Your 8-Week Plan to Riding Your First 50-Miler

If you want to truly commit to cycling this year, a training plan offers the structure you need to do it. And for newer riders, a great goal to put on the calendar is completing a 50-mile ride. It’s long enough to be intimidating and feel like a big accomplishment—but it’s not so long that it requires a huge amount of training (or having a support crew in place).

Here, Ryan Kohler, head coach from Fast Talk Labs, shares a simple training plan, as well as his best advice for approaching your biggest ride to date.

Why do a 50-miler?

You may be thinking about tackling a century, but riding a century for a new cyclist is akin to a new runner committing to a marathon training plan, instead of trying a couch-to-5K plan first.

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A 50-miler is a great starting point for newer riders: It can be done in a few hours rather than over an entire day, and for many people living in the U.S., you can likely ride 50 miles outdoors most of the year. A century in 20-degree temps is a massive undertaking, but 50 miles is much more do-able if you bundle up right.

It’s also (obviously) easier to build up to a 50-miler than a 100-miler, which makes it a great starter goal with not-quite-instant, but at least semi-speedy results.

So, for those of you reading this as way to jumpstart your year of goals, 50 miles could be accomplished in Q1, rather than waiting for May to roll around to be ready for your century. Besides—this goal leads neatly into building for that century ride, so consider this your precursor to a 100-mile training plan.

How much do you need to ride per week to build up to 50 miles?

Great news, says Kohler: Assuming you already know how to ride a bike and have done some amount of riding in the past, you can prep for a 50-miler with three to four hours of riding a week, done in as few as two rides. Of course, a bit more is better, but just making time for two rides each week will be enough to get you to your goal.

Here’s a simple training plan to get you going:

You’ll see many optional rides on the calendar—aim to do at least one of them per week and more if you can.

For long and easy rides, your goal should be to ride at conversational pace. That means you’re able to speak in complete sentences most of the time. (It’s okay if you’re huffing and puffing a little on hills, but even when you hit those climbs, try to keep your effort as steady as possible.) If you’re riding solo, consider chatting out loud on occasion, just to make sure you’re still in that endurance zone. This will be your pace to make it through your 50-mile ride!

Every easy ride should last anywhere from 10 to 60 minutes (remember: something is better than nothing!) The optional rides on Sundays should also be at least 2/3 the distance and time of Saturday’s ride—shorter is also fine!

Your interval workout options include:

1. 20-min warmup; 30 sec hard, 30 sec easy at 75-90 rpm, repeat for 20 total rounds; 20-min cooldown
2. 20-min warmup; 2 min hard, 2 min easy at 75-90 rpm, repeat for 5 total rounds; 20-min cooldown
3. 20-min warmup; 1 min hard at 50-60 rpm, 1 min easy at 90-100 rpm, repeat for 10 total rounds; 20-min cooldown

Don’t just stick to just one of these workouts—alternate between the three. They each include a similar amount of work, so don’t assume one is easier than the other! As for the cadence, go for the rpm that feels more comfortable within the given range.

Week 4 and week 8 on your training plan are designed to be more recovery weeks, that’s why you’ll see a drop in time and intensity. For the moderate-intensity rides during these weeks, ride easy for the bulk of the ride and add a couple of short, hard 30-second efforts at the end. Use these recovery weeks as time to prep for more intensity in the following weeks and for the big 50-miler day!

If you want to be more dialed in to your training, it’s smart to train to your heart rate zones. Your intervals should be in zone 5 for the 30-second efforts and zone 4 for efforts over 30 seconds, while endurance rides should be in zone 2 and easy rides can be between zone 1 and zone 2.

If you want something more specific, or more time to prepare, Kohler has a 14-week plan for beginner cyclists to get you started. If you’re looking for a training plan that simply gets you started with more consistent cycling, check out our six-week beginner plan.

How to Make Training More Effective

Prioritize consistency over big volume

A few shorter rides per week (even as little as 10 minutes!) are better than one monster ride on the weekend, because that longer effort will likely leave you feeling sore and tired, says Kohler. Especially when you’re first getting started, shorter but more frequent rides should take priority.

