in the shed. However, my speed on the road is as fast as it was after a full season of real world riding and racing last year, and, at 48-years-old my power numbers inside suggest I’m the fittest on the bike I’ve ever been. So, the time spent in the shed was worthwhile.

Outside 2- 4 Shed

Pure, unadulterated joy

Having accumulated a two point lead, it looks like the Shed is en route to the spoils. But for all of its positives – the fitness gains, the smooth, traffic-free ‘roads’ and the practicalities – none, not even when combined, can rival the sensations of riding out on the open road.

Riding inside, however, is sometimes necessary, and is a perfect way to complement your rides outside, and for me, when combined with outdoor pursuits like hiking and trail running, is the best way to spend a winter.

Final result: Outside 5 - 4 Shed, on penalties

The symptoms of this disease - sometimes called a syndrome - which causes blood vessels to contract, leading to the characteristic white fingertips, vary from irritating tingling to excruciating pain. Many a ride has been shelved over concerns about the cold, but there are many ways to prevent an attack.

However, there are solutions available. Let’s explore all the options, from ‘lobster’ gloves to electrically charged socks. Hopefully, with a bit of cold proofing the outcome can be the open road over the indoor trainer.

The science of Reynaud's

According to James Gill, triathlete, GP and Associate Professor at Warwick Medical School, Raynaud’s disease is a vascular phenomenon whereby blood vessels contract in response to cold. This is a natural reaction to a degree but here the reaction is extreme, leading to fingers turning white, or even blue. They are often numb leading to issues changing gear, braking and fixing roadside punctures.

Gill says Raynaud’s can also be triggered by stress. This can be emotional stress but for us cyclists it is more likely to be the ‘biological’ stress of pushing hard on the bike as well as the cold. So, a gruelling three-hour club ride on a frosty day might double your chances of an attack if you are susceptible.

According to Gill the hands and feet are basically the same ‘evolutionary speaking’ so diseases which affect the hands often affect the feet. While medication is occasionally given to Raynaud’s patients, such as the blood pressure treatment Nifedipine, Gill says this is usually only considered in severe cases and it would be preferable to try some of the tips listed above first. “We have to balance benefit verses risk,” he explains. “We don’t want to risk a cyclist come off the bike due to low blood pressure. As with many things in life prevention is better than cure.”

Try ‘lobster’ gloves

There are a lot of winter cycling gloves on the market which claim to be insulating but don’t always deliver the high level of warmth that cyclists with Raynaud’s require. Another issue here is that symptoms vary in intensity from person to person, so one type of glove could work wonders for one rider and leave another with icy fingers.

So-called lobster gloves keep two warm fingers pressed against each other instead of separating every finger as with normal gloves. Just check that they allow you the dexterity to switch gears or reach for the brakes easily. Opting for lobster gloves made by established cycling brand, such as these from Specialized or Giro, will make this more likely.

Layer your gloves

Some cyclists swear by a layering system by wearing thin silky or merino wool gloves underneath a more durable, waterproof one. This has the advantage of trapping and warming air between layers. There are ‘systems’ sold which do this for you by offering two or three different thickness gloves designed to be worn together. Ultimately, though, it’s a trial-and-error business as to whether this works for you.

Cycling Weekly gave the brand Dissent 133 a 4.5 star review for its layering system although noted that dexterity was reduced when wearing all three layers together.

Buy heat pads

Sliding a disposable hand warmer, such as the creations from Hot Hands -into each glove works well for some Raynaud’s sufferers. They will stay hot for up to 10 hours, so certainly for the duration of the average winter ride, but because you can only really position them on the wrist or palm they’ll keep that part of your hands cosy but not solve the main icy fingers issue.

Go electric

You can also buy electric/rechargeable hand warmers, gloves and even socks. Reynaud’s expert and GP, Dr James Gill, is a ‘big fan’ of the electric hand warmer although he acknowledges he is just someone who feels the cold as opposed to a cyclist with Raynaud’s. However, when tech writer Hannah Bussey - who does suffer from Reynaud's - tried the Sealskinz pair, she was smitten.

The issue with some electrically charged gloves is that they heat the palm rather than the fingers which, for some cyclists means they don’t alleviate the symptoms. Most also look fine for hybrids or mountain bikes but look quite bulky to wear while riding a road bike.

Guard against windchill

Windchill can be just as triggering as a colder but calmer day with zero wind. Try windproof outer gloves, with a thin merino wool ‘liner’ glove underneath as produced by the company Ice Breaker. Merino wool is renowned for its insulating properties.

Cold-proof your summer shoes

Reynaud’s can affect any extremities, so sufferers prone to icy fingers often also get cold toes. Sometimes the usual route of layering overshoes and even additional toe covers is not sufficient to keep out the cold, even if they claim to be ‘thermal.’ Some riders go up a size in shoes to accommodate a thicker pair of socks, although it is advised not to jam feet into shoes too tightly as a thin space can between socks and shoes can allow air to warm and circulate. It also may further prevent already restricted blood flow.

Or just invest in winter shoes

If you’ve tried layering your normal cycling shoes with overshoes and/or toe covers to no avail, it might be time to bite the bullet and buy winter ones. Why? They have fewer vents than summer ones, more thermal insulation and look more like boots than shoes as being higher around the ankle to cover gaps between the shoes and bottom of your leg warmers. Fitzik, Lake and Northwave all do winter versions. As always, they vary according to thickness, foot width and the type of riding you want to do (on or off road). Head to our dedicated guide to the best winter shoes for a comprehensive review.

Thaw your hands gradually

While it’s tempting to jump into a steaming bath as soon as you get home post-ride Dr Gill advises against re-heating those fingers and toes up too rapidly. This is likely to cause discomfort or even extreme pain as previously shut down blood vessels reopen. The advice is if you are at home immerse your hands in warm (rather than hot) water. If you’re stuck out on the road Gill advises using ‘straightforward physics’ by making circles with your arms to help shunt the blood back to the fingers. Sometimes wiggling the fingers and toes while riding (if safe to do so!) can stave off some of the worse symptoms.

‘Total numbness and an inability to change gears’

Raynaud’s sufferer of 30 years Lucy Collins has what can only be described as an extensive library of gloves to choose from and these are only the ones that have passed the chilly ride test. Collins estimates she’s spent hundreds of pounds on gloves that promised to keep her fingers toasty and just ended up in the bin. Many a ride has been abruptly aborted on the onset of Raynaud’s which causes total numbness and an inability to change gears, followed by a stressful race home and inability to even get the key in the door. An excruciating pain, which she describes as ‘hot poker pins and needles,’ then sets in as her hands start to warm up. After years of experimentation Collins has settled on Rapha’s Deep Winter gloves with a silk or merino wool liner underneath and Hot Hands hand warmers on her wrists which usually works above 1 or 2 degrees. But even this sometimes fails to prevent an onset and many a ride has been scrapped altogether due to concerns about the cold to be replaced by Zwift. Thankfully the gravel bike provides an alternative cycling option; it’s slower (therefore less wind chill) and allows her to wear slightly thicker gloves. The search for the foolproof solution for the road, meanwhile, continues, as does the expansion of the glove library.

Printed in the January 3 issue this year, you can now download the pdf, print it off and start filling it in. There are separate columns for each week of the year as well as boxes for a monthly, and running total. And if you're riding for a charity in 2025, you can also fill in how much you've raised

Even back in the 1930s, much was made of those who had reached 5,000 miles in the year, part of the inspiration behind our CW5000 challenge that now incorporates three other distances challenges.

You can sign up to the 'CW Big Ride Challenge' for free and join our growing community of riders posting about their rides in our private Facebook group. There's also a WhatsApp channel and Strava club.

As well as the annual mileage target our riders sign up to, we send them two easier monthly challenges to keep them motivated throughout the year. From fun, photo based challenges to distance or climbings targets, everyone has their own way of tackling them.

We also post regular questions and polls across the groups to get everyone talking about their fitness and riding habits.

The CW Big Ride Challenge is a fun and friendly challenge that aims to inspire everyone who signs up to it to ride a little more than usual, and enjoy it at the same time. All riding counts, including indoor miles, and those done on e-bikes. It's a personal challenge, not a race.

They're easy to complete if you ride regularly, and most of them can be done on indoor trainers as well as out on the road. Some challenges will focus on distance, or altitude gained, others on searching out new places to ride. They're designed to be a bit of fun, and keep everyone motivated through the year, no matter what annual total they're aiming for.

>>Sign up to the MyWhoosh Big Ride Challenge and choose one of the four distances

All previous monthly challenges will be listed at the bottom of this page.

MAY CHALLENGES

CW Mini
1. Ride Bingo Spring! Find 5 things from the list below
2. Ride for three hours in one week

CW Midi
1. Ride Bingo Spring! Find 6 things from the list below
2. Ride for five hours in one week

CW Maxi
1. Ride Bingo Spring! Find 7 things from the list below
2. Ride for seven hours in one week

CW5000
1. Ride Bingo Spring! Find 8 things from the list below
2. Ride for 10 hours in one week

Ride bingo list of things to find: Hospital, runway, bad cycling infrastructure, boat moorings, bike shop, milestone, library, POI or tourist attraction

Previous months challenges

The Mini
April
1. Find a spring scene and take a photo
2. Complete a 20 mile ride
March
1. Complete a one hour ride
2. Find and ride a new hill
February
1. Be active for five consecutive days
2. Complete a 10 mile ride
January
1. Join a group ride
2. Exercise ten times this month

The Midi
April
1. Find a spring scene and take a photo
2. Complete a 30 mile ride
March
1. Ride four days in one week
2. Do a sunrise or sunset ride
February
1. Log a 40 mile week
2. Find and ride a new road
January 1. Join a group ride
2. Ride three times in one week

The Maxi
April
1. Find a spring scene and take a photo
2. Complete a 50 mile ride
March
1. Gain 15k vertical feet in the month
2. Do a sunrise or sunset ride
February
1. Complete 750 minutes of riding
2. Find and ride a new road
January 1. Join a group ride
2. Complete a 30 mile ride

CW5000
April
1. Find a spring scene and take a photo
2. Complete an 80 mile ride
March
1. Gain 20k vertical feet in the month
2. Do a sunrise or sunset ride
February
1. Complete 1,000 minutes of riding
2. Find and ride a new road
January 1. Join a group ride
2. Complete a 50 mile ride

This page will be updated on the first of each month with a new set of challenges for all our riders. You can also be notified of the monthly challenges via the Big Ride Challenge WhatsApp group

I got out of the saddle and chased him down to within a few feet of his rear wheel. In a rather bizarre sequence of events, my riding companion then proceeded to fragment into countless tiny particles and dissolve into the night sky. With that, he was gone. Either this guy really wasn’t in the mood for a chat or I was hallucinating. I stopped my bike and slapped myself hard across the face. 

