WHO THIS IS FOR
IS THIS YOU?
The rider who skips winter training
You take three months off and come back in spring, then wonder why your first intervals feel terrible.
The rider who jumps straight into intervals
You start the season in January with hard sessions and plateau by April. Base is the missing piece.
THE ROADMAN VIEW
The Roadman view
The base phase has a PR problem. It feels like nothing is happening. You're riding slow, your Strava looks boring, and your mates on Zwift are doing VO2max sessions. But the base is where the real infrastructure gets built. When Anthony sat down with Stephen Seiler, the message was direct: the mitochondrial adaptations that make zone 2 so valuable take weeks to accumulate. You can't rush them with intensity.
What most amateurs do wrong in base is simple: they ride it too hard. They treat zone 2 as 'easy for a cyclist', which ends up being zone 3, which produces a moderate stimulus with significant fatigue cost. That's the grey zone in disguise. True base riding should feel almost embarrassingly easy — conversation pace, nose breathing, a speed that makes you wonder if you're wasting time. You're not.
Do the base properly and your build phase feels categorically different. The intervals hit harder, recovery happens faster, and the peak comes out higher. The whole season is built on this foundation. Rushing it to get to the 'good stuff' is one of the most reliable ways to have an ordinary year.
EXPERT EVIDENCE
WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY
- Professor Stephen SeilerExercise physiologist, University of Agder
Zone 2 base work builds the mitochondrial density and fat oxidation capacity that sustains high-intensity efforts later in the season. These adaptations are specific to genuinely low-intensity work and cannot be replicated by shortcutting to harder training.
Hear it: Secret To Cycling Fast At A Low Heart Rate | Prof Seiler - Joe FrielAuthor of The Cyclist's Training Bible; co-founder of TrainingPeaks
The base period isn't just about aerobic fitness — it's about preparing the entire system, including muscles, tendons, and connective tissue, for the stress of a build phase. Rushing the base increases injury risk in the build as much as it limits performance.
Hear it: Joe Friel's Cycling Training Plan Structure | Roadman Cycling
PRACTICAL APPLICATION
DO THIS WEEK
Set your zone 2 ceiling honestly
Zone 2 is roughly 56–75% of FTP, or under your first ventilatory threshold. Use the lower half of that band. If your 'easy' rides sit in zone 3, pull them down until the pace feels almost too slow.
Make rides long enough to matter
Base adaptations are duration-driven. Aim for at least one ride per week of 90 minutes or longer. A 45-minute zone 2 ride is better than nothing, but the aerobic stimulus becomes meaningful above 60–90 minutes.
Stay in base for 12–16 weeks before introducing build intensity
Resist the urge to add threshold sessions at week six. The full base period exists for a reason. One targeted hard session per week within the base phase is fine — but don't let it become two or three.
COMMON MISTAKES
WHAT CYCLISTS GET WRONG
MISTAKERiding base too hard because slow feels unproductive.
FIXTrue base work is genuinely easy. Trust the process — the effort is cellular, not cardiovascular.
MISTAKECutting the base phase to eight weeks to get to intervals sooner.
FIXThe base isn't preparation for training — it's training. Give it the full 12–16 weeks.
MISTAKETreating one or two long rides a week as sufficient base volume.
FIXBase volume should fill the majority of your weekly hours across all sessions, not just weekend rides.
FAQ
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
What heart rate should base training be?
Can I do base training indoors?
Will base training make me lose fitness?
Is base training just zone 2?
How do I know if I've built enough base?
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