Feeling motivated to get going on spring training but don’t have a plan? We’ve got a challenge that can make March the perfect springboard to a great 2024 riding season: This month, challenge yourself to ride a specific number of miles—500 or 300, depending on your riding level right now.
Challenges are simple ways to kickstart fitness and help create the consistent habit of riding regularly. In fact, research has found that fitness challenges keep people excited about hitting their daily goals throughout the month—and makes it more likely that you’ll finish strong.
In our plan for March, none of the rides are ludicrously long or hard. That’s the point: It should be doable on a daily basis. The challenging part is that it requires consistency, not just a couple of “hero days” over the course of the month.
“This plan accomplishes two things,” says cycling coach Peter Glassford, who created the month-long challenge. “It gives you a goal that you can work toward and it provides a rhythm for each week that shifts the focus between short intervals, hillier rides, or flatter longer rides. While 300 or 500 miles may not seem like much if you’ve been riding for a while, remember that months like these repeated can result in impressive annual totals.”
Your 30-Day Cycling Challenge
Here, we’ve put together a March challenge for you that has two options: a 500-mile challenge and 500-kilometer (that’s about 300 miles!) short version. Which should you choose? It depends. If you’re already a fairly regular cyclist and you may be able to do some of your riding outdoors, the 500-mile challenge is still relatively low volume for someone who can ride six days per week (some days much less than others!).
If you’re a new cyclist, riding entirely indoors, riding on mountain bike trails where racking up miles is a slower process, or are simply tight on time, the shorter version may be optimal for you. (You can always try the first week on the 500-mile schedule and make the switch!)
Remember, this challenge is all about creating a consistent cycling habit. If you miss a day, you don’t need to double up the next day—and probably shouldn’t! Just get back on track the next day with the planned ride. If you need to switch around days, go ahead, but try to avoid cramming all of your rides together into just a couple of days per week.
The day before the challenge starts (or at least during the first weekend of the challenge), make sure to take some time to pull out all of your cycling gear so you’re ready to go. Make sure you pump up your tires, get your chain lubed, clean your cold weather cycling gear, and charge up your lights/computer/shifters. If you’re using the indoor trainer, get it set up in a permanent spot for this month, so you don’t have to waste valuable minutes getting ready to ride every day.
How to Successfully Complete the 30-Day Challenge
This training plan incorporates simple intervals that can be done inside or outside, and in the final week, you’ll do an FTP test if you have access to a power meter or smart trainer. (Learn how to do an FTP test here.)
If you don’t have access to power, you can still go through the process of an FTP test using a local hill or flat road and just logging how far you’re able to ride in 20 minutes at a perceived exertion rate of “hard but manageable.” That way, in a month or two, you can use that same hill and same effort level to see if you’ve gained the fitness to get further in that 20 minutes.
Each week has one “workout” day with simple intervals. We’ve based them on perceived exertion (easy, moderate, hard, very hard) for simplicity. For each workout, warm up and cool down for at least 10 to 15 minutes—however long it takes you to hit the mileage number for the day while incorporating the intervals.
The plan also recommends adding in strength training once a week. This doesn’t have to look like a monster session at the gym using heavy weights. You can try a simple bodyweight strength routine or a simple routine done with weights you likely have at home.
Let’s get training!
Love this plan and the challenge? You can even repeat it in April and add more of a challenge by adding new parameters, like doing at least two of your weekly rides off-road or doing most rides on hilly terrain.
Molly writes about cycling, nutrition and training with an emphasis on bringing more women into sport. She's the author of nine books including the Shred Girls series and is the founder of Strong Girl Publishing. She co-hosts The Consummate Athlete Podcast and spends most of her free time biking and running on trails, occasionally joined by her mini-dachshund.