Coming-to from some kind of reverie, I deduced that my erstwhile riding companion had never existed. I was alone in the darkness with a brain working as effectively as a thrice-used teabag. And things weren’t about to improve...

I was riding the Great British Escapades, a 500km off-road ultra event held over the second weekend in June and organised by Kevin Francis, who also designed the Great British Divide, one of the country’s flagship ultra-cycling events. I use the term ‘event’ advisedly – technically, this is not a race but 310 miles just for the hell of it. 

So why the hell was I doing it? Well, at 46 years old, my top-end performance is never going to threaten the business end of any leaderboards, but the good thing about getting older – apart from getting excited about garden centres – is that endurance performance isn’t hugely compromised. Type-one muscle fibres rule for the middle-aged; we’re very much the tortoises to Generation Z’s fast-twitching hares. The Escapades would suit my aged performance characteristics, or so I hoped.

I would be riding through two nights across some of the toughest terrain in south-east England. I was confident I had the physical ability, but mentally this would be above and beyond anything I’d tried before – not to mention the logistics. Yes, the Great British Escapades would be a true test of my middle-aged mettle. This was a chance to see how far I could cycle in a single sitting, and if I got through it, how I would measure up against the rest of the field.

Soggy start

Two full nights lay ahead of us, but just a few clicks out of the start gate at Patrixbourne, Kent, my thoughts were not on dark forests but on the tropical rain clouds currently emptying their contents over my head. Contrary to recent weather forecasts, all 103 participants of the Escapades were bearing the brunt of a vehement downpour. There we were in our slickest summer attire getting soaked to the skin. 

Many around me laughed at the ridiculousness of the situation – how else could we react? Crying would’ve only made us wetter. After two hours of being subjected to Mother Nature at her most scornful, the sun slowly emerged through dispersing clouds. But alas, we weren’t treated to its warmth for long, and just as Rochester, some 50 miles into the journey, materialised on the horizon, the last light of the day ebbed away and we rode into the first night of the Great British Escapades.

I had packed light. Ludicrously light. My sleeping equipment consisted of, well, nothing. My thoughts prior to riding were that if I had nothing to sleep on, I would not attempt sleep, thereby saving time. My contingency plan – in the event my body demanded sleep – amounted to hypothermia and, as a very last resort, death. As the night sealed off the world save for the path lit by my helmet and handlebar lights, I followed the well- trodden North Downs Way west in something resembling cruise control.

By this time, the field had well and truly fragmented. I saw no one ahead of me and no one behind me. Occasionally I’d catch a flicker of a back light in a distant woodland but for now I was very much alone – just tapping away at the pedals making slow but steady progress. At 3am – just before descending the zig-zags of Box Hill – I went to take a drink from my Camelbak and was rewarded with nothing but a dry gurgle. If an ultra- riding handbook existed, the first line on the first page would read something like: “Under no circumstances run out of food and water.” 

Reaching into my back pocket for a fistful of Haribo only to rustle an empty packet, I found that I had contravened rule one and committed the cardinal sin. Happily, however, this was an area I knew well, and if my calculations were correct, the night porter at the hotel at the bottom of Box Hill would just be coming- to from a doze. Time to give him something to do...

Thankfully he let me in, and I necked a carafe of water in the lobby. The bleary-eyed porter looked at me like I’d lost my mind. I wanted to explain that I’d only temporarily misplaced it, but I wasn’t sure either of us were in the mood for existential chit-chat – nor was he amenable to my request for a quick sausage and bacon butty with lashings of HP sauce. So I took my leave and headed back out onto the trail. It was while making my way across Surrey's Ranmore Common, as the beginnings of the dawn chorus started to permeate the air, that the oh-so- familiar feeling of bonking overtook my body. And to make matters worse, I’d just got a puncture.

It’s in an hour of need that you discover the best of humanity. Case in point: having managed to plug the aperture in my tubeless set-up, I attached the adapter to the valve, went to take the first stroke and quite inexplicably pulled my pump apart. So there I sat. Deflated, bereft and very hungry indeed. Five minutes later, however, the cavalry arrived. I’d ridden with Francis Barnett before, during the Pennine Rally, when our paces had seemed closely matched, and likewise here: after 110 miles of Escapades, he was just minutes behind me. “How’s it going?” enquired Francis, handing me a pump.

“Middling to fair,” I replied, “but I’ve balls-ed up my fuelling again.” “Do you want a double cheeseburger? “ he asked.

I continued pumping, laughing at the absurdity of his offer. Who the hell carries a double cheeseburger around with them? He held it out to me, the McDonald’s- emblazoned wrapper rustling as I incredulously took it from him. Was this too a hallucination? Had I fallen asleep in the woods and entered a trailside reverie involving fast food? I kept a close eye on Francis, waiting for him to turn into Ronald McDonald as I took my first bite. As squashed and mangled as it was – Francis had picked it up 60 miles back, in Rochester – this was the best burger I’d ever tasted. Likewise, Francis was promoted there and then to the best person in the world.

Kebabs and carnage

It was 11am when the South Downs first emerged on the horizon. By this time I’d been riding for 18 hours straight and covered 160 miles. According to my tracker, I was currently trundling along in 15th position. The National Park’s neatly nibbled contours were a very welcome sight, marking just over half-distance. The South Downs ridgeline, though not as spectacular as Snowdonia or as visually striking as the Lake District, is for me classic British countryside at its absolute best and remains my favourite place in the UK.

But now, hike-a-biking out of Graffham on a slope so steep that a misplaced foot would see me tumble back to the village in a ball of Spandex and bicycle luggage, I did not appreciate the South Downs Way. My leg power had already been restricted to Zone 2 at the very most, and the next 75 miles to Eastbourne were continuously undulating. There was no other option. I would have to eat my way back to Canterbury. This was no longer a bike ride. It was a quest to redefine the limits of human calorie consumption. Having stocked up at the little convenience store in Graffham, my cheeks bulged with Haribo as I traversed the South Downs Ridgeway. Due to my relative heft, however, and the energy it required to heave my ample frame up and down the climbs, it wasn’t long before I’d put paid to half a dozen packets. This was proving quite a costly exercise...

Riding through the midsummer heat – up Amberley Mount to Washington, from the Devil’s Dyke to Ditchling Beacon and beyond – it was interesting to note that there was no longer any physical or mental pain present. I was absent-mindedly propelling myself across the landscape seeking out sustenance; it was all very Night of the Living Dead. However, after finally reaching the dogleg where the South Downs Way meets the 100-mile home straight back to Canterbury, I found myself revitalised, urgent, with a fresh sense of purpose. I remembered that this event actually had an ending.

Now riding with Adam and Tom (real riders, not illusions) who were also euphoric to have left the godforsaken gradients of the South Downs, we made a pledge that the first town we came across would bear witness to an unprecedented feeding frenzy. We wanted hot savoury food and by god we wanted it now. We were currently maintaining positions 12-14th and a solid hit of salt would replenish some much-needed electrolytes. The poor people of Polegate, th en, did not know what had hit them when 15 minutes later we rampaged through town from chip shop to chip shop seeking every last portion of halibut that remained at 9pm. Eventually we stumbled on the motherload, a kebab shop, which glistened with a utopian aura amid a parade of shops – angels sung, a harpsichord played, the spinning stick of mystery meat turned in exquisite circles. We levitated towards it. It was feeding time at the zoo. Pure savagery. Extreme physical and mental fatigue combined with an enormous quota of food can ultimately lead only to one thing. Sleep. We were now some 32 hours into the ride and although I took a catnap coming down Ditchling Beacon – it’s genuinely amazing what a few fi ve-second snoozes can do the need to lie down was now urgent. So after riding a further 15 miles up the Cuckoo Trail, my acquaintances decided that this was the only course of action and promptly passed out in a ditch. As for me, having nothing to sleep on, there was no other option than to ride on.

It was about now that I started riding with the chap who rudely turned out to be a figment of my imagination, the fi rst of many hallucinations. After he’d taken his leave, I slowly navigated my way around Bewl Water – feeling like I could have drunk the whole reservoir, such was the eff ect of the salt from the fast food frenzy in Polegate. But it was 3am and the world was shut. I sat down on the pavement and took stock. The air in my back tyre was slowly ebbing away, there was no battery left on my phone, and I was on the verge of drinking from a puddle. Self-preservation prevailed: I set my Garmin for the most direct route to the fi nish and pedalled crestfallen into the rising sun.

My Great British Escapades came to an impromptu halt in a place aptly named Wye, in Kent, at 6am. My back tyre was now flat, my pump was still broken – and Wye had a train station. So with 280 miles on the clock, and 38 hours of riding time under my belt, sitting in 12th in the rankings, I called it quits with just 20 miles to go. Am I disappointed? Yes, of course – but lessons have been learnt and experience gained. The fact I was riding towards the pointy end of the race (sorry, ride) has cemented my belief that, when it comes to endurance, age is just a number. This was an adventure, a life-affi rming, rip-roaring roister around England’s rural south-east, and you can bet a bivvy bag to a barn dance that I will be back to right a 20-mile wrong next year.

Riding in the heat may be far more appealing than venturing out on a grim winter's day, but it comes with its own set of challenges to overcome as your body deals with high temperatures.

“Exercising in the heat can lead to fatigue and at worse illness and injury,” warns Dr Jeffrey Aldous, Senior Lecturer in Exercise Physiology at the University of Bedfordshire. "Naturally, given this, it can also affect your performance.” 

We've put together six simple tips to follow to help you avoid some common pitfalls when hot-weather riding.

1. Keep hydrated

One of the biggest obstacles with cycling in hot weather is maintaining adequate hydration. You will sweat more as your body naturally tries to cool itself down, but that sweat will evaporate quickly, meaning that it is hard for you to gauge exactly how much fluid you are losing.

Drink little and often when riding, and make sure that you have plenty of drink with you or know of places on your route where you can obtain more drinks.

It is amazing how much drink you can get through on a hot day - drinking two full bottles during a long ride is pretty normal. The worst thing you can do is drink only when you become thirsty. Instead, keep sipping from the beginning of your ride until the end.

