Century Prep

An hour that trains the patience for a long day in the saddle — steady blocks, fuelling habits, and one honest tempo push

Indoor cycling
Mixed ability
60 min
Works for 8–25
1 instructor
Effort 3/5
Spin studio
endurance
long-ride
pacing
event-prep

The ClassPlans programming teamLevel 3 group-fitness qualified · 10+ yrs teaching

Kit: Bikes, towels, two water bottles per rider if they have them. Riders training for an outdoor event can bring their own ride snacks.

Warm-up8 min

Rolling Out of Town

6 min easy + 2 × 30s leg-speed liftsRPE 3

Setup: Flat road, light resistance. Ask at the start who has a long event coming — a charity cycle, a sportive, a big day out. Coach to those riders all night; everyone else gets fitter alongside them.

How it works: Six minutes easy while you explain the century mindset: long rides are not won with strength, they are won with pacing, eating, drinking and staying comfortable. Tonight rehearses all four. Set the drinking rule now — a sip every time you call it, roughly every ten minutes, whether thirsty or not. Two 30-second leg-speed lifts to end the warm-up.

What to say

“Long-ride rule one: start slower than feels right — you'll pass everyone later.”
“Drink when I call it, not when you're thirsty; thirsty is already late.”
“Get comfortable now — shift in the saddle until nothing is complaining.”

Easier

Skip the lifts and roll gently out of town.

Harder

Lifts at 45 seconds at a brisk but controlled leg speed.

Workout16 min

Steady Miles

16 min continuous · comfort check every 4 minRPE 5

Setup: A medium road — the effort of a long flat stretch with a light breeze against you. Everyone seated, everything smooth.

How it works: Sixteen minutes of continuous riding at genuine all-day pace, RPE five. The coaching here is about economy: every four minutes, run a comfort check — hands (three positions, change often), feet (pressure through the whole shoe), saddle (small shifts, no suffering in silence), neck (drop an ear to each shoulder). Call the drink at minute eight. Explain that outdoors this block is two hours long, and the riders who fidget, sip and shift are the ones who finish smiling.

What to say

“All-day pace: full sentences available at all times.”
“Change your hands before they ask you to.”
“Smooth circles — a century is forty thousand pedal strokes, make each one cheap.”

Easier

One road lighter; same posture and comfort habits — the habits are the workout.

Harder

Middle four minutes at RPE six, then settle back without drama.

Workout15 min

Rolling Hills & the Feed Stop

5 × [2min climb / 1min descend]RPE 6

Setup: The road starts to roll. Moderate climbs, easy descents. Anyone with a ride snack keeps it in reach.

How it works: Five rollers: two minutes of seated climbing at RPE six, then one minute of light descent. On descent three, run the feed-stop rehearsal — outdoors you eat before you're hungry, so tonight they take a bite or an imaginary bite while pedalling easy, and you talk through why: the wall at mile seventy is built at mile thirty. Keep the climbs conversational; rolling terrain steals energy from riders who race every rise, and saying exactly that is the coaching.

Rounds: 5 rollers

What to say

“Roll the hills, don't race them — the road always rises again.”
“Eat on the descent, before the hunger, every time.”
“Same RPE up every roller — the gear changes, the effort never does.”

Easier

Climbs at 90 seconds with the same one-minute descents.

Harder

Rollers four and five with a 20-second stand over the crest.

The rest of this class plan is free — along with 3 more this week.

ClassPlans programming team

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