Get outside

You may be doing most of your rides on an indoor trainer, but if you want to ride your 50-miler outdoors, make sure at least one ride per week gets you outside. You’ll need that time on the roads to practice your cornering, starting, stopping, shifting and of course, clothing choice. Otherwise, warns Kohler, your big day may not go smoothly.

Build in other movement

You may notice that in our training plan, we’ve listed strength training as optional additions on days you’re not on the bike. Strength and mobility will help speed up your progression on the bike, says Kohler, as well as protect you against injury and making you a more athletic person overall. You can also add in walks on easy ride days.

Any kind of cardio, whether it’s time on the trainer or a long walk or a short jog, is going to build your engine—so when possible, commit to doing some kind of movement every day.

Set yourself up for success

As we mentioned, consistency is key—that’s why Kohler is a fan of setting yourself up for easy, fast success. If you have your bike on an indoor trainer, have it set up so it’s easy to hop on and pedal, even if it’s just for a few minutes between work calls. Every little bit counts, not just for fitness, but for building the habit of riding regularly.

Use long rides to dial in nutrition

Riding 50 miles is going to require fueling, so make sure you’re practicing your food and hydration plan on your long rides, says Kohler. Even if you’re on the trainer for your two-hour ride on a weekend, wear a jersey so you can practice reaching for your snacks, and keep your water bottle in the holder on the bike rather than on a handy table so you get used to taking it in and out of the cage.

This is also a great time to test exactly what sits best in your gut while you pedal, both in terms of the actual food or drink mix you’re using and the amount that you need. Generally, aim to drink a bottle per hour and consume between 50 and 90 grams of carbohydrates or around 200 to 400 calories, per hour.

Expect to hit roadblocks

Even pros have tough moments in training, so don’t be surprised if there’s a week where everything feels like it’s falling apart. “You’ll run into hurdles along the way, but you can definitely accomplish this ride,” says Kohler. Sometimes, training gets skipped because of a family emergency, or a roadside unfixable flat stalls your long weekend ride. Don’t panic, just try again tomorrow.

What to Know for Your 50-Mile Race Day

Plan your route ahead of time

Map out your route ahead of time using a mapping service like Strava or Google Maps. You can also check with local cycling clubs to see if they have route suggestions that are around 50 miles. Check the elevation profile, as well as the distance, so you know just how much up-and-down you’ll have to contend with.

You should also check what amenities are available on the route: Is there a place to fill bottles, use a bathroom or just get warm? If you’re nervous about your capabilities, you can plan a route that has a “bailout” option if you need to cut it short, or you can try doing a few shorter loops.

Because it is your first big ride, be safe: Share your location on your phone with a friend or spouse, and share your route so they can keep an eye on your progress if you’re riding solo.

Pad your time prediction

If you’re heading out for your big ride on Saturday at 9 a.m. and plan to ride roughly 15 mph, that means you’ll be home for around 12:30 p.m., right? Well… maybe, maybe not. Add plenty of buffer between your projected finish time and any other events that day, because you may have overestimated how speedy you are, underestimated the hills on your route, or failed to account for that snack stop or 30-minute flat change. Even a headwind can wreak havoc on a predicted finish time.

Check your bike and gear

Especially if you’ve been training primarily indoors, make sure that your bike is in good working condition before you go. Is everything charged (if you’re using a cycling computer or electronic shifting)? Are your tires properly inflated? Is it shifting through all the gears? Are the wheels spinning freely? Do you have everything you need to fix a flat? A little bike maintenance ahead of time goes a long way when you’re out on the road.

Stay steady

It will be tempting to hit this ride hard, because you’ll likely be feeling pretty excited after putting in all your hard work and before you head out. But keep aiming to hold that conversational pace, checking in regularly to make sure you’re not exerting too much effort too early. And make sure that you start eating and drinking in the first hour, rather than waiting until you start to feel hungry or thirsty.

Celebrate your success

This is a big accomplishment, and a great step in your cycling journey, so make sure you celebrate your ride. “Even while you’re out there, make sure you’re really enjoying and celebrating the work that you’re doing and the work you’ve done to get here