Using drinks with electrolytes can be a good idea to replace those lost by sweating, which can cause cramping. Packing ice cubes into your bottle before you leave will help keep your drink cool, at least for the first half an hour.

And don't forget in among all the drinking to pay attention that you are eating enough on your ride, too. 

“If you can record your body mass, both before and after your exercise,” Dr Aldous recommends. “Try to consume 1-1.5 litres of water for every kilogram of body mass lost. 

"When dehydrated your heart will need to work harder as the viscosity (that is the resistance) of your blood goes up, making it more sticky and harder to pump blood around the body.” 

2. Dress for the weather

With a huge array of technical cycle clothing now available on the market at a whole range of prices, there's really no excuse to be throwing on your long-sleeved winter jersey when its 30 degrees and boiling-in-the-bag. Lightweight materials with wicking properties will help you cool off and prevent the uncomfortable build-up of sweat.

A full-length front zip on a summer jersey can help you regulate temperature, and a lightweight base layer can also aid the removal and evaporation of sweat from your skin. The breeze you create by riding along has its own cooling effect, and it's sometimes only when you stop riding do you appreciate exactly how hot it is.

Fingerless cycling gloves and mitts are a better idea than no gloves, as sweaty palms can become sore when gripping the bars. Lightweight, sweat-wicking cycling socks are also very cheaply bought from any cycling retailer.

A well-fitting pair of bib shorts are also essential, any rubbing on your delicate parts exacerbated by sweat can cause uncomfortable soreness very quickly. Applying chamois cream before a ride can help. Wear sunglasses with 100% UV filtering lenses to prevent damage to your eyes and stop dust, bugs and flies taking a bath in your eyeballs.

3. Keep an eye on the road surface

Having dealt with snow, ice, rain and potholes during the winter, summer brings a different set of road conditions to be wary of. On very hot days, tarmac can melt, causing patches of slippery or sticky tar as the road surface lifts off in the heat. Aside from the danger of riding on an unstable surface, the tar can become stuck to your tyres, attracting grit and dirt.

Many British councils also use the summer months to surface dress backroads - a process where liquid bitumen in pour on the road surface and a layer of gravel is added. Excess gravel can then accumulate in loose patches, particularly at the side of the road and at junctions, causing tyres to lose traction. Also watch out for wet roads after a summer storm, they can be very greasy, particularly under dense trees.

4. Wear suncream

While some cyclists are proud of their cycling tan as a badge of honour, others find it embarrassing to look as though you are still wearing a white T-shirt when you take your top off. But laughable tan lines are not the main concern - damaging sunburn and the risk of skin cancer due to excessive ultraviolet light exposure are a problem.

Wear sunscreen on the exposed parts of your body: arms, legs, face and in particular the back of your neck. The position on your bike means that the area on the front of your legs above the knee and calves will be exposed to sun more than other area of your legs.

5. Ride in the morning or evening

A very obvious way to avoid the severity of the sun's rays is to avoid the hottest periods of the day for your cycling trip. 

“Radiant heat gain directly from the sun is at its greatest in the afternoon and lower during the morning or evening periods,” Dr Aldous says. “This will decrease the physiological strain on your body during exercise.” 

There's plenty of daylight in the summer months, so heading out early or at the end of the day can still mean you are riding in the warm, but without many of the hazards.

Riding in the morning or evening can have its own benefits - quieter roads, and spotting wildlife that is usually hidden away as the sun fully rises in the sky.

If you ride in the evening, make sure you are equipped with bike lights in case you're enjoying yourself so much you get caught when the sun goes down. Night riding can also be fun with a decent set of lights - you'll see familiar roads literally in a new light.

Packing a lightweight windproof or vest in a back pocket on an evening ride might also be a good idea if the weather cools down as the sun sets.

6. Adjust your targets 

A heatwave is not the time to try to set a PB on a Strava segment or retest for your best 5- or 10-minute power.

The harder you work the more you will sweat, so if it's really hot and you're starting to feel it and are romping through your drinks, knock off your pace or shorten your ride.

“Exercising in the heat elevates your core body temperature and if you slow down this rise will be less pronounced, allowing you to continue exercising for the full distance or duration in your training schedule,” Dr Aldous says. 

“Rethink the time and distance you would like to cover too, as prolonged periods of time in the heat can be dangerous.”

And when you get home…

Pay particular attention to fluid intake when you get home, but also don't forget to eat as you would normally after a ride. Making a recovery drink before your ride and putting it in the fridge ready for your return will provide you with a refreshing, fuss-free cold drink. A cold bath or shower will help you cool off and wash off the accumulated grime. You may also feel you deserve an ice cream or two…

Once you've completed the challenge you can order your finishers medal from CW shop. There's a medal for each of the four challenges, and each one comes with a certificate signed by the editor.

It's never to late to sign up to any of our challenges and increase your mileage. Sign up is completely free and gives you access to a private Facebook group and you'll receive updates and emails with your monthly challenges.

CW Mini 

The challenge for those who rode 500 miles in 2024

Adam Araujo
Rebecca Reid
Axel Dowle

>>Order your medal here...

CW Midi

The challenge for those who set themselves the target of riding 1,000 miles in 2024

Andrew Killington - Levelled up from the CW Mini!
Michael Wrack - Date completed 30 August
Emily Roberts
Mark Belshaw
Ben Clowes
James Hargreaves - Levelled up from the CW Mini!
David Woodall
Louise Owen
Richard Bennett

>>Order your medal here...

CW Maxi

Riding 2,500 miles in 2024!

Nicola Simpson - Date completed 2 October
Martin Johanson - Date completed 17 October
Dr Caroline Simcock - Levelled up from the CW Midi!
Richard Barter - Date completed 13 December
William Dyson - Date completed 21 December
James Tobin - Date completed 23 December
Brian Stevenson
Alex Francis
Gane
Paul Taylor
Janice Knight
Peter Goebelsmann
Robert Eagle
Colin Huckstep
Ian Westwood
Philippa Lightowler
Steven Lightowler
Graham Nix
Todd Winkler
Mark Tonks
Rob Hord
Andy Medhurst
John Kemp
Hannah Gill
Neil Dunn
Roman Bardzik
Roy Jones
Matt Agnew
Neil Withnell
Nigel Molloy
Lorraine Globe
Paul Dallian
Simon Bricknall
Sarah Whitmore

>>Order your medal here...

CW5000

Our original challenge distance, running since 2020, for those who complete 5,000 miles in a year!

Lonnie Maddox - Date completed 3 April
Michael Padwick - Date completed 20 April
Robert Dalzell - Date completed 26 May
Justin Lomas - Date completed 4 June
Kevin Palmer - Date completed 17 June
Andrew Bell - Date completed 24 June
John Binczyk - Date completed 27 June
Martin Power - Date completed 6 July
Gordon Reid - Date completed 6 July
Ian Whitehouse - Date completed 12 July
Chris Baird - Date completed 21 July
Ivan Dawes - Date completed 19 July
Steve Dickinson - Date completed 10 Aug
Tom Niersbach - Date completed 10 Aug
Andy Cartlidge - Date completed 14 Aug
Katherine White - Date completed 23 August
Gari Jones - Date completed 28 Aug
Ian Smith - Date completed 29 Aug
Ben King - Date completed 7 September
Martin Carr - Date completed 9 September
Peter Bevan - Date completed 12 September
Geoff Hartley - Date completed 13 September
Andy Hopper - Date completed 13 September
Donald Pearce - Date completed 15 September
Ian Miller - Date completed 15 September
John Walkden - Date completed 17 September
Alex Graham - Date completed 17 September
John Young - Date completed 17 September
Peter Robinson - Date completed 21 September
Stacey Larkin - Date completed 21 September
Stuart Lafferty - Date completed 28 September
Stephe Fletcher - Date completed 1 October
Ian Long - Date completed 6 October
David Oakes - Date completed 12 October
Alexandru Iordache - Date completed 13 October
John Harvey - Date completed 17 October
Berry - Date completed 19 October
Phil Ward - Date completed 20 October
John Wells - Date completed 20 October. Fifth year in a row
Jacquie Wright - Date completed 22 October
Jason Taylor - Date completed 26 October
Martyn Leighton - Date completed 27 October
Michael Owen - Date completed 29 October
Noe Paramo - Date completed 1 November
David Saleem - Date completed 3 November. Fifth year in a row
David Hughson - Date completed 21 November
Paul Batchelor - Date completed 23 November
Anthony Forster - Date completed 29 November
Nick Sunley - Date completed 29 November. Fifth year in a row
Stephen Rowe - Date completed 28 November
Mike Cole - Date completed 30 November
Steven Connolly - Date completed 30 November
Ross Brennan - Date completed 1 December. Fifth year in a row
Ole Strøm Pedersen - Date completed 2 December
David Holland - Date completed 5 December. Fifth year in a row
Ian Ward - Date completed 10 December
Paul MacFarlane - Date completed 11 December. Third year in a row
Howard Smith - Date completed 12 December. Fifth year in a row
Paul Dallain - Date completed 17 December
Stephen Walker - Date completed 19 December. Fourth year in a row
Daniel Cunningham - Date completed 19 December
Lee Phipps-Bartley - Date completed 22 December
Andy Morris - Date completed 22 December
Nigel Peacock - Date completed 25 December
Gavin Finch - Date completed 25 December. Fourth year in a row
Claire Rushton - Date completed 25 December. Fifth year in a row
Stephen Woessmann - Date completed 28 December
Daryl Verrion - Date completed 26 December. Fourth year in a row
Roland Buzás - Date completed 26 December. Third year in a row
Andy Morrise - Date completed 31 December
Tom Fox - Date completed 31 December
Alastiar Flood
Jake Lunt
Janelle Ussery
Richard Tyas
Mark Spreckley
Joel Mason
Alan Todd
Leslie Reissner
Paul McDougall
Arvind Salwan
Barry Simpson
Chris Drake
Jeff Gray
Ian Ransom
Steve Cockram Completed on fixed gear bikes of 65"
John Pearce
Mark Gilburt
Simon Hickman
Martini Holmes
Steve Walmsley
Kelvin Knight
John Mayberry
Rob Phillips - Fourth year in a row
David Vallis
Christopher Ronan
Andy Brock
Mark Welch
James Lowdon
Pete Lamb
Ron Hreha
Mark Marsden
Richard Reynolds
David Reid
Robert Welham
Giles Cudmore
Dave Hale
Pete Franks
Andy Singleton
Dawn Clarkson
Mark Swanson
Les Buist
Oliver Dyson
Nic Paton
James Boardman
Dr Steven Hornstein
Darryn Mitchell
Steve Woodward
Shaun Elphick
Mary Boothroyd - Fifth year in a row
Gary Boothroyd - Fifth year in a row
Colin Whitehouse
Steve Tyler
Nick Blyth
Alan Williams
Marcus Mason
Tim Banks
Tine Aumann
Jonny Miner
John Lunt - Fifth year in a row
Mark Parlour
Amanda Benstead
Bernard Crossley
Kevin Bannister
Andy Delaney
Phil Cox
Jon Barron
Mark Parlour
Andy Preston
Keith Scott - Fifth year in a row
Jordan Smithcroft
Stuart Ridley
Alex Spirrett
Christopher Reeve
Scott Digert - Fourth year in a row
Paul Harnett
Adrian Elliott - Fifth year in a row
Terry Belbin
Ian Udell-Hart
Jonathan Clarke
Andy Knapton
Mal Scriven
Gefrin Price
Manny Diaz
David Phillips
Christopher Walsh
Philip Eagland
Martin Belfield-Smith
Tom Macfarlane
Nora Holford
Ken Castle
Steve Osgerby
Robert Carter
Tim Woolridge
Eifion Owen - Fifth year in a row
Simon Sutton
David Battersby
Phil Hatton
John Nixon
John Corrow
Imran Munshi
Peter Farnley
Chris Leng
Christian Schmidt
André Potdevin
Gareth Olley
Steve Bell - Fifth year in a row
David Brock
Andrew Baylis
Rod Smith
David Hirt - Fifth year in a row
Kym Brown
Mike Edwards - Fifth year in a row
Robert Guilfoyle
Richard Edlepil
Stuart Hambling
Lynne Tennant
Neil Lowdon
Rob Shanahan
Robert Baker
Geoffrey Myatt
Glenn Fishwick
Andy Sharman
David Jory
Patricia Harrison
Tony Green
Paul Harrison
Wayne Moeller Third year in a row

