Road Cycling from Beginner to Advanced: A Complete Guide to Training, Gear, and Long-Distance Riding

Ignore claims that a 30 km/h average is the minimum for a beginner. Average speed can be highly misleading.

There are many traffic lights in Tokyo, and no matter how hard you ride, the average speed may only be 20 km/h; on long straight flat roads like Arakawa and Edogawa, with no stoplights, a tailwind, or the benefit of drafting, ordinary enthusiasts may still reach 30+ km/h.

Therefore, rather than just looking at average speed, it is more valuable to judge based on the following comprehensive capabilities.

This refers to the actual cruising reference value when the road conditions are relatively flat and there is no strong wind. It is not the GPS average speed of the entire section including a large number of traffic lights, nor is it an official classification. It is only for practical reference.

For beginners,it is much more important to complete 50 kilometers comfortably and stably than to pursue an average speed of 30 km/h.

After choosing the wrong bicycle, there will be a big misunderstanding:

The most common misunderstanding is to attribute speed problems entirely to poor physical fitness.

Often not.

You cannot simply compare speed between a person riding a 15 kg city bike, wide tires, and an upright posture, and a person riding an 8.5 kg road bike, narrow tires, and a low wind resistance posture.

Six common types of bicycles

If the target is:

“I ride farther and farther, and I want to experience speeds of 25, 30 or even 35 km/h.”

A more suitable choice is:

Endurance Road Bike – Endurance road bike.

Instead of buying a pure competition Race/Aero road bike.

The reason is simple: Endurance road bikes usually allow the rider's body posture to be slightly straighter, putting less pressure on the waist, neck, and arms, making long-distance riding much more comfortable; in actual riding, the speed gap between it and competitive road bikes is not as exaggerated as many beginners imagine.

It is more useful to think about a first bike by price tier than by brand.

Entry level

Approximately:

About 4,400 to 8,800 Chinese yuan.

Usually already available:

An aluminum frame, carbon fork, proper road drivetrain, and disc brakes.

It is actually enough for beginners.

After riding for a year, you will often find:

The difference between a bike costing about 6,600 Chinese yuan and a bike costing about 26,000 Chinese yuan is far less than that between the former and an ordinary city bike.

The biggest leaps often occur:

city bike → Regular road bike

Instead of:

A road bike of about 13,000 Chinese yuan → A road bike of about 35,000 Chinese yuan.

Many beginners will feel:

Carbon fiber = fast.

It's actually not that simple.

Aluminum alloy road bikes may weigh 9 to 10 kg, and carbon fiber may weigh 7 to 9 kg.

For a 70 kg person, plus water and equipment:

The entire system may:

80 kg → 78 kg.

The overall weight only decreased by 2 to 3%.

Speed differences on flat roads are very limited.

The real advantages of carbon bikes are:

Weight, easier to make complex tube shapes, vibration control, stiffness-to-weight ratio, and aerodynamic integration for high-end models.

So the first bike:

There is no need to forcefully increase the budget for "carbon fiber".

Road bikes were very popular a decade ago:

23 mm.

Currently used for endurance road riding:

28 mm

Even:

30–32 mm

It has become very common.

For ordinary riders, the more suitable ones are:

28–32 mm.

Because its comfort, road holding and bad road tolerance are significantly better.

beginners don’t need to be superstitious:

"The thinner, the faster."

Real roads are not the perfect rollers in the laboratory.

For example, with a budget of about 8,800 Chinese yuan:

Bike A has good component specification, but the size is not suitable.

Bike B is slightly inferior in component specification, but the size is very suitable.

Bike B is usually a safer choice.

Because the size is incorrect, it may cause:

Knee pain, back pain, hand numbness, neck pain, butt pain, and the inability to maintain a riding position for a long time.

Bike Fit is a dynamic problem, and static body dimensions can only give a starting point. Even if you're in between frame sizes, it's possible to adjust both sizes to get the right fit.

