The Threshold Hour

Twenty minutes of truth on the bike — a proper test, properly warmed up, that gives every rider a number to train with

Indoor cycling
Experienced riders
60 min
Works for 8–24 bikes
1 instructor
Effort 5/5
Cycle studio, cool and well ventilated
threshold
test
cycling
advanced
benchmark

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

Kit: A bike per rider — power meters or resistance dials members already know are ideal, but the plan runs on RPE alone. Towels and two bottles each, non-negotiable. A board or sheet for recording numbers.

Warm-up10 min

Calibrate

4min build + 3 × [45s raise / 60s easy] + 2min settleBuilds to RPE 6, raises touch 7–8

Setup: This class is advertised as a test and coached as one — nobody wanders in expecting a rhythm ride. Screen at the door: anyone feeling unwell, chesty, dizzy or running on three hours of sleep rides tonight at seven-out-of-ten and tests another week — say it plainly, a test on a bad day produces a bad number and a worse story. First-timers to testing get the golden sentence early: the test is 20 minutes at the hardest pace you can hold EVENLY — not the hardest you can start. Fans on, room cool, bottles full before anyone clips in.

How it works: Ten minutes structured: four minutes easy building to a flat-road push, then three 45-second raises — the first at test-guess effort, the second slightly above, the third back at test-guess — with a minute easy between. The raises teach each rider what their target actually feels like while fresh. Final two minutes easy, breathing long, resistance set exactly where the test will begin. Riders with power write their guess number on the board; riders without write an RPE word.

What to say

“Tonight has one job: an even twenty minutes — burn that word in now. Even.”
“These raises are the taste test — memorise the effort, you'll order it again in ten minutes.”
“Anyone whose body says not today — that's a seven-out-of-ten night and full credit for showing up.”
“Set your fan, your towel, your bottles now — the test pauses for nothing.”

Easier

Riders sitting the test out warm up identically — they ride the whole hour at their own steady seven.

Harder

None — nobody spends anything extra before a test.

Workout8 min

Primers

2 × [90s at test effort / 2min easy]RPE 7 in primers, then quiet

Setup: The last block before the test, and its whole shape gets drawn out loud now: two short primer efforts, five minutes of quiet, then the twenty. Show the hour on your fingers if there's no board — riders pace better when they can see the architecture.

How it works: Two priming efforts of 90 seconds at intended test effort with two minutes very easy after each — enough to open the legs and sharpen the target, far too short to spend anything that matters. Between them, run the pacing briefing: quarter one of the test should feel suspiciously manageable, quarter two settled, quarter three is where the bargaining starts, quarter four is emptying the tank by degrees. Last 90 seconds before the test: silence from you except the countdown, resistance pre-set, one long drink.

What to say

“Ninety seconds at test pace — no more. If it feels easy, you've got it exactly right.”
“Quarter one will whisper that you're better than your number — do not listen until quarter four.”
“Settle your gear now — the first minute of the test is for rhythm, not decisions.”
“Long drink, long exhale — we start on the next beep and I'll do the counting all the way.”

Easier

One primer instead of two; the non-testers keep rolling steady and skip primers entirely.

Harder

None exists — priming harder is called sabotage.

Workout25 min

The Twenty

2min settle + 20min test + 3min landRPE 8.5–9 held even; never a sprint until the final minute

Setup: Two minutes of settling, twenty of testing, three of landing — that is this block's whole anatomy. Your coaching job inverts for the duration: no motivational theatre, no whooping, just time checks, quarter calls and quiet individual words. Riders on power hold their target watts; riders on feel hold the effort the primers taught them. The out clause stated once before the start: chest pain, dizziness, or anything beyond honest hard means sit up, spin easy, and we get a number another day — a DNF on a test costs nothing.

How it works: Count them in, then run it like an air-traffic controller. Minutes 0–2 of the test: repeat 'settle, rhythm, even' and physically walk the row once. Quarter calls at 5, 10 and 15 minutes with one pacing sentence each — quarter two: 'hold, don't help yourself to more'; halfway: 'this is the pace, prove it twice more'; quarter four: 'now spend it, one percent per minute'. Final two minutes: permission to empty, still seated unless standing is genuinely faster for them. On the beep: resistance off by half immediately, three minutes of rolling while you read the room for anyone grey around the edges. Numbers or RPE words onto the board while they roll.

What to say

“Even. If minute three feels heroic, you're stealing from minute seventeen.”
“Halfway — the number you're holding right now is the number you came for. Keep its company.”
“Last five: one notch per minute, not one leap — degrees, not drama.”
“Anything sharp, dizzy or wrong — sit up, spin light, hand up for me. That's strength, not surrender.”

Easier

The seven-out-of-ten riders roll the full twenty steady alongside — same music, same quarter calls, no test pressure.

Harder

There is no harder — there is only more even. The improvement lives in the pacing, not the suffering.

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

ClassPlans programming team

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