Honorable mention

Andrew Luck - Despite suffering serious illness and going through the necessarly medical treatment that would have curtailed anyone's riding, Andrew almost made the distance, hitting 4,447 miles by the end of the year.

>>Order your medal here...

"We were very much looking for a platform focused on competition," said the UCI's Head of Innovation and Esports, Michael Rogers, on the decision to move the World Championship from Zwift during a press conference at the Abu Dhabi Cycling Club on January 25. "What MyWhoosh is planning over the long term excited us very much."

Founded in 2019, MyWhoosh has become known for hosting big-money events, like the weekly Sunday Race Club series, with a monthly prize purse of over $284,000 spread across four categories. And the $1 Million MyWhoosh Championship series in April 2023 saw the largest payout in cycling esports’ history, lighting the path to professional cycling esports.

MyWhoosh is an Abu Dhabi-based Avrioc Technologies product and receives significant support and funding from the UAE government. The virtual platform prioritized high-level esports racing, embraced the sport's evolution as a legitimate distinct cycling discipline, and voiced a commitment to accessibility to the free-to-use platform.

Come October, the Cycling Esports World Championship will see its first in-person, live final in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and that will not be the only change to the quest for the virtual rainbow stripes.

"With the privilege of hosting the live final in Abu Dhabi, we are dedicated to changing the cycling esports landscape," says MyWhoosh CEO Akhtar Saeed Hashmi. 

"In a significant move, we are expanding the semi-finals to accommodate over 150 riders, reflecting our broader strategy to foster global growth and inclusivity in cycling esports. The qualification pathways, blending National Federation selections and MyWhoosh's public qualification process, ensure transparency and fairness, opening doors for athletes worldwide."

 Qualification Pathways 

The UCI will use a proprietary algorithm based on the international ranking system and the final athlete standings of the 2022 and 2023 UCI Cycling Esports World Championships to determine the team athlete allotment, with a maximum of 10 riders per team. The National Federations will assign 80% of the semi-final starting spots using their selection criteria. 

To provide opportunities for athletes from emerging countries and those unable to follow traditional pathways in regions without a strong cycling culture, the remaining 20% of semi-finalists will qualify through MyWhoosh's public qualification process, with dates to align with National Federation team selection.

The expanded field will now include 150 men and 150 women in the semi-finals, marking a significant increase and aligning with the UCI and MyWhoosh's broader goal of promoting growth and inclusivity in cycling esports on a global scale.

 The Two Stage Semi-Finals 

The Semi-Finals will follow a two-stage virtual format scheduled for September (exact date to be determined). Stage One will feature a 9-kilometer circuit, utilizing a points system to select the top 80 riders who will advance. Stage Two will be four laps of a 4-kilometer circuit, identifying the top 20 male and female competitors who will progress to the final.

Two wild card entries per gender will automatically qualify, opening the door for high-profile entries like two-time Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar, who rides for UAE Team Emirates.

It will be the first time all Cycling Esports World Championship finalists will compete in person in a live event using a points-based race format.

“When we have the best athletes in the world in a room competing against each other,” Rogers explains, “it will bring excitement and publicity to the sport.”

In addition to the UCI Cycling Esports World Championships, the UAE will also host the 2024 UCI Urban Cycling World Championships, the 2028 UCI Road World Championships, the 2028 UCI Gran Fondo World Championships, and the 2029 UCI Track World Championships. MyWhoosh is also the UCI's main virtual cycling partner for the next three road World Championships, giving the platform exclusive rights to create virtual versions of the courses.  

Using their industry-leading graphics, MyWhoosh's team of 300 designers and engineers created a bespoke virtual world for the event using their industry-leading graphics. The virtual race routes feature several of Abu Dhabi's cycling venues, like the Yas Marina F1 circuit, where the public can ride free on the track on lender bikes, and cycling infrastructure investments, like the Velodrome, due to be completed in 2025. 

"I see a future where more strategy comes into play in the competition," says the UCI's Rogers. "That’s what we want to achieve with the format for the upcoming Esports World Championship. If you can outsmart the strongest by being more strategic, that creates an interesting race perspective."

 The Three-Race Final 

As we’ve seen in previous editions, the final will again be a multi-race event, but this time, it’s points-based. The final will be an action-packed flurry of 15 to 20-minute races separated by just 10 minutes of recovery. Riders will compete on their own bikes hooked up to Elite’s Justo trainers, the official technical partner of UAE Team Emirates.

For race one, titled The Sprint, riders will be on a 1.7-kilometer flat circuit. Here, the MyWhoosh team took a page from the Formula One playbook, giving racers 15 minutes to set their fastest time through a 300-meter, timed segment. A live leaderboard will track the fastest times as the crowd looks on, and riders will earn points based on their best segment time.

The second race is titled The Strategy and takes place on a 9-kilometer circuit consisting of 6.5 kilometers of rolling hills followed by a four-minute climb, a fast descent, and a one-kilometer flat run-in to the finish line. Points are on offer at the base and top of the climb, and the finish line will award double points.

All Out is the aptly-named third and final race, and the racers will have no other choice if they want any chance of putting their avatar's arms through the sleeves of the virtual rainbow jersey. The 4-kilometer circuit concludes with a 50-second full-gas climb to the start/finish line. Riders will find an intermediate sprint point at the crest of each climb during the 4-lap affair. 

By offering double points at the end of lap 4, Smithson and the MyWhoosh team seek to revolutionize cycling esports and realize their innovative vision for transforming the sport when it comes down to a thrilling final push to the line to crown a new champion using a new format on a new platform.  

When the lights dim in the live event arena, the UCI's Rogers will define success for the groundbreaking partnership with MyWhoosh and the 2024 Cycling Esports World Champions simply as "an event that we will remember."

Having a target is incredibly useful as it’s one of the easiest ways to motivate you to get outside - but only if it’s attainable. Cycling coach Scott Maclean acknowledges: “If the goal is unrealistic, you’re not going to be motivated to push for it.” 

To help you on your way this year with your cycling goal-setting, we asked Maclean for his eight must-do steps to creating targets:

1. Have a clear purpose: “People don’t achieve what they set out to do unless they have a clear reason for having the objective in the first place.” 

2. Set interim goals: “Every workout should have micro-goals to get a physical and behavioural response. Don’t be afraid to measure your power to weight ratio or V02 max frequently for signs of progress.” 

3. Stick to a routine: “The biggest obstacle is a lack of consistency. You have to have structure.” 

4. Be flexible: “You can’t manage all the variables, such as work stresses, weather and illnesses, so don’t become disheartened if things don’t go to plan.” 

5. Make it visible: “Write your goal on a wall or put a picture up so you can always see it. It’s a proven tactic.” 

6. Share it: “Tell others about your goal. Your partner or friends asking, ‘Hey, how did the workout go?’ can be really empowering for people. That support network can push you further.” 

7. Reward yourself: “After every session, tell yourself well done. Look at the positives, have a smile. It’s good to be self congratulatory sometimes.” 

8. Prepare the next one: “The best exit strategy is always having the next goal in your head before you reach the end of the current objective – and it’s really important. If you don’t, the completion of your goal could feel like an anti-climax.

If you’re looking for some inspiration, have you considered giving one of Cycling Weekly’s four riding challenges a go? Previously it was the CW5000, but this year we have split it into four separate goals - 500, 1,000, 2,5000, and 5,000 miles.

Contrary to belief, MyWhoosh is not a new entrant on the virtual cycling scene. It was founded in 2019 by Akhtar Hashmi, a CEO of various UAE-based technology companies, including Royal Technology Solutions. Like the latter, MyWhoosh is backed by substantial UAE government support and funding.

MyWhoosh aims to “blend the freedom of pedaling with simplified science, indoors, to motivate a global community with fun, fitness, and competition.” That, and legitimize cycling esports. The platform is known for hosting big-money events, like the weekly Sunday Race Club series with a monthly prize purse of over $90,000. The $1 Million MyWhoosh Championship series, which began in 2023, boasts the largest payout in cycling esports.

MyWhoosh is also the official indoor cycling platform of the World Tour UAE Team Emirates and its star rider Tadej Pogačar. The platform works closely with team coaches and features in-game training content from the UAE Team Emirates performance group.