This is where novices are most likely to make mistakes.

Many beginners will adjust their seats very low so that their feet can touch the ground.

It’s no problem to ride 10 kilometers.

My knees started to feel uncomfortable after riding for 50 kilometers.

A very simple preliminary method:

Sit on the bike.

Place your heels on the pedals.

Turn the pedal to the bottom.

At this time:

The legs should be almost straight.

After stepping back to the normal forefoot, the knees will naturally have a certain amount of bend.

Another commonly used initial calculation method is:

saddle height ≈ crotch height × 0.883

The height here is from the center of the bottom bracket to the top of the saddle. This is just a starting position and will ultimately need to be fine-tuned based on body proportions, shoes, cranks, and actual riding feel.

For example:

crotch height 80 cm:

80 × 0.883 ≈ 70.6 cm

You can start here.

The road riding position is not:

The more you lie down, the more professional you become.

A really good posture is:

Low, but relaxing.

Your body should probably feel like this:

Raise the head naturally ↓ Relax the shoulders ↓ Lean the back naturally forward ↓ Bend the elbow slightly ↓ Keep the wrist basically natural ↓ The core stabilizes the body ↓ The knees basically move forward ↓ The feet continue to draw a circle

The most typical novice mistakes are:

Shoulders hunched.

Stretch your arms straight.

Hold onto the handlebars with both hands.

The waist is completely stiff.

Every bump sends the impact through the arms and into the shoulders.

Result after riding 30 km:

Hand numbness, shoulder pain, and neck pain.

Road bikes with drop handlebars are not meant to be ridden lying down all the time.

Top handle

The most comfortable.

Suitable for:

Slow speed, climb hills, and ride easily.

However, braking control is relatively inconvenient, so it is not recommended to keep your hands too far away from the brake lever for a long time in complex traffic environments.

Hood—hand changes to head

This is the most used position for approximately 90% of daily riding.

Both:

Braking and shifting are also relatively comfortable.

Drop—The next one

The body is lower.

Air resistance is smaller.

Suitable for:

High speed, headwind, downhill, sprint.

beginners don’t need to keep trying to “look like a professional driver”.

This is a very important point in Bike Fit.

If after riding for 30 minutes:

My palms are getting more and more painful,

Even the little finger and ring finger started to feel numb,

General instructions:

This usually means that the hands are carrying too much weight.

Possible reasons include:

The handlebar distance is too long.

The handlebars are too low.

The saddle position is inappropriate.

Insufficient core strength.

Or keep supporting your body with your hands.

The correct feeling should be:

The butt, feet and core bear the weight of the body, and the hands are mainly responsible for controlling direction.

It's not like doing push-ups by holding on to the handlebars.

Just started wearing cycling shorts for long distance riding:

Tenderness in the buttocks is very common.

Especially the first 5 to 10 long distance rides.

But if:

Perineal numbness, obvious tingling, persistent numbness,

Just don’t use:

"It will get better after riding for a long time"

to explain.

This usually requires checking:

saddle height, front and rear position, angle, width and riding posture.

When the budget is limited, you can purchase in the following order.

When purchasing a helmet, at least make sure the product has passed a reliable bicycle helmet safety certification, and pay attention to impact resistance, chin strap strength, and ability to prevent falling off. When used in official competitions, the specific requirements for helmet certification must also be confirmed.

Many beginners will think when they see the saddle is so narrow:

"How can I sit here?"

The natural reaction is to buy a huge, soft saddle.

Long distances may be more uncomfortable.

Road bike seat saddles are not supported by “large-area soft saddles”.

The main support is:

Ischium.

What really helps is:

The chamois pad built into cycling shorts.

Also:

Usually don’t wear ordinary underwear under cycling shorts.

Otherwise, an extra layer of fabric will increase the long distance:

Wrinkles, friction, moisture.

Lock shoes are not suitable for use on the first day.

Learn first:

Stable starting and stopping, braking, shifting, turning, looking behind, riding with one hand, and stopping quickly in unexpected situations.

