bridging the gap between you and the startline

In short, anyone building towards one of the epic events we support, but in particular anyone new to the sport of cycling or someone that has a history of struggling to get to the startline with a sense of confidence.

We create dynamic training plans in Training Peaks, which start 20-weeks out from the real world event.

Don’t worry if you purchase a support package with less than 20-weeks to go, a dynamic plan means you can join the plan at the point it has progressed to.

It depends on the event and your fitness level, but we would suggest purchasing a package at least 12-weeks out from the real world event.

Upon purchase, you will be provided with a hyperlink that will allow you to add the event specific training plan to your Training Peaks Account.

Our approach is to work in 3-4-day cycles. This means every 3-4-days, some form of recovery day to chip away at fatigue and give you the capacity to absorb the training stimulus.

The exact specifics of the training plan depends on the event. For instance, the climbs in the Dragon Ride gran fondo are typically about 5-6km long at about 5% and there are lots of them, whereas there are far fewer climbs in L’Etape du Tour but they are much longer with the climb to La Plagne being 19km at 7%.

These two gran fondos require a pretty different approach.

This is a very hard question to answer as it really depends on the rider, their experience level, time availability etc.

However, if starting a support package 20-weeks out from the real world event, we would suggest being able to ride 3-hours non-stop would be a really great place to start. 

Obviously, if you are starting the package later than 20-weeks out, we would suggest a slightly higher fitness level than the above to pick up the plan.

Once the package has started, each weekend there are three time slots for virtual group rides over a section of the real world course.

We use BikeTerra to render the course and host the group rides.

Virtual group rides start at 9:00am with a slot available every Saturday and Sunday from the commencement of the plan.

A new course is available each month and each new course is a progression on the last. This is either in terms of distance or in the amount of elevation. The goal is for these virtual group rides to act as stepping stones to give you the confidence you can handle the course.

For instance, in our Dragon Ride package, there are 5 courses:

February – The first 42km with 552m of elevation

March – 58.5km with 964m of elevation

April – 71km with 1483m of elevation

May – 100km with 2103m of elevation

June – 119km with 2476m of elevation

It is not intended that you will join a group ride every weekend unless you would like to. We would suggest doing at least one a month to keep building confidence over the distance and course. An alternative training session will always be available on a Saturday and Sunday.

Joining the virtual group rides only requires a free BikeTerra account. 

If you would like to ride the relevant section of the course but cannot make the group ride time slots, we can make the course gpx file availble to you. However, uploading this file to BikeTerra and riding it on your own will require your own premium BikeTerra account.

Short answer – no. Only a free basic Training Peaks account is required to upload the training plan and joining group rides is free on BikeTerra.

However, if you would like advanced metrics and to be able to move your training around freely, a premium Training Peaks account might be a worthwhile investment.

Similarly, if you would like to ride any of the courses outside of the allotted group rides, you will need a paid for BikeTerra account to upload the course file.

For each support package, one of our coaches will prepare a video running through the challenges presented by the course, noting any feed stations and providing you with their suggested to approach with regards to your fuelling and nutrition.

The advice will also include how to approach fuelling and hydration in training.

One month out from the event, we will host a briefing, during which, we will run through the event course together, discecting any key sections and providing advice on how to approach the event.

This will include how to pace it and a recap of how to employ a sensible fuelling and hydration strategy.

There will also be plenty of time for Q&A to answer any event related questions you might have.

If you cannot make the event briefing, do not worry. It will be recorded and made available to you.

If you have questions you would like answered in the briefing, please send them at least 24-hours in advance to [email protected]

Firstly, if you don’t already have one, create yourself a free Training Peaks account.

Then purchase the Event Support Package for the real world event you are targeting.

In the confirmation of purchase, you will be sent a link to add the plan to your Training Peaks Profile. This will add all the training sessions to your plan.

It will then be up to you to do your best to follow the plan.

When the time comes for the first virtual group ride, make sure you have already created yourself a free BikeTerra account.

The sign up links for each virtual group ride will be made available in you Training Peaks plan and all you have to do is sign up, get your trainer etc. linked up to BikeTerra and join the ride at the correct time.

As our support packages rely heavily on virtual course rides, you will need a bluetooth enabled smart trainer/bike to really benefit from the course renderings and immerse yourself in the challenges the virtual courses present.

BikeTerra is a browser based platform, so easily runs on most devices but please do check the ‘Getting Started’ page on their website for any specific requirements.