The unique relationship allows the public to experience the team's training regimen firsthand while providing the team a recruiting tool as well — not unlike Zwift and its Zwift Academy. Michael Vink's standout performances on the platform earned him a spot on Team Emirates.

What is MyWhoosh?

MyWhoosh is an online virtual cycling app with a racing focus designed to welcome the everyday user. The app has an extensive library of world-class workouts, training programs, group rides and a daily calendar of racing events.

The platform boasts top-notch graphics and offers a diverse and engaging range of courses and routes.

Equipment Requirements and Specifications

Like other platforms, MyWhoosh lets you link your smart trainer to your iOS, Android, or Windows device, enabling you to ride or race against cyclists globally. MyWhoosh is compatible with most newer Apple devices, including various iPad and iPhone models (iPad Pro 3, iPhone 11, and above), as well as Android devices (OS 10 and above with a minimum of 5 GB of RAM).

The platform's detailed graphics require a more powerful PC than most platforms. There is a noticeable quality and performance difference between the minimum and recommended specifications. MyWhoosh now supports Mac and Apple TV as well.

Minimum Specs for Windows

• Processor: Intel i5 7th Gen, AMD Ryzen 5
• RAM: 8GB
• GPU: AMD Vega 64, Nvidia GTX 1080 Ti
• Disk Space: At least 10GB
• OS: Windows 10 or 11
• Bluetooth: Version 4.0 or greater

Recommended Specs for Windows

• Processor: Intel i9 10th Gen, AMD Ryzen 9
• RAM: 64GB
• GPU: AMD RX6900 XT, Nvidia RTX 3090
• Storage: NVME M 2.0 SSD (Free space of 15 GB at least)
• OS: Windows 10 or 11

Minimum Specs for MacOS

• Processor: Intel i5 7th Gen
• RAM: 8GB
• Disk Space: At least 10GB
• OS: MacOS 12 Monterey

Recommended Specs for MacOS

• Processor: M1 & above
• RAM: 64GB
• Storage: NVME M 2.0 SSD (Free space of 15gb at least)
• OS: MacOS 13 Ventura

For the best experience on MyWhoosh, a smart trainer is essential equipment. Direct-drive indoor trainers come with a built-in power meter and variable resistance. These features measure your power output and send it to the app, moving your online avatar. The variable resistance simulates real-world conditions, increasing as you climb and decreasing on descents, making the virtual ride more realistic.

The app is compatible with various indoor cycling trainers, using either Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) or ANT+ protocols. These protocols enable seamless data communication between your equipment and the app.

Getting Started on MyWhoosh

MyWhoosh is currently free to use. The first step is downloading the app for your appropriate device from the MyWhoosh website. Registering an account is standard practice and straightforward. Enter your name, age, nationality, weight and height. MyWhoosh uses your height and weight in its speed algorithms, so be as accurate as you can.

When on MyWhoosh's website, remember to enable integrations with third-party fitness and training apps like Strava, Training Peaks and Today's Plan. Also, keep an eye on the Activity Files section, where the app stores all your ride data in a fit file for easy download.

When your registration is complete and you open the app, the first screen you come across is—Select Profile. Tapping on the profile you created brings you to the Device Connection screen. The app searches for your devices, like the smart trainer, heart rate monitor, or power meter, and connects. The Gear icon on the top right of the screen brings you to Settings, where you can adjust equipment, display, and sound features.

MyWhoosh's recently updated User Interface is sleek and user-friendly, serving as the central hub for all rider experiences. Clicking the animated image on the far right takes you to the area for avatar customization, as well as kit and equipment selection. You can make your avatar look and dress to your liking. In addition, various in-game equipment choices with individual performance characteristics exist.

Free Riding, Pacing and Group Riding

MyWhoosh features 82 routes across 12 worlds mostly based on real-life locations, including seven simulated Belgium routes, 11 in Colombia, seven in Australia, and 29 spread across Arabia and the Arabian Peninsula City of AlUla. Combined, the routes cover nearly 1,200 km and exceed 15,000 meters in elevation. Each course presents a unique level of difficulty and interest.

Click on the world of your choice to access a list of route descriptions with a map view and 2-D profile. Choose a route, tap "Ride," and you're on your way.

The Events tab of the UI accesses an extensive list of community group rides, races, group workouts, and MyBunch rides. The feature 'MyBunch Rides' enables riders of different skill levels to ride together. It offers eight "Bot Bunches" that maintain steady speeds in 2 kph increments, starting from 25 kph and going up to Team UAE speeds of 40 kph and beyond.

The MyWhoosh Events Calendar

MyWhoosh's recently revamped User Interface includes a convenient Events Calendar. The platform's calendar feature is a unique and innovative tool for planning your upcoming training, races, and events. It also serves as a log of your past activities.

All races and rides a user selects in the Events tab and connected third-party training plans or workouts will appear there. The platform supports the creation and organization of community events through its website. Are workouts with UAE Team Emirates riders on the horizon?

Training on MyWhoosh

Kevin Poulton, Strategic Partnerships Manager at MyWhoosh, aims to create a comprehensive virtual cycling experience that covers competition, community, and structured training. Leveraging his years of World Tour coaching experience, Kevin has introduced in-game training content that sets a new standard for effective indoor training at the sport's elite level.

The User Interface and Events calendar offers a wide range of individual workouts and complete training plans, catering to all skill levels and training needs. Do you want to train like a pro? The platform also features a selection of favorite workouts from pros of UAE Team Emirates.

Racing on MyWhoosh

MyWhoosh is Pro in its commitment and mission to elevate the standard of elite online racing. However, the platform continually upgrades options for racers of all ability levels with a daily calendar of events. MyWhoosh integrates AI-enhanced Bots to fill race fields.

The team at MyWhoosh prioritizes high-level esports racing and uses it as a catalyst for growth platform-wide. MyWhoosh hosts a weekly racing series called “Sunday Race Club” with a monthly prize purse of $96,000 spread over six categories for both men and women, in individual and team classifications.

The elite-level competition and big money attract top esports pros from across the globe. MyWhoosh aims to legitimize cycling esports through ground-breaking innovation and development of the industry’s most robust validation, verification, and categorization model and a realistic race experience. MyWhoosh automatically runs each racer through a proprietary performance verification system for every elite-level event.

MyWhoosh utilizes a dynamic categorization model. The race commission at MyWhoosh sets the limits based on registered participants and their historical data to attempt to prevent accidental miscategorization.

As for results, MyWhoosh calculates everything server-side and accordingly has the same delay and visuals that all online multiplayer video games have.

The game's physics and draft mechanics are a work in progress and haven't yet reached the realism of Zwift or indieVelo. While the on-screen steering buttons offer a new layer of engagement to rides and races, this feature could use some fine-tuning.

MyWhoosh’s updated Esports Cycling Ruleset [V2.0.8], effective in September 2023, aims to tighten performance verification and categorization and bring the platform up to speed with the UCI’s performance standards. The new pre-verification protocol includes a Power Passport Test, MyWhoosh’s version of Zwift’s ZADA testing. The forward-thinking improvements include a streamlined weigh-in procedure, a more rigid approved hardware list, video identity verification, and cycling identity validation through platforms like Strava, Training Peaks and real-world results.

World Championship and Olympic Aspirations

The MyWhoosh team is all-in on growing this emerging sport through product investment and infrastructure development.

The ultimate goal for MyWhoosh? More UCI Cycling Esports World Championships, the Olympics, a professional racing league that pays racers a living wage and allows them to focus on esports, and continued technical development that lets fans engage with the platform and racers.

The possibilities are limitless for MyWhoosh and its dedicated team, resources, and commitment to legitimizing esports racing. MyWhoosh plans to appeal to the broader cycling community and coexist with the other available platforms.

The graphics are stellar, and the user-friendly interface and efficient calendar functionality are top-notch. The training plan and workout offerings have something for everyone, even the Pros. If you're a racer of any ability, MyWhoosh checks all the boxes. With steadfast commitment and substantial investment, MyWhoosh is securing its place in the virtual cycling and esports landscape.

Top-level road cycling isn't known for its beefy physiques, so while you're not going to end up looking like Arnie (who coincidentally is a bit of a cyclist himself), your muscles are going to get a great workout.

It will come as no surprise to hear that the muscles in the lower half of the body do most of the work, but those in the torso and upper body are also key. They've all got different jobs to do, and while some are putting out more power than others, you won't get far unless they're all working.

Let's take a look at the various muscles, in turn, that enable you to enjoy your favourite two-wheeled pastime to the full.

1. Quadriceps

The quadriceps (quad or thigh muscles) are among the largest and strongest in your body, in addition to being the most obviously toned on a regular or serious cyclist. They are a major player when it comes to producing power while cycling, which is primarily during the downstroke when pedalling.

Often thought of as a singular muscle, the quads are actually a group of four (quadriceps is Latin for four-headed): vastus medialis (teardrop muscle on the top of the inner thigh), rectus femoris (muscle on the top middle of the thigh and the only one of the four to start from the hip bone, therefore crossing both the hip and the knee), vastus intermedius (underneath the rectus femoris) and vastus lateralis (along the outer side of the thigh).

These muscles run down from the top of the femur or hip and attach to the knee cap (patella), which itself connects to the tibial tuberosity (the bony lump on the top of the lower leg).

2. Gluteus

The glutes are one of the superstar muscle groups. You may know that the gluteus maximus is the largest muscle in the body, but what you might be less aware of is that it is part of a wider group, which includes the gluteus medius and gluteus minimus.

In terms of the roles these all perform, the gluteus maximus is the powerhouse of the three, producing a huge amount of force. The gluteus medius and gluteus minimus, in contrast, work on hip abduction (bringing the hip out to the side) and stability.

When looking at what muscles are toned by cycling, the gluteus maximus is a big one. Track sprinters, with their huge power outputs, will often have particularly large and toned muscles in this area.

One thing to bear in mind is that many cyclists fail to fully utilise, or activate, these muscles — particularly riders who tend to spend a lot of time sitting down in the saddle. Doing specific strength training with movements that focus on hinging the hips is a great way to strengthen them and increase their force production capacity. Think squats and Romanian deadlifts.

3. Hamstrings

The hamstrings are the muscles on the underside (or backside) of your thighs. They work in tandem with the quadriceps, flexing and relaxing with every pedal stroke.

All the hamstring muscles originate from the hip and attach to the tibia or fibula; the two bones that make up your lower leg, below your knee joint and above your ankle joint. These muscles are responsible for hip extension and knee flexion during the upwards phase (mainly between 6 o’clock and 9 o’clock of the pedal stroke).