Ride:

300–1000 km

Consider clipless pedals only after those skills are solid.

The true value of sneakers is not magical:

"Pull up to increase power by 50%."

Instead:

The position of the foot is fixed, pedaling is more stable, high cadence is easier to control, and the foot is not easy to slip off the pedal when sprinting and climbing.

Cycling is not:

The harder your legs are, the faster you go.

But learn to:

Choose the appropriate gear ratio.

Common mistakes made by newbies:

Large market + small flywheel.

Then:

Click—click—click.

Press very hard.

Possible cadence:

50–60 rpm.

This is called:

Step on heavy teeth.

I feel very powerful for a short time.

Long distances can easily tire your legs.

Cadence:

Pedal rotations per minute.

For example:

90 rpm

means:

The crank rotates 90 times in one minute.

In ordinary road riding, beginners can gradually find approximately:

75–90 rpm

's comfort zone.

After training for a period of time, many riders will naturally get used to it:

About 80~95 rpm.

This is not a mandatory number.

Some people think 80 is the most comfortable.

Some people think 95 is the most comfortable.

The key point is:

Don’t pedal hard at 50 rpm for a long time, and don’t cause your butt to bounce on the saddle in pursuit of 100 rpm.

If you start feeling:

Every foot must be clearly "stepped hard",

The upper body begins to swing from side to side,

Increased knee pressure,

The cadence is getting slower and slower,

That usually means:

The gear is too heavy.

Downshift early.

Especially uphill.

Excellent riders often complete part of the shift before the hill actually begins.

beginners often:

Entering the steep slope

↓

Can’t step on it

↓

Shifting frantically under load

↓

The chain is under tremendous pressure

↓

The gearbox clicks.

When a bicycle brakes, its center of gravity moves forward.

So the front brake can usually provide very strong braking force.

But not suddenly:

Grab the front brake abruptly.

The correct way is:

Apply both brakes together and increase pressure progressively.

Body slightly backward.

Keep the bike mostly upright.

Especially in:

Sand, wetland, manhole cover, white line

Don't brake suddenly and hard.

It’s easy for novices to make corners:

Entering the corner → Found that it was too fast → Braced hard in the corner.

A better way:

Decelerate first in the straight line phase

↓

Enter the bend

↓

Looking towards the exit

↓

Maintain a stable line

↓

Press again after exiting the corner.

There is another very important tip:

If turning left:

Press the outside right foot as low as possible.

Turn right:

Press the outside left foot as low as possible.

Like this:

The center of gravity is more stable,

The inner pedal is also not easy to rub against the ground.

This is a very important technique for bicycles and motorcycles.

If there is a pit ahead:

Don't stare at that pit.

Many people are paying more attention to:

The easier it is to ride over.

At this time you should look towards:

The route to be passed next to the pit.

The same goes for high-speed turns:

Not looking at the front wheels.

Look instead:

Curve exit.

One of the biggest questions for newbies is:

First time 20 km.

The second time directly:

80 km.

Then I didn’t want to touch my bike for three days.

A better idea is:

Gradually increase.

The first phased goal can be set as:

50 km.

Second one:

100 km.

Third:

About 160 km, which is the 100-mile range of a traditional Century Ride.

After completing 50 km, you can continue to gradually expand the goal to about 100 km, and then try a long-distance challenge of about 160 km.

The following arrangements are suitable for adults who are in good health and have no exercise contraindications.

Weekly Ride:

3 times.

It can be arranged like this:

It can be noted:

It doesn’t always increase every week.

The training volume was deliberately reduced in weeks 4 and 8.

This is recovery week.

After many beginners start riding seriously for the first time:

I want to refresh the record every time.

Result:

Work hard on Monday.

Work hard on Wednesday.

Still working hard on Saturday.

It's easy to get stuck with this type of training.

Real endurance training requires a lot of:

Easy Ride / Zone 2.

