Phoenix of Hamble
Active member
Charity Cycle Ride plan
I've done a lot of challenging events in the last few years, and have become quite practiced at putting together training plans.... so figured it might help others if I created one just for this event....
Here's a suggested plan I've put together for participants that have some basic fitness, but are not regular cyclists.... if you also consider yourself unfit, as well as a non cyclist, then just back off the amount of time in the first 5 weeks to 75% of the suggested duration, slowly increasing the percentage of it that you do up to 100% of the plan at a rate of 5% a week.
This plan isn't designed to turn you into the next Bradley Wiggins, but should get you through the event itself without too much discomfort, and recognises that we've all got busy lives, so doesn't demand silly amounts of time.
Firstly, the plan is based on time, rather than distance.... focus on the time in the saddle, rather than the distance you are achieving... it makes the planning a lot easier, and also encourages quality efforts, rather than chasing spurious mileages!
Secondly, how hard to work... using Rate of Perceived Effort (RPE).... explanation below!... RPE means that you don't need any fancy kit, and it self adjusts for different levels of fitness.
There are 5 levels of RPE that I have used
1 hardly trying
2 mild activity
3 sweating slightly, but not hurting
4 pushing it quite hard.. getting pretty sweaty!
5 killing myself.... this hurts!
Thirdly, the plan is broken into 3 phases.... phase 1 - getting a base in place, phase 2 - extending the mileage, phase 3 - easing off in final approach!
20 week plan
First phase - building the base
Week 1
2 rides min 2 days apart of 30 mins each at RPE3
Week 2 and Week 3
2 rides min 2 days apart of 45 mins each at RPE3
Week 4 and 5
2 rides min 2 days apart of 1hr and 1hr 15 mins at RPE3
Week 6
1 ride of 1hr 15 mins at RPE3
1 ride of 20 mins at RPE4
min 2 days apart
Week 7 and 8
2 rides of 1hr 15 mins at RPE3
Week 9
1 ride of 1hr 15 mins at RPE3
1 ride of 20 mins at RPE4
min 2 days apart
Week 10
1 ride of 1hr 30 mins at RPE3
1 ride of 1 hr at RPE3
min 2 days apart
Second phase - building the distance
Week 11 - easy week of recovery
1 ride of 1 hr at RPE3
Week 12
1 ride of 1hr 30mins at RPE3
1 ride of 1 hr 45 mins at RPE3
min 2 days apart
Week 13
1 ride of 1hr 30mins at RPE3
1 ride of 2 hrs at RPE3
min 2 days apart
Week 14
1 ride of 1hr 30mins at RPE3
1 ride of 30 mins at RPE4
min 2 days apart
Week 15
1 ride of 2 hrs 30 mins at RPE3
1 ride of 1 hr 45 mins at RPE3
min 2 days apart
Week 16
1 ride of 3 hrs 15 mins at RPE3
1 ride of 45 mins at RPE4
min 2 days apart
Week 17
1 ride of 3hr 30mins at RPE3
1 ride of 1 hr at RPE4
min 2 days apart
Third phase - prepping for the big ride
Week 18
1 ride of 1hr 30mins at RPE3
1 ride of 1 hr 45 mins at RPE3
min 2 days apart
Week 19
1 ride of 1hr 30mins at RPE3
1 ride of 1 hr at RPE3
min 2 days apart
Week 20
1 ride of 45 mins at RPE2 min 2 days before the big ride!
Hope this helps!
I've done a lot of challenging events in the last few years, and have become quite practiced at putting together training plans.... so figured it might help others if I created one just for this event....
Here's a suggested plan I've put together for participants that have some basic fitness, but are not regular cyclists.... if you also consider yourself unfit, as well as a non cyclist, then just back off the amount of time in the first 5 weeks to 75% of the suggested duration, slowly increasing the percentage of it that you do up to 100% of the plan at a rate of 5% a week.
This plan isn't designed to turn you into the next Bradley Wiggins, but should get you through the event itself without too much discomfort, and recognises that we've all got busy lives, so doesn't demand silly amounts of time.
Firstly, the plan is based on time, rather than distance.... focus on the time in the saddle, rather than the distance you are achieving... it makes the planning a lot easier, and also encourages quality efforts, rather than chasing spurious mileages!
Secondly, how hard to work... using Rate of Perceived Effort (RPE).... explanation below!... RPE means that you don't need any fancy kit, and it self adjusts for different levels of fitness.
There are 5 levels of RPE that I have used
1 hardly trying
2 mild activity
3 sweating slightly, but not hurting
4 pushing it quite hard.. getting pretty sweaty!
5 killing myself.... this hurts!
Thirdly, the plan is broken into 3 phases.... phase 1 - getting a base in place, phase 2 - extending the mileage, phase 3 - easing off in final approach!
20 week plan
First phase - building the base
Week 1
2 rides min 2 days apart of 30 mins each at RPE3
Week 2 and Week 3
2 rides min 2 days apart of 45 mins each at RPE3
Week 4 and 5
2 rides min 2 days apart of 1hr and 1hr 15 mins at RPE3
Week 6
1 ride of 1hr 15 mins at RPE3
1 ride of 20 mins at RPE4
min 2 days apart
Week 7 and 8
2 rides of 1hr 15 mins at RPE3
Week 9
1 ride of 1hr 15 mins at RPE3
1 ride of 20 mins at RPE4
min 2 days apart
Week 10
1 ride of 1hr 30 mins at RPE3
1 ride of 1 hr at RPE3
min 2 days apart
Second phase - building the distance
Week 11 - easy week of recovery
1 ride of 1 hr at RPE3
Week 12
1 ride of 1hr 30mins at RPE3
1 ride of 1 hr 45 mins at RPE3
min 2 days apart
Week 13
1 ride of 1hr 30mins at RPE3
1 ride of 2 hrs at RPE3
min 2 days apart
Week 14
1 ride of 1hr 30mins at RPE3
1 ride of 30 mins at RPE4
min 2 days apart
Week 15
1 ride of 2 hrs 30 mins at RPE3
1 ride of 1 hr 45 mins at RPE3
min 2 days apart
Week 16
1 ride of 3 hrs 15 mins at RPE3
1 ride of 45 mins at RPE4
min 2 days apart
Week 17
1 ride of 3hr 30mins at RPE3
1 ride of 1 hr at RPE4
min 2 days apart
Third phase - prepping for the big ride
Week 18
1 ride of 1hr 30mins at RPE3
1 ride of 1 hr 45 mins at RPE3
min 2 days apart
Week 19
1 ride of 1hr 30mins at RPE3
1 ride of 1 hr at RPE3
min 2 days apart
Week 20
1 ride of 45 mins at RPE2 min 2 days before the big ride!
Hope this helps!
Last edited:
