The Long Road

Endurance ride — long steady blocks, quiet form work, a strong mind

Indoor cycling
Mixed ability
60 min
Works for 8–25
Effort 3/5
Cycle studio
cycling
endurance
long-ride
pacing
mindset

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

Kit: Bikes, towels, two bottles if members have them. No extra kit.

Warm-up8 min

Settle In for the Distance

8 min easy building to steadyRPE 3 → 5

Setup: Members on bikes, flat light road, house lights half up for your setup walk. Two bottles within reach — you'll cue water on the hour, not on thirst.

How it works: Easy spinning while you set the contract for the ride: no sprints tonight, no summits — three long stretches of steady work, and the challenge is staying smooth when nothing exciting is happening. Teach the form scan they'll use all night, slowly, top to bottom: soft grip, low shoulders, level hips, round pedal stroke. Run the scan twice together. Then two minutes nudging up to working pace so block one starts moving, not standing.

What to say

“Tonight isn't hard the way hills are hard — it's long, and long is its own teacher.”
“Scan with me: hands soft, shoulders low, hips level, circles smooth.”
“Find a pace you could hold for an hour — we'll only ever sit just above it.”

Easier

Stay at chat pace the full eight minutes.

Harder

Final two minutes arrive at block pace exactly.

Workout12 min

Steady One — Legs Learn the Pace

12 min continuous, 3 × 4-min focus chunksRPE 5–6

Setup: Road set to a resistance they could argue with for an hour but not fight. Seated throughout.

How it works: Twelve unbroken minutes at endurance pace. Break it for them into three mental chunks of four, and give each chunk one form focus: minutes one to four, pedal circles — pushing forward over the top, scraping back through the bottom. Minutes five to eight, upper body still enough to balance a tray on the shoulders. Minutes nine to twelve, breathing in rhythm with the legs, four counts in, four out. When minds wander — and say plainly that all minds will — the form focus is the way back.

What to say

“Twelve minutes is just three fours — we only ever ride the four we're in.”
“Perfect circles: over the top, scrape the bottom, no stabbing down.”
“When your head drifts to your inbox, come back to the pedal stroke — that's the whole skill.”

Easier

One notch lighter road; stand for ten seconds at each four-minute mark to reset.

Harder

Middle four minutes one gear heavier, back down for the final four.

Workout2 min

Reset One

RPE 2

Setup: Road light, legs easy.

How it works: Two minutes easy. Water now, whether thirsty or not. Ask one question to the room and want no answer: which of the three focuses felt hardest to hold? That's the one they'll carry into Steady Two.

What to say

“Shake the hands out — grip creeps up on the patient rides too.”

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

House plan.

Free on ClassPlans — new class plans weekly.