How simple is it?

When actually riding:

You can talk to others continuously.

Breathing increases significantly, but does not need to be so breathless that you cannot speak complete sentences.

Approximate subjective exertion:

3–4/10.

This is how you should feel most of the time during long distance training.

Usually not because:

The heart and lungs are not enough.

It's because it started too fast.

For example, actual abilities might fit:

23 km/h cruising.

Saw other people in the first 15 km:

30 km/h.

If you can barely keep up at this time,

Feeling:

"I don't seem too tired."

20 km:

Began to pant.

30 km:

My legs started to get stiff.

40 km:

Totally powerless.

This is typical:

Pacing failed.

A very important ability in endurance riding is:

Take the initiative to hold back in the first half.

First challenge of 50 km:

You can even slow down intentionally for the first 10 kilometers.

For example, when the comfortable speed is 22 km/h:

First 10 km:

18–20.

10–30 km:

20–23.

After 30 km:

If your condition is good, then gradually improve it.

I still have energy for the last 10 kilometers:

Indicates that the rhythm is correct.

If you already want to lie down after 30 km:

The front must be too fast.

The more tests of 50 km are:

Basic physical fitness.

100 km begins the test:

Physical fitness + posture + supplies + hydration + equipment + psychology + pace.

A person with good physical fitness may be able to ride 50 kilometers hard without training.

But after 100 km:

Small problems will gradually become magnified.

For example, the saddle difference is only 5 mm.

20 km:

It doesn't matter.

80 km:

My knees started to hurt.

Many beginners fail to run 100 km for the first time, either:

The legs are not strong enough.

Instead:

Nothing to eat.

The body's glycogen stores are limited.

As riding time increases:

If you keep riding without taking in carbohydrates,

Power may drop suddenly.

A common saying in cycling circles:

Bonk – hit the wall.

It usually feels like:

Sudden weakness, empty legs, slow brain, worsening mood, and sharp decrease in speed.

A very practical principle:

<60 minutes

Usually a normal meal + water is enough.

1–2 hours

You can start to add some carbohydrates.

More than 2 hours

There should be a plan to replenish supplies.

A practical endurance-sport guideline is:

1–2.5 hours: approximately 30–60 g carbohydrate/hour.

Ultra-endurance activity over approximately 2.5–3 hours:

A well-trained athlete can improve to:

Maximum approx. 90 g/h.

But beginners must not suddenly eat 90 g/h for the first time on a long ride.

The stomach also needs training.

Give an easy-to-understand example.

A banana:

About 20 to 25 g of carbohydrates.

An energy gel:

Many products are about 20 to 30 g.

A rice ball:

About 35-45 g, depending on the size and fillings.

So long riding does not mean at all:

Must eat energy gels like crazy.

Normal food will do just as well.

For example:

Rice balls, bananas, yokan, bread, sports drinks.

The biggest advantage of energy gel is:

Light, small, and easy to eat.

Sports gel is just a convenient tool to replenish carbohydrates before or during exercise, but it is not the only option.

The correct logic for long distance should be:

Eat before hunger strikes.

For example:

Eat small amounts every 30 minutes.

Much better than:

Two and a half hours of riding

↓

Suddenly hungry

↓

Eat three rice balls in one sitting.

Don’t make a completely fixed:

"You must drink 1 liter every hour"

Standard.

Because:

10℃ and 35℃ are completely different.

Body size, sweat volume, and humidity also vary.

Ordinary casual riders can use thirst as an important reference; high-level endurance athletes often measure personal sweat rates to establish a more accurate rehydration plan. Drinking according to thirst is a sound strategy for most recreational riders.

Be careful when traveling long distances in hot weather:

Water, electrolytes, and carbohydrates may all become important.

This is an obvious stage change.

beginner:

20 → 30 → 50 → 80 → 100 km.

It feels like a great achievement.

But after 100 km:

If the target is:

Get faster

Continuing to ride 150 or 200 kilometers every day is not necessarily the most effective training.

