Training

An aero position on a road bike means making yourself smaller to the wind by adjusting your elbows, shoulders, torso and head. Done well, it can help you ride faster without buying new equipment, or hold the same speed while using less energy.

Winter has a habit of turning a planned recovery week into three weeks of “I’ll get back on the bike tomorrow”. Poor weather, shorter daylight hours and a dip in motivation can all make consistent riding more difficult, which is where detraining starts to creep in. The good news is that fitness doesn’t disappear all at once, and maintaining it requires much less work than building it in the first place. Understand what fades first and you can cut your winter training substantially without giving away months of hard-earned fitness.

I trip over the rowing machine in my office just about every day. At the moment, it's sporting a backpack, hoodie and my distressed burgundy baseball cap. It requires no setup – just have a seat, grab the handle, and it's go time. Somehow, I still tend to favour my indoor trainer, even though it takes a bit longer to get ready to ride.

Watts tell you how much power you are producing on the bike at that moment. Push harder on the pedals, turn them faster or do both and the number rises. Speed changes with the gradient, wind and road surface, but power shows what you are putting through the pedals regardless of how quickly the bike is moving.

The bike is one of the most common cross-training tools for runners, particularly for those recovering from injuries or trying to manage impact and load in the lead-up to an event, but does cycling really help with running fitness? Well, the answer is more complex than a simple yes or no.

You can be fit enough to ride hard for hours and still ruin the day with a fuelling plan your stomach won't tolerate. That is where gut training comes in. It's not about forcing down the biggest carbohydrate number you can find online, but gradually teaching your stomach to handle the fuel you need.

You've put in the hard miles, banked the training and race day is nearly here. Now comes the bit that can mess with your head: backing off. Tapering in cycling means reducing your training load before an important race or event so accumulated fatigue can fade without giving up the fitness you've worked for. Done well, it means riding less while keeping enough intensity in your legs to feel ready when it counts. Here's how to get those final days right, including how much to ride, when to rest and what a practical cycling taper week can look like.

The bike is useful for runners when it has a job. It can add aerobic work without another set of foot strikes, keep a disrupted week moving, or rest your legs from the pavement. It shouldn't become a second programme piled on top of a full running week.

Cycling cadence is how fast you pedal, measured in revolutions per minute (RPM). It's a highly individual metric that shifts with the rider, the terrain and the intensity of the effort – which is why there's no single ideal number to chase. This guide explains what cadence is, what counts as a good cadence for cycling and how to find the RPM range that suits you, with a cadence chart for every riding situation plus drills you can do on your smart trainer.