Due to their large contribution to pedalling, the hamstrings generally become quite toned from regular cycling, and are often visible as long, defined cords running down the rear of the thigh.

However, because the leg remains bent throughout the pedal stroke, regular cyclists often find they can get pretty tight too, so stretching is extra important.

4. Calves

The calf muscles are made up of the gastrocnemius (the large toned muscle both on the inside and outside of the lower leg) and the soleus (underneath the gastrocnemius but visible on the outside of the lower leg).

These muscles work your ‘dorsiflexion’, which basically means when you point your toe up during the downwards phase of the pedal stroke and at the very bottom of it. You’ll see these muscles often get very toned by cycling, which is the result of a combination of significant recruitment and the fact that many people don’t store much fat in this area.

5. Tibialis Anterior

Running along the front of the shin is the tibialis anterior, which contributes to ankle plantar flexion during the upwards phase of the pedal stroke (between 9 o’clock and 12 o’clock), keeping the knees and ankles stable and balanced. ‘Plantar flexion’, by the way, is just the opposite of ‘dorsiflexion’, i.e. when you point your toes down in the upward phase of the pedal stroke.

Digging deeper

There are plenty of other muscles in the leg that contribute to the pedal stroke, however many of them are deep muscles, meaning that they are less visible. They tend to be more involved in leg, knee, and ankle stability during cycling, however this does not make them any less useful.

There is debate about the necessity of hip extension, knee flexion, and ankle plantar flexion during the upwards phase of the pedal stroke. Some believe that it is beneficial to actively conduct these movements and focus on pulling your legs upwards (often with single leg drills on the bike).

Others believe it is more beneficial to be able to reduce muscle activation on the upwards phase of the pedal stroke and allow the more powerful quadriceps and glutes in the active leg (downstroke) to move the passive leg (upstroke) upwards as part of the opposite downwards stroke (doing high cadence intervals can supposedly assist).

However, generally the body is quite good at finding the most efficient way to produce force, hence why some professionals have been toe pointers and others heel droppers. Similarly, some spin a particularly fast cadence and others grind a bigger gear. The key factor tends to be force generation and muscle activation patterns. Great ways to improve this are resistance training along with a combination of high torque cycling efforts and high speed/RPM cadence drills.

Another interesting element is muscle usage, because when we cycle, it is primarily a concentric force that we are looking to generate. Concentric muscle contractions are where we produce force as the muscles shorten, whereas eccentric contractions are where we produce force while the muscles are lengthened.

Eccentric contractions are what generally result in delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) and happen as we walk or run, especially downhill. This is why some elements of running, walking, and resistance training are very useful to incorporate into your training for muscle and bone health, as well as muscle strength.

That said, if maximum gains on the bike are your primary goal, then excessive running isn’t advised as it can be detrimental to overall cycling performance. Add in a bit of cross training and some strength and conditioning work to improve muscular function.

The more you cycle, the more you can improve the amount of work these muscles do and how strong they will be. Adding resistance training into the mix is a great way to boost strength, power, and the appearance of these muscles.

What about the core and upper body?

As a road cyclist, the core and upper body require far less attention as they don’t have a direct impact on the power you’re putting through the pedals.

They definitely should not be ignored, however, as a strong core, back, arms and shoulders are essential to support the body through the pedal stroke, preventing pain and injury.

Together, the core and erector spinae (muscles and tendons running almost the entire length of the spine) stabilise the upper body so you can transfer power efficiently. Cycling alone won’t strengthen these muscles, so incorporating a good core workout is wise. Planks are a good start but there are plenty of other core exercises that are worth the effort.

The arms, shoulders, and upper torso muscles play a small but still significant part too. You’ll see sprinters and mountain bikers, for example, tend to have less of a ‘classic cycling physique’ because upper body strength is more important in these disciplines.

In a cycling position, isometric contractions occur in the shoulders and trunk while producing force, helping to support the weight of the body, maintain posture and provide the legs with a stable platform for power transfer.

If you feel like your upper body needs some work then check out these exercises.

Put simply, when ERG mode is switched on, your bike trainer will help you ride at a set power output by automatically adjusting the resistance to match your cycling cadence - no matter how fast or slow you turn your legs, the trainer will adjust itself to keep you at that set wattage.

So, given that you have that option, should you be using it? Are there any benefits? Or are there even cases where using it would be detrimental to the goal of the cycling workout you’ve set out to do?

To help you get the most out of the settings offered by smart trainers, we take you through when it is best to use the ERG mode setting, how it helps with maximising fitness gains from your workout, and when you should turn it off. 

What is ERG mode?

First off, let’s dig a bit deeper into what ERG mode is. ERG is short for Ergometer, and what this does is control the resistance so that you can - in theory - maintain a very stable power output. 

Now, power is made up of angular velocity (radians per second, with 1 RPM equal to 9.5492968 Rad/s) and torque (the force you put through the pedals) - what ERG does is balance these two to produce a consistent wattage. 

So let’s say you are riding at 200 watts, this is made up of riding at 80 RPM ((200 / 80 = 2.5) x 9.5492968) producing 23.87 newton meters (Nm) of torque. The smart bike or smart trainer will put 23.87 Nm of resistance into the flywheel, so that you are pushing 200 watts. If you increase the RPM to 90, then the resistance required to produce 200 W is now 21.22 Nm, so the trainer adjusts and decreases resistance. This also works the other way when RPM is reduced and resistance increases.

You can set ERG mode to be on or off on most training platforms and it will be active when you follow either an in app workout or a custom designed session you’ve imported. 

Benefits of using ERG mode for indoor cycling

One of the key benefits of using ERG mode is that it means you don’t need to focus on maintaining a power output during an interval, as the trainer does all the work for you. 

This is great for riders who want to do longer Zone 2 endurance rides and remain under a certain power output, to ensure that they don’t go too hard. And it’s also useful for those wanting to do longer tempo or sweetspot efforts where you want the higher power to stay maintained and not drift below your power targets, as set by your cycling training zones. 

You may have noticed that it’s also sometimes hard to get exactly the right RPM to match your power output when just using your gears. This is where ERG is fantastic as you can change your RPM to whatever you feel most comfortable at, in whatever gear you choose, and the resistance will be applied accordingly so that your target power output is achieved. 

Cons of using ERG mode for indoor cycling

However, there are a few downsides to using ERG mode. 

Firstly, there is a question about the resistance being applied artificially. Although this is similar to how it is when we climb outdoors, as gravity provides additional resistance, it isn’t the best for those that want to get faster on rolling or flat terrain where the changes in force applied and velocity are very variable. Sometimes it’s good to be able to adapt to those changes as in some cases just training on climbs or in ERG mode can affect performance on the flats. 

This has led some to suggest that overreliance on ERG can reduce our capacity to actually produce power sustainably at higher levels (think sweetspot and up) as we are so used to requiring an artificial resistance to push against. There may be some truth in this, but equally on the flats at speed we have air resistance to push against. 

Others have suggested that ERG limits our mental resilience of being able to hold a set power, but if anything ERG can help at higher power levels (threshold and up) as there is no way to give up or drop the power level down. For some, it may be useful for pushing themselves, but equally you also want to be able to do that without the artificial resistance.

Another downside is the reaction speed of ERG mode. The best smart trainers now have an ERG mode which is very fast to react to changes in either resistance, speed, or the power target of an interval. However some trainers are not as good at this. Let’s say that you have a set of micro intervals, 20 seconds at 120% threshold, with 10sec rest at 40%, for 20 repetitions so a 10 minute block. Changing from very high resistance to very low resistance over a short period of time can sometimes be delayed, so what you may find is that when the 20s effort starts you have a very high RPM and resistance is low, and then when the 10s recovery comes around the resistance doesn’t always drop straight away. 

The ERG spiral of death is probably the most well known issue with using ERG. A few papers have looked into the limiters of cycling performance and suggest that our ability to maintain torque is the biggest factor in maintaining power output. When we are unable to apply the same torque, we reduce the gear so that we can spin a higher RPM and reduce torque applied. 

However in ERG mode this isn’t the easiest, and what often happens is that RPM drops more and more and the resistance applied by the trainer increases more and more. In the end, the trainer wins as your RPM drops to a standstill and an insurmountable level of torque needs to be overcome. Fortunately, this is such a well known issue that many higher end trainers now have an ‘anti-spiral of death’ feature, where they sense when resistance has become too much, reduce it, and allow you to get spinning back up to speed again.

Benefits of using Level or Resistance mode for indoor cycling

For sessions where you want maximal power, such as sprints, or you’re doing micro intervals with lots of changes in resistance, then riding in Level / Resistance mode is the best way to go. This involves keeping the resistance at the hub static and changing it using your gears, or you can adjust the settings so that virtual gradients are applied along with resistance. Using this mode, you can also drop the intensity if required during an effort, rather than being constrained to the power and resistance target set for you by ERG mode.  

The other benefit of Level mode is that it’s a bit more ecologically valid. What this means is that it’s a little bit more like the real world where you have changes in resistance via gradients and efforts are very unlikely to be as smooth or have that constant resistance behind them. There are also some suggestions that riding in Level mode is better for developing better pedalling efficiency than ERG mode. 

When to use ERG mode

I would say all of these little downsides of ERG and benefits of Level are quite marginal, though, and at the end of the day, some of us may find it easier to complete a session using ERG mode simply because it’s one less thing to think about. 

My recommendation would be that for efforts where power is a constant (Zone 1 up to Zone 3/4) and you want to keep it below or above a certain level, ERG mode is the way to go. If you want to do sessions with short repeated efforts, maximals, sprints, or just a session with more resistance variability, then Level / Resistance mode is best to use. Using a mix of the two will ensure that you don’t miss out on the benefits of either of these, and may help to make your overall training experience a bit easier and more enjoyable. 

Then, the second most important step is ensuring that your goal is measurable in some way or other - otherwise how would you know when you've gotten there? Wanting to become 'a better cyclist' is a classic goal many people will initially leap for, but it is a bit vague!

You'll want to break down what being a better cyclist means for you - and in some way that's quantifiable. That might be setting a certain time on Strava segment, but it might also be attending a certain number of group rides, riding a different route every time you head out the door or joining the CW5000, our annual milage challenge - whatever will make you tick!  

As the name suggests, that's riding 5,000 miles before the clock hits midnight on December 31st, 2023 - and no problem doing it in metric, it's just that CW8046.72 doesn't sound quite as catchy! It might sound like a lot, but it works out at 13.7mi / 22km per day and we've got a lively community of like-minded individuals for continuing motivation - so do head over and sign up for the chance of earning a finisher's medal.

How to find what motivates you

Fitness

Let's start by looking at goals relating to physical fitness and getting faster. Of all the goals you could have, these are amongst the easiest to get a handle on how to measure them.

It might be that you want to get faster on certain loops, climbs or segments - or hit a particular time covering a particular  distance. We can use speed for measuring all of those. 

Or you might want to focus specifically on your own physical fitness, aiming to be able to hold a higher number of watts for the same heart rate or perceived effort - or we may be able to keep up with faster groups on bunch rides or Zwift categories. 

A power meter is particularly useful here as you can use that (together with a set of scales) to determine your watts per kilo - which is a good indicator for speed, especially on climbs. Otherwise, you can measure your FTP or Critical Power to see fitness improvements there, or you can see PBs in time trial times or moving up road racing categories. Essentially, there are many ways that you can measure these elements.

Adventuring

Another cycling goal you may want to target is one that involves more adventure or exploration. Neither of these are very specific or measurable goals, so you need to break them down a bit and find an aspect that interests you - perhaps there are  specific Sportives, Gran Fondos or gravel events you'd like to ride, or perhaps even going riding in a  specific number of different countries that you have a tick list of. 

There are also goals you can set that are much closer to home. It might be something like using VeloViewer and the 'tile bagging' feature to quantifiably make sure you've ridden on all the roads and trails of your local area. Or you might set a target of going on a bikepacking weekender once a month or drawing up a list of the iconic climbs that are near by you and starting to work through them.

Your imagination is really the limit - just do always question how you're going to measure your goal. If nothing else, it's quite motivating being able to tick off the quarter-way, halfway, two-thirds-of-the-way (and so on) milestones as you go through. But most important is really knowing when you have definitely completed your goal!

Sociability

Then there’s the social and community element of cycling. Especially with lockdowns in recent years, it has been easy to become a bit isolated outside of communities. Group riding offers a great opportunity to socialise with like-minded individuals and become part of a club/group/community. 

Apps like LinkMyRide offer the ability to find group rides near you. Or perhaps there’s a local club you can join with the cycling goal of doing maybe three group rides a week, or joining in with community projects such as leading rides for different groups. 

How to set realistic cycling goals

So we’ve worked out what area of cycling we want to set our goal in, but how do we determine what is realistic? We need to make our goal specific, achievable, and also time-dependent. Going from an FTP of 200 to 400 in a year likely isn’t going to happen, unfortunately!

Fitness

Let’s look at a couple of fitness goals. For someone starting out racing, with an FTP of 200 watts, and a weight of 80kg, we’re going to break down some realistic goals. 

Having just started racing, setting a goal of reaching 3rd or 2nd Category licence in one season is often an achievable goal for most. 52 points total are needed and there are a lot of races available such as criteriums, road races, CX and also some track races. 

This ride may also want to boost their FTP, so a sensible target in a year is perhaps a 20% improvement. As for weight, perhaps dropping 3-5kg over the course of the year - as you don’t want to lose too much too quickly - and getting weight down is only part of the W/Kg equation, where power (watts) is arguably more useful!

Adventuring

For someone exploring, let’s say they live in South Wales, their longest ride is 60 miles, and they want to ride in other countries. 

Being in South Wales, they will be surrounded by a lot of climbs that are part of the 100 greatest climbs. They may want to set a goal of riding all the climbs in that book that are in South Wales during a year. With their longest ride being 60 miles, a realistic target would be to be able to complete 100 miles in one go by the end of that year. 

As for travelling, setting the goal to ride in one other country is often a realistic goal, depending on finances.

Sociability

For community and social cycling goals, there are a few that can be realistically achieved. Perhaps you work during the week so don’t have time to ride much during the weekday, but you could set the goal of completing one group cycle a week with a group of friends or with a club. 

You could also try and do new sorts of group sessions, such as attending a group skills session if a club does that, a velodrome session, or the local through and off ride. If you’re more driven about having an impact on the community, you could set a goal of organising a group ride once a week, a cycling trip for some of the riders, or even a local road race for the club. 

These are all goals that should be realistic, achievable, and doable within one year.

How to best execute your goals

Fitness

When it comes to improving fitness, there are several things to consider. Firstly, you need to be training enough and in the right way to meet the demands of your goal. If it’s a TT, you need to train in an aerodynamic position. 

If it’s a certain W/Kg, then you need to be  fueling correctly to ensure you fuel for the work required, and optimise body composition by avoiding alcohol and processed fatty foods. You may also need to  reevaluate if you hit your initial target early, or illness/injury gets in the way.

Adventuring

For exploring and distance goals, again you need to be training appropriately and resting enough, while also being good at time management. Huge endurance rides alongside a demanding work job can lead to too much stress overall, so planning some big adventure rides when you have less work is a good idea. 

If you are having to travel to places or countries to ride or complete events, then ensuring that you are keeping enough time for family, social, and personal time are also important. Cycling should never be all consuming.

Sociability

Similarly with social goals, you need to take into account the overall work/life/training balance, in this case also possibly organising events. Organising a road race for example isn’t easy, but if members of the club have prior experience then they can perhaps assist you. 

It might not be a brand you’ve heard of, but the chances are you will have seen its branding – even if only subliminally. As official partner to UAE Team Emirates, the MyWhoosh logo has been emblazoned across Tadej Pogacar’s jersey – and shorts.

There’s a lot to the platform and this is just a first look at the headline features that make it a viable option for building fitness and staying motivated while cycling indoors.

But is this free-to-use option is one of best indoor training platforms for cycling? Let's take a look in more detail.

MyWhoosh virtual worlds

With the MyWhoosh headquarters being based in Abu Dhabi, UAE, it should perhaps come as no surprise that desert landscapes feature heavily in the virtual world mix here.

The ancient desert city of AlUla – one of the oldest cities on the Arabian Peninsula and home to Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site - is the home to 8 routes, including a meaty one called ‘Heritage Climb’ which manages to pack 679m of climbing into 39km.

There's also a Middle Eastern Map, Arabia, which features 17 routes including a mix of hilly and flat parcours, includes a loop around downtown Dubai. Australia gets a look in, with seven featured routes, but to save perhaps the best till last, there are nine routes set in Colombia, including a lap around Bogota City - the capital - and a 889m climb up the Paso de Alto.

So there certainly are plenty of different routes to go through and tick off; MyWhoosh has really expanded the route options recently, with 12 worlds, each containing multiple rides, now features. While it remains some distance from offering the variety and number of routes you get with Zwift (It's Watopia world features 120 routes), it has started to close the gap. And of course, it’s free to use - which is a refrain that you could repeat after every observation!

And to hang on that point of monetisation for just a moment, I have to say that I did really quite enjoy how the ads are integrated into the world as little flags on the street, not any banners or pop-ups flashing across the screen. I think it’s really quite nice and unobtrusive - the visual experience even has a certain similarity to being at a sportive or race.

But to address something of an elephant in the room, although I did have the graphics set to high, the world and avatars still looked quite basic. There might have been something I was missing, so I won’t dwell on this point until I’ve spent a bit more time troubleshooting.

MyWhoosh Group rides

The group rides and races aren’t as frequent as they are on Zwift but you still don’t have to wait too long for one to come round - there’s something on about every 15 minutes or so.

Jumping in on the first event that rolled around, there were about 50 people there on the start line, which made a good size group for getting an initial feel for how the drafting works on the platform.

Obviously, there’s only so much you can gleam from just riding around, but there did feel a significant difference between the amount of power I needed to put out when riding in the wheels compared to riding on the front. Whether it’s quite as strong as Zwift’s double draft, I wouldn’t be able to say, though.

MyWhoosh took quite an interesting approach with this group ride. Everyone starts together regardless of ability, and within the bunch there was a total of nine bots that would ride around at an average speed of between 25kph and 40kph (going up in 2kph increments).

Given the ratio of riders to bots was a little over 5:1, it wasn’t really a surprise that the group ended up becoming fairly strung out over the course of the ride - although with clusters around the middling speeds.

The rolling hills will have exacerbated matters as well - with the realism set to 100 per cent, the gradients did really make themselves felt, both when riding a Tacx Flux 2 and an Elite Zumo trainer (I switched when switching between worlds).

MyWhoosh Races

Currently there are two races per day in the MyWhoosh HQ racing series, plus other events such as the Rampage Racing series that plays out over routes of 14-30km and an 8-weeks Masters Series, which provides races for a wide range of age groups.

However, the main event on MyWhoosh is the Sunday Race Club, held each week at 12:00 GMT for the men and 2:00 GMT for the women. Here you get six categories, with the Cat 5 and Cat 6 added to help narrow the physiological metrics within each group and provide a more balanced experience for riders of all levels.

MyWhoosh says that the terrain is quite eclectic, sometimes being pan flat, sometimes packing in 1,000m of climbing and - of course - everything in between as well. Although the winner is the first across the line, there are short sprints, moderate length segments and KOMs to compete in too.

As for prize money, it operates on a sliding scale from Cat 1 to Cat 6, with additional prizes for sprint winners as well as king and queen of the mountains. The pot is distributed evenly between the men and women's categories.

If you want the detail on how MyWhoosh verifies performances, you’re probably best off reading it on their website than me repeating it here. But suffice to say, for the top-level racers, dual power recording, weigh-ins and heart rate date are all par for the course.

But I’m yet to take part in any of that - the group ride was the first event I found and I was jumping around exploring the worlds afterwards, so hang tight for firsthand details on the racing.

MyWhoosh training plans

This is arguably one of the most interesting aspects to MyWhoosh. When I dropped by the MyWhoosh stand at Eurobike, one of the first things they told me was that Kevin Poulton - Zwift’s former leading coach and now UAE Team Emirates coach - was the man behind these training plans.

And the plans don’t shy away from the geeky details - the notes for the road racing plan take you through the different phases of periodization and the bodily adaptations that are being targeted for development.

If you’re anything like me, you’ll very much appreciate the depth on the ‘why’ rather than simply the ‘what’. But if you just want to get on with your training and don’t care about the mechanisms - there’s no problem with just cracking on.

