Road bike training: The TOUR special for your pre-season preparation

Robert Kühnen

· 18.03.2023

Road bike training: The TOUR special for your pre-season preparation

Photo: Skyshot/Greber

The TOUR planner for road bike training provides the decisive impetus for every goal and every requirement to prepare perfectly for long tours, mountain marathons, everyman races and adventure rides.

The pandemic is over. 2023 is shaping up to be a normal sporting year. This means that there will be plenty of destinations to let off steam, push personal boundaries, meet like-minded people, suffer, indulge and celebrate together.

Our advice: Decide on an exciting goal early on and go for it. How? We have plenty of tips for you.

Tips for road bike training

Start with our test - it will tell you what type of exerciser you are. Do you like things to be tightly structured and do you take a long-term approach to your goals? Or are you more the spontaneous type, for whom freedom on the bike is more important than structure? No matter what makes you tick when it comes to training, we definitely have tips for you on how to get yourself going.

Our plans have a modular structure. From "training light", which only provides a loose structure, to a fully synchronised annual plan with training camps and race plans for various goals, anything is possible in principle. You can string the modules together as you wish. You can plan a whole year strictly or follow a loose structure.

Our experience is that fun and training are not mutually exclusive with the right programme, but go hand in hand. You don't have to slavishly follow a plan year in, year out in order to cycle successfully. But when it comes down to it, it helps to stay on course for a while beforehand.

Have fun and success with your 2023 season goals!

Road bike training: TOUR special for your pre-season preparation

Test: What type of athlete am I?

>> Are you just riding, or are you already training? When do you start planned training? And are you the type for it? What is the difference between cycling on a whim and targeted training? Who really needs training? And is it fun?

Photo: Skyshot/GreberFinally beat a cycling buddy in a sprint? When you start setting goals, you start training

Road bike training - "Training light"

>> If you want to improve on the bike without following a detailed training plan, you've come to the right place. The best tips for "training light".

Photo: Skyshot/GreberMore fun through better performance: if you follow a few rules of thumb, you can improve quickly - even without a sophisticated training plan

FAQ about road bike training

You can make road bike training complicated - but you don't have to. >> The twelve most important questions about road bike training - and twelve answers

Photo: Skyshot/Greber12 questions and 12 answers

Operation Ötztaler

>> In our training series we accompany a TOUR reader on his way to the Ötztaler Cycle Marathon. Part 1: Status quo and performance diagnosis

Photo: Ötztal Tourismus/SkarwanOperation Ötztal Cycle Marathon

Annual planning and training zones

>> How to prepare for your seasonal goals and organise your year correctly. Also: How to define the load zones and what individual training intervals mean.

The beginning for big goals is long. It's worth defining the rough framework early on and planning special phases such as training camps early on

Photo: Jan GreuneThe beginning for big goals is long. It's worth defining the rough framework early on and planning special phases such as training camps early on