As we look ahead to the new year, it’s time to start picking goals for the 2025 cycling season. Maybe this is the year you ride your first century, hop into that local cyclocross series, sign up for a huge gravel event like Big Sugar, or decide that you’re going to do that mountain bike stage race you’ve been eyeing up for years. Whatever your goal for 2025, your training plan—or planning for that training—should start now.
Here, we’re breaking down how to structure your annual cycling training plan to help get you race ready all year, so you show up on the start line feeling fit and motivated.
How to Create Your Annual Cycling Training Plan
Identify Your Goal
First, you need to decide how you want to structure your racing season. There are two ways you can look at racing as a cyclist, explain Training Peaks coach Matti Rowe and educator Cody Stephenson.
There’s the A race model: You have a singular focus for the season and plan to peak for that specific race day. Think Unbound or Leadville 100—races that are long, hard, and require big time and money commitments to make it to the start line healthy and ready to race. If you have a race like that on your calendar, you may sprinkle in some smaller “tune-up” races, but you won’t plan to peak or do a full taper ahead of any race other than your A race.
Then there’s the option to plan a full season of racing, whether it’s a local cyclocross, criterium series, or a bunch of gravel events you’re excited about. In this case, your schedule will look a little different, says Stephenson. Rather than planning for one big result and peaking for that one day, your goal will be to stay at a high level of fitness for the full season—which is do-able, but it’s important to note that no one race will be your absolute best.
Choose Your Goal Race(s) Wisely
“If everything is important, nothing is important,” says Rowe. “That’s something we really believe. We want athletes to make sure they’re picking goals that they’re excited about, and that they can actually be ready for.”
Rowe says that in his coaching, he often hears from cyclists who have too many big goals, or who pick a big cycling goal that butts up against a major life or work event. (The number of cyclists who want to race Unbound a week after giving a major work presentation or being on vacation with their families is surprising.)
When you plan your goal race, especially if you’re only planning on having one major A race this season, make sure you’re not just looking at your training calendar, but you’re also checking in with work and family commitments. Ideally, your goal race will happen at a time where you won’t be feeling work or life stress.
Add Some B and C Races or Events
Most cyclists who are balancing careers, family, and racing can really only focus on a singular race in any given year. But you can still add in some low-key races, known as B and C goal races, to help you practice racing tactics, build skill, and simply enjoy being part of the cycling community. It’s great to have a couple weekends of racing in before your goal race, as long as they don’t cause a lot of stress. You won’t prepare for them to the same degree you’re preparing for your big race, but you will get the chance to race hard on those days.
Your B races are the ones that don’t matter as much as your A goal but will still require a bit of preparation and perhaps a couple of extra rest days around them. This is a great way to add in smaller local events to your schedule, says Rowe. “These races might still be important to you, but you’re not necessarily going to adjust your training or preparation that much,” he adds. “You’re really using them as part of a strategy to get fast for your A race.”
And C goals are even less prep work, he says. Even trying to win your local group ride can count as C events: You won’t change up your training at all, but you’ll be doing a harder-than-usual effort in that race or ride.
These races should be under two-thirds of the distance of your goal race if your A race is an endurance event, like a Fondo or gravel race, though if you’re racing crits or cyclocross, your races will all be roughly the same duration, you’ll just prepare less for your B and C races.
Plan Your Year on the Macro Level
Once you know when your A race is, you can start to plan backward from race day to the present day to see how you’ll prepare. “You may think that if your goal race is in August, you have tons of time left to train before the race if you’re starting to plan your calendar in November,” says cycling coach Peter Glassford. But if you execute full-length base, build, and race phases, you’re looking at eight to nine months of prep work.
Additionally, because many cyclists live in climates where outdoor training time is limited in winter months, there are less outdoor riding days available before your goal race than you might assume.
That’s why it’s important to start planning your training blocks as soon as possible—ideally at least eight months out from your goal event. These blocks fit into the calendar so that you’re showing up to race day fully prepared and ready to PR.
How to Structure Your Training Season and Off-Season
There are four phases of training, also known as training blocks, that cyclists will typically do. This can be helpful if you’re trying to build a plan for yourself for next season, if you’re shopping for a pre-built training plan, or even as you’re consulting with a coach to figure out the best way to organize your race calendar.
Phases of Training
Base Phase
→6-8 months out from goal event, lasts for 2-4 months
“This phase is also called ‘general preparation’ and ‘accumulation phase,’ both of which describe that we accumulate fitness and increase the training load,” explains Glassford.
During your base building, you can add in cross-training and build strength in the gym. You still will be riding, but in a more unstructured way, as this phase often happens in the fall and winter months so it can include a lot of indoor cycling time. This phase also is a good time to refine fueling, mental, technical, and tactical skills, Glassford adds.
This tends to work out well for riders who can’t necessarily train outdoors year-round, as it allows for cross-training. Some riders opt to cross-country ski or run during the winter to build that base of cardio fitness, while others stick to using the indoor trainer. Many prefer a hybrid approach—skiing or running some days and riding indoors on others. And during the base phase, mixing things up is a positive!
Build/Specific Phase
→4-5 months out from goal event, lasts for 2-3 months
Now it’s time to get down to business—and you’ll spend the bulk of your time ahead of your race in this phase. “The build phase can also be called the ‘specific’ phase because it is when the intensity becomes more specific and the modes of training become more specific,” says Glassford. “Mountain bikers should mountain bike, those that race in a group should aim to find hard group rides, or practice races to refine their skills in a ‘race-like’ environment. Here, you start to bring new skills and abilities to the race environment.”
For many athletes, the big difference between this and base phase is that they can ride outside because it is spring or summer, so it's easier to get out and work on those skills.
Competition Phase
→1-2 months out from goal event and/or through your race season, lasts 1-3 months depending on how many races you have on the calendar
Competition phase may be building up to a single race on your calendar, or could encompass a three-month block of racing, depending on your goals. Here, we’re assuming that you have one A race, like the Unbound 200 gravel race, but your B and C races—like that local 60-mile gravel race and the weekly cyclocross series—will also be happening during this phase.
“Closer to race season, riders reduce overall volume while keeping intensity to sharpen for race day,” says Glassford. Most of your hard work has been banked during the build phase, now it’s time to reap the benefits.
Non-race weeks will have that slightly lower volume with some high-intensity, and the week ahead of your A race will typically include a taper period, where your volume and intensity both drop so that you’re fully rested on race day.
But it’s not just about hitting your fitness peak. The extra time you have during a taper should be used to get to the start line feeling completely recovered and ready to go. “Athletes will aim to peak during this period,” says Glassford. “But I tend to focus more on getting my athletes to arrive at the start line motivated, healthy, and on-time. In this phase, we are executing the mental, fueling, technical, and tactical skills, and avoiding adding new practices to training or race day.”
Rest/Recovery Phase (a.k.a Off-Season)
→Lasts roughly 1 month following your goal race, but depends on fatigue levels
Also known as the off-season, your rest and recovery phase come after you’re done with the season of competition.
Some riders—especially pros who’ve competed in the WorldTour circuit or something like the Lifetime Grand Prix—will need a few weeks entirely off the bike, to fully rest and recover. For most non-professionals, a week or two off after a major race is more than enough to physically recover (and maybe catch up on some of that life stuff that you ignored while you were getting race-ready).
After that, you may want to stay in your off-season for a few more weeks if you mentally need a break from following a strict schedule, but you should stay active, says Glassford.
Most recreational amateurs don’t need a long break from the bike (unless you feel like you need it or want it!), and taking a month away from all activity can drop your fitness in a way that isn’t helpful for next season. Use this time for any fun cross-training you’ve been missing, like hiking or paddleboarding, and feel free to get out on the bike in a more unstructured way.
The recovery phase a great chance to do those coffee shop rides with your slower friends or get out on the mountain bike if you’ve been focused on gravel racing all season. Enjoy this time—and get ready to ease back into the base phase once you’ve picked your next goal!
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.
