How to Train for a Charity Bike Ride and Support a Great Cause

Preparing for a charity bike ride? In order to make the most of the experience, it’s important to plan a sufficient training schedule. This will help to ensure you are able to complete the challenge, reduce the risk of injury, and also help to make the entire experience more enjoyable.

Some people launch into a cycling challenge and assume their base levels of fitness will help them, but they quickly realise just how difficult a long-distance cycling challenge can be.

Depending on your fitness levels, you might need to train for around three to six months in order to make the most of the challenge. In this guide, we’re sharing some of our top training tips that you can follow to ensure you complete your challenge and raise as much money as possible for charity.

Assess your current fitness levels

Be honest about where you’re starting. Are you already cycling long distances every weekend, or do you tend to get winded climbing the stairs? A simple way to determine where you are is to join a cycling fitness class in your gym.

This might be a humbling experience as you discover that you aren’t as healthy as you first thought. It could also be an encouraging experience, as you might discover that you’re able to keep up.

Think about your base levels of fitness and what kind of time commitment you have for training. If you’re already in good shape, try to add around 1-2 training sessions to your schedule per week to help build up your strength and stamina. If you’re less healthy than expected, consider adding 3-4 workouts per week. 

Build up your cardio fitness

Cycling requires a healthy cardiovascular system to keep your legs pumping when you feel exhausted. Head to your gym and hop on the cardio machines and gradually increase the time spent. You might choose to run, cycle or use a cross trainer. Mix it up to keep things interesting and challenge yourself in different ways. 

You can vary the intensity and the length of your cardio training sessions, aiming to increase to around 75% of the estimated time it will take to complete your challenge. You don’t need to push yourself to complete a “dry run”, as you will be leaving something in the bank so you can be confident you can complete the entire challenge on the day.

Increase strength

Alongside cardio training, add in some strength training. This will increase the strength of the muscles that will be doing all of the work. Add weighted exercises and compound movements such as squats, hip thrust and deadlifts. You can also add in chest and back exercises, as this will help your arms to handle the pressure of holding you upright while you cycle. And finally, core exercises will help you to stabilise your movement and minimise the risk of losing your balance.

Work on flexibility

When you are engaging in a high intensity training programme, you might find that you become stronger and healthier, but you lose flexibility at the same time. Including stretching into your cool-down routine will enable you to recover faster and reduce the chance that you experience muscle soreness between your training sessions.

Flexibility is often overlooked in long distance cycling training, but it can help you to meet the challenges ahead with greater ease. It will also reduce the risk of injury which could derail your fundraising plans. 

Don’t forget nutrition

You’re going to be training a lot, so expect your appetite to spike as your body needs more fuel to help power your workouts. If you are taking part in the challenge to lose weight, you might choose to keep your diet the same and this will help you to shed a few pounds. However, you should make sure you are feeding your body the right type of fuel.

Nutrition is a core part of long distance cycling training that is often overlooked. You need to give your body the right combination of protein, carbohydrates and fat to enable you to complete the challenge.

Adding more protein to your diet will aid in helping you to build muscle while also helping you to feel fuller for longer. Carbs are a great source of energy, and should not be restricted. Healthy fats are also a good source of energy.

During your cycle challenge, you will also need to have access to easy to digest carbohydrates. Energy gels are a great way to fuel your body on the go, but you should test them ahead of your challenge to see how your body responds. You can also carry easy to consume items like fruit and nuts as a quick snack that won’t slow you down or leave you feeling sluggish.