Another nice touch that’s particularly useful is how you can drop into the training plan at the point of your choosing. For example, if you're coming to this in the spring and already have your base training ticked off - it’s great that you can jump straight in with what you’re ready for. And yes, you can also import custom workouts from other apps.

MyWhoosh workouts

Supporting the catalogue of cycling training plans is a bank of workouts that you can pick and choose from and plug straight into your training as it is. You can also see the same strands of detail running through these as you can in the training plans.

There are currently over 720 workouts on the platform, with each one structured around your Functional Threshold Power (FTP), which you can test for on MyWhoosh. With your smart trainer set to ERG mode all you have to do is pedal!

There’s also a handy workout builder for creating your own indoor cycling sessions for turbo training. It’s a very useful functionality to have, especially as it can be a bit of a pain to find an easy-to-use workout creator which is also free-to-use - but as with everything on the MyWhoosh platform, there’s no payment or subscription necessary.

The verdict on MyWhoosh

Let’s get the first things out of the way: MyWhoosh doesn’t look as polished as Zwift and it doesn’t have that gravity which comes from constantly having thousands of people on the platform. Essentially, I don’t think this platform is going to be a Zwift killer.

But with that said, for someone who only rides indoors occasionally and doesn’t want to fork out for a monthly subscription, I think MyWhoosh is a completely viable option - combined with one of the best cheap smart trainers and you have a decent training set-up without breaking the bank. Even for a regular indoor user, if you are seriously looking to cut down on costs, there may well be enough on MyWhoosh to keep you entertained and motivated all year round.

From peak power production to longer endurance efforts – even injury prevention – there are a lot of reasons to pay attention to the rate at which you turn the pedals. Plus, the training benefits of mixing up the RPM in your sessions might well surprise you. 

There’s a lot more to this metric than you might at first have imagined – and a lot of potentially misleading studies too. So let’s dig into the details on all you need to know about the ideal cycling cadence and how to improve.

Real-time cycling cadence and average cadence are data fields you can select to appear on your cycling computer. Your device can receive this data from a few different equipment set ups.

The cheapest way to measure cadence is by getting a cadence sensor, many of which attach to the left side of the chainstay. A magnet is then attached to the crank arm, and the sensor tracks how many times this magnet passes by it. Some bikes come with one as part of the stock setup. Low to mid-range bikes from Giant’s road bike range are equipped with ‘RideSense’ for example.

Power meters measure cadence themselves, so no need to attach a cadence sensor if you already have one of these. By extension, the same goes for power sensing turbo trainers and smart bikes.

If you come from a strength-based sport such as rugby or rowing, you’re more likely to be comfortable riding at a lower cadence with high torque, whereas if you’re a lighter rider you’ll probably be wanting to spin an easier gear at a higher cadence.

“Power is what riders are looking to improve and that’s a combination of angular velocity, which would be cadence, and the overall torque, which is the force applied through the pedal,” Andy Turner of AT Performance explains.

A lower RPM requires high torque to develop the same power output as a high RPM with low torque - essentially there are different ways to produce a certain number of watts. 

When we talk about cycling cadence, we’re thinking about what’s the most efficient way to produce the power that we’re looking for.

Pros and cons of a low cycling cadence

“A rider might be doing 300 watts at 90 RPM in a time trial, and what reduces isn't the capacity to hold the RPM, it's the capacity to maintain the torque - the force you’re pressing into the pedals - at that RPM,” Turner explains.

“Being able to generate more torque and maintain that for longer is what will help with prolonged performance, and increasing Functional Threshold Power or Critical Power.”

The benefit of riding with a low RPM and high torque is that you get better motor unit recruitment, with more neuromuscular pathways you're able to recruit more muscle fibres within the leg.

“If you're doing a maximal sprint, say around 80 per cent of the muscle fibres are working at maximal force, but some of them don't actually have a neurological link to be contracted to produce the force,” Turner points out. 

“The motor unit activates several muscle fibres at a time, and by doing strength development work each unit can recruit more fibres - it effectively means that you can use more of the muscles that you have.”

The largest gains from strength training at the gym happen early on because of this motor unit recruitment. 

Cycling at a low cycling cadence does put more strain on your muscles and joints though. 

“If you’re riding with a lower RPM that means that every time you’re pushing the pedal through there’s a higher force going through your foot, ankles, knee and hip, and that’s the link to increased stress and injuries,” physiotherapist and bike fitter Bryan McCullough of The Bike The Body notes. 

“There’s no clear evidence that lower cadence equals injury but it’s definitely associated with the development of front knee pain.”

At the same time, it's very good to train with low RPM to develop strength and force development. The key is to build up gradually. 

Pros and cons of a high cycling cadence

A higher RPM can be more effective for performing well at the end of longer events and for improving your cardiovascular system in training sessions. 

“While a lot of studies have shown that lower RPM is more efficient, a slight issue with those studies is that they've generally looked at quite low power outputs and not taken into account some of the neuromuscular fatigue build up that you get from riding at higher torque levels, “ Turner points out. 

And as you go into higher power outputs, a higher RPM can be more efficient. 

“A time trialist such as Ganna is not far off from doing 500 watts for 20 minutes and he rides quite close to that 100 RPM in time trial events because, for him, that's more efficient,” Turner says. “He’s still generating huge torque, but he's combining that with the high RPM to produce an overall really high power output.”

A couple of studies have highlighted that riding at a higher RPM also helps with reducing something called muscle co-activation. 

“When you push down on the pedal stroke, you're pushing down with your quads, but at the same time the hamstrings are actually offering resistive force against it if you're riding at a low RPM,” Turner explains. “Whereas at higher RPMs, that doesn't happen so much and so this results in a more efficient pedal stroke.”

Riding at a higher cycling cadence can be beneficial for completing a training session in the intended training zone as it pushes you towards using your cardiovascular system. 

For this reason, a high RPM can be quite useful for eliciting a better V02 max response when doing efforts. “Quite often people find that when riding at low RPM, they have a lower heart rate because it's not as taxing on the cardiovascular system,” Turner points out. “So when they ride at high RPM, the heart rate often increases. 

“For V02 max efforts, increasing cardiac output is actually what you want so I find high RPM efforts are quite a good way of getting that high cardiac output from people in training, and that can help with improved oxygen delivery to the muscles and also reducing fatigue at the end of longer rides,” Turner says.

Riding at a higher cadence is also something to be thinking about when you’re racing. “If you’re cruising along in the bunch waiting for the next move to go, it’s better to be riding at a slightly higher RPM,” Turner recommends. “If not, you waste time getting up to speed because your acceleration isn’t going to be as quick.”

If you’re in a road race - which tends to be quite a long event - riding at this high RPM for responding to attacks will also help with avoiding the end-of-the-race fatigue build up that you could have suffered with if riding at a low cadence for most of the race. 

But riding at a high cycling cadence is only useful if you’re smoothly executing these fast pedal strokes. If you’re riding at too fast a cadence you may find that you’re bouncing on the saddle and this results in a lower pedalling efficiency. This is where working on developing your pedalling fluidity and perfecting your pedalling technique (which we’ll come onto later) can help. 

Pedalling at a high cycling cadence is also not ideal if you are sticking in an easy gear.

Researchers in one study found that the ratio between oxygen delivered to muscles in your thighs and the oxygen that they take up simply is too low when you keep a high cadence - if you are in a relatively low gear.

For riders with experience this is not a problem because they tend to change up through the gears until comfortable with the higher intensity of exercise at their preferred cadence.

But novices and recreational cyclists sometimes stay in a low gear and spin quickly, even though the overall intensity of their exercise is relatively moderate.

How to improve your cycling cadence

It is beneficial to vary your cycling cadence in training sessions to improve your pedalling technique, work on specific training adaptations and to get comfortable at riding at the lower and higher ends of the cadence spectrum so you can easily adapt your cadence depending on the situation.

Riding at lower cadences will help you develop your strength, while working on your pedalling smoothness as you hit higher RPMs will enable you to pedal sustainably at this top end. 

Improving pedalling smoothness at higher cycling cadences

If you’re a rider who finds you’re always grinding it with a low cadence, ‘rev outs’ is a session which Turner recommends for getting more comfortable with higher cadences. For this workout, find a flat section of road, shift into your smallest gear possible and spin up as quickly as you can. 

“Initially you’ll probably find that you bounce up and down on the saddle quite a lot, but as you get better at it, you’ll find you become smoother and can generate a higher RPM,” says Turner. 

As well as doing these short and sharp spin outs, you can also work at riding at a higher cadence within longer intervals. “Ride five to 10 minutes tempo blocks where you are really focussed on keeping your cadence between 100 and 110 RPM,” Turner suggests. 

Developing strength at lower cadences

To develop your strength at low cadence, you’re going to want to be at a low cadence compared to the high power you’ll be outputting. 

“Find a flat section of road, slow down to a walking pace - so not quite a standing start, but maybe you’re having to turn the handlebars a bit to stop yourself wobbling over - and then in the biggest gear, staying seated and without pulling on the bars too much with your arms, just really focus on driving down with each pedal stroke for 60 seconds,” Turner recommends.

Alternatively, Turner suggests doing 10 minute blocks at around tempo pace in a gear that lets you ride at around 60 to 70 RPM.

With low cadence drills, it’s better to start at a higher cadence and then work your way down. 

“If you start straightaway at, say, 40 to 50 RPM, you can get pain at the front of the knee,” Turner warns.  “When I prescribe riders low cadence efforts, I’ll start with 70 RPM and then when they get better at dealing with that torque load, decreasing the RPM or increasing the power output.

Ideal cycling cadence: Indoors versus outdoors 

Indoor cycling sessions can also be a useful environment for focusing on your cadence as you don’t have any other distractions, there’s no potholes to dodge or traffic to be aware of.

“On indoor training apps such as Zwift, you ride on the virtual roads without the difficulty on [which adjusts the resistance to mimic climbs], and so you can just put it in whatever gear you fancy, and ride at the same RPM or whichever cadence you prefer, throughout the whole session.”

Average cadences also tend to be higher indoors than outdoors, so don’t compare the two.

“I very rarely end up out of the saddle when I’m on the turbo trainer,” Turner notes, “if you’re out of the saddle you’ll generally be at a lower RPM just practicality wise.”

“If you’re riding outdoors there will also be periods where you’re coasting and your pedalling will vary quite a bit with stop starting at junctions, and I think people will probably spend more time generally riding at higher RPMs indoors - it’s just a bit easier to do so.