How do I get faster at cycling?

To get faster at cycling, ride more often, keep most of those rides easy, and add one or two hard interval sessions a week. Most people see clear gains within 6 to 8 weeks of doing that consistently.

Build the base first

Speed comes from aerobic fitness, and that comes from time on the bike. Getting from 2 rides a week to 3 or 4 does more for you than any single workout.

Keep about 80 percent of your riding easy, at a pace where you can chat. This sounds slow, but it's what lets you recover and still hit the hard days properly. Most riders who plateau are riding everything at a medium-hard pace, which is too hard to recover from and too easy to improve much.

Add intervals

Once you have a few weeks of regular riding, add one session a week of harder work. Two simple options:

1. Threshold: 2 x 10 minutes at a hard but steady pace, with 5 minutes easy between. Over time build to 2 x 20.
2. Short hard efforts: 5 x 3 minutes very hard with 3 minutes easy between.

After 4 to 6 weeks you can add a second interval day if you're recovering well. Don't do hard days back to back.

Lift twice a week

Strength training for your legs and core helps power and protects your knees and back on long rides. Squats, deadlift variations, lunges and planks are enough. Twenty to thirty minutes, twice a week.

Smaller things that add up

• Pedal smoothly at around 80 to 95 rpm instead of mashing a big gear
• Get in a lower position on flat roads, since most of what slows you is wind
• Ride with others a bit faster than you, and learn to draft
• Check tire pressure, and keep the chain clean
• Eat and drink on rides longer than an hour
• Give your rides a rival: League of Fitness syncs rides from Apple Health and scores them by heart rate zones, so easy base rides and hard intervals both count toward a daily match with someone near your level

Be patient with the numbers

Track the same route every few weeks, and look at both time and heart rate. If you go faster at the same heart rate, you're improving. Rest weeks matter too. Take an easier week every fourth week, or sooner if your legs feel flat.

Faster is a slow project. The riders who get there are usually the ones who show up 3 or 4 times a week for months, not the ones who do a heroic ride every Sunday.