At this time, you need to start targeted training:

Endurance, threshold, VO₂max, sprint, climb and recovery.

Assume riding 4 times a week.

The key point is:

Not every day is tiring.

Really well-trained riders usually attach great importance to:

Hard day is really Hard.

Easy day is really Easy.

In general:

Ride to about:

500–1500 km

Or have started training regularly every week,

A heart rate monitor makes more sense.

Because you can observe at this time:

Whether the heart rate decreases at the same speed.

Whether the speed increases at the same heart rate.

Whether the heart rate gradually increases during long distances.

Did you ride too fast on the recovery day?

At a more advanced stage:

Speed starts to make less and less sense.

Why?

The same person outputs:

200 W.

No wind:

Maybe 30 km/h.

Headwind:

Probably 24.

Tailwind:

Probably 38.

So what training really cares about is:

Watts - Watts.

The power meter will directly display:

How much work the rider is currently doing on the bike.

After entering system training, you will often see:

FTP—Functional Threshold Power.

Can be roughly understood as:

A training indicator used to approximate how much high-intensity stable power a rider can maintain over a longer period of time.

For example:

FTP = 250 W.

Many subsequent trainings can be formulated according to the FTP ratio.

For example:

Easy recovery.

Endurance.

Tempo.

Threshold.

VO₂max.

Systematic training usually uses both heart rate zones and power zones to arrange courses, and time trial warm-ups often use FTP and maximum aerobic power to design different power stages.

Hypothesis:

A:

300 W,100 kg.

B:

250 W,60 kg.

Flat road air resistance is important, so a 300 W A can be very fast.

But when climbing:

Weight is extremely important to begin with.

So:

A:

3.0 W/kg.

B:

4.17 W/kg.

B could become a significantly stronger climber.

So:

It is very important to look at absolute power on flat roads; on long slopes it is increasingly necessary to pay attention to W/kg.

Because air resistance does not increase linearly.

This is also the most interesting part of road riding.

From:

15 → 20 km/h

It's not difficult.

20 → 25

Training is required to begin.

25 → 30

Obviously more difficult.

30 → 35

Very difficult.

35 → 40

Has entered into quite strong riding ability.

One of the reasons is:

Aerodynamic drag increases dramatically as speed increases.

So we have reached the advanced stage:

Body posture may be more worthy of study than losing 500 g of vehicle weight.

Because:

The person himself is one of the largest sources of windward area for the entire bicycle.

So I started researching:

Handlebar width.

Arm position.

The position of the head.

Clothes.

Helmet.

Frame tube type.

Rim height.

But there is a premise:

The rider must be able to maintain this position stably.

A very aerodynamic position if:

Back pain after 10 minutes,

Then I could only stand upright and ride for the remaining three hours,

That makes no sense.

The biggest mistake beginners make when climbing:

See Poe.

Stand up and fight immediately.

Heart rate skyrocketed.

It explodes in 2 minutes.

A smarter way:

Downshift early.

Maintain a relatively stable cadence.

Mainly climb hills while sitting.

Stand up occasionally depending on the slope.

The most important thing about a really long slope is:

Control power, not chase others.

If it’s a 30-minute slope:

Feelings in the first 5 minutes:

"It's so easy."

Often just right.

If you felt like 3 minutes ago:

"The status is explosive today!"

You will usually regret it 20 minutes later.

After standing up:

Can obtain more power in a short time.

Also:

Change muscle use patterns.

It also briefly relieves pressure on the sit bones.

But usually the price is:

Greater energy consumption.

So long slopes are generally:

Mainly sitting position.

Standing as:

Tools for steep slopes, attacks, acceleration, muscle stress relief.

The climb is slow and the worst thing to do is stop.

Downhill:

40、50、60 km/h

In the future, the consequences of small mistakes will increase significantly.

The most important thing for newbies is:

Don’t push yourself beyond your skills just to keep up with someone else’s downhill speed.

The correct logic should be:

Straight-line deceleration.

Look far away.

Determine speed before bending.

Stable in corners.

Accelerate after exiting the corner.

Especially wetlands:

Significantly slower.

A very obvious difference often appears in group riding.

When riding alone:

28 km/h already feels very tiring.

Following a well-riding group:

30–32 km/h

On the contrary, it feels okay.

The reason is:

Drafting—riding in another cyclist's slipstream.

The rider in front shields following riders from much of the aerodynamic drag.

This is also why professional road racing:

More than 100 people rode together.

But group riding is also an advanced skill.

Because the distance between the front and back may be very close.

Before joining a group ride, you must be able to complete at least the following:

50 km independent ride.

Must also have these abilities:

Hold a steady line, reach for a bottle with one hand, turn your head to look behind you, control speed, brake gradually, avoid sudden lateral movements when avoiding obstacles, and understand basic gestures.

The most dangerous thing in a group is often not:

People with poor physical fitness.

Instead:

People whose lines are unpredictable.

Required.

But the goal is not to make your legs look like a bodybuilder's.

Instead improve:

Maximum strength, core stability, posture maintenance, and a certain degree of injury resistance.

Practical actions include:

Squats, deadlifts or hip hinge movements, split squats, glute bridges, heel raises, rows, and a variety of core stability exercises.

Regular resistance training is an important foundation for improving physical ability, and there is no need to design training that is too complicated.

This is where many beginners are most likely to burn money.

After you already have a regular road bike of suitable size, the upgrade order can be prioritized:

Rider → Posture → Tires → Clothing → Wheels → Bike.

Instead of:

Bike → More expensive bike → More expensive bike.

The reason is simple.

FTP 150 W for a newbie.

One rides a bike costing about 35,000 Chinese yuan.

A well-trained rider FTP 280 W.

The other rides a bike costing about 6,600 Chinese yuan.

The latter will most likely leave easily.

From actual experience, it can be sorted as follows:

Don’t just look at:

What is the average speed today?

A better approach is to record the same route.

For example:

50 km.

First time:

2 hours and 45 minutes.

Average heart rate 155.

I feel completely exhausted after riding.

Three months later:

2 hours and 20 minutes.

Average heart rate 145.

You can still move around normally after riding.

This is truly huge progress.

Even if:

The speed is the same,

But heart rate:

150 → 135.

It is also a very obvious improvement.

What the beginner wants is:

beginners often only want to refresh the speed of the day.

An experienced rider asks:

What is the purpose of today’s training?

If today is Z2:

Someone passed by.

Don’t chase.

If you do threshold today:

Ride at your training power.

If restored today:

It’s really slow to ride.

If there is an important long ride on Saturday:

Don’t prove yourself on Friday.

This is from:

"Cycling"

Advanced to:

"Training Ride".

When ordinary adults start from scratch, they can set goals like this:

Of course, the specific time will vary greatly depending on age, weight, original sports foundation and weekly training volume, but the order of progression will basically not change.

If the ultimate goal is:

Ride fast and far.

The importance of each factor can be roughly understood as:

Bicycle fit × aerobic basics × pace × supplies × riding posture × technique × continuous training

Instead of:

Bicycle Prices.

So for a complete beginner, there is no need to think about 40 km/h, carbon wheels, electronic shifting, or power meter in the first stage.

First to reach:

20 km comfortable → 50 km comfortable → 100 km completed → 100 km comfortable.

These four stages.

Being able to ride alone on a flat road for 100 km, and still maintain normal movements and supplies for the last 20 km without obvious pain or complete explosion, you are basically out of the novice stage of cycling.

Then the second phase is really interesting:

For the same 100 km, how can the average speed be increased from 22 to 25, and then from 25 to 28–30 km/h.

This is when you start to studyFTP, Zone 2, VO₂max, tire pressure, pedals, power meters, aerodynamics and Bike Fit, and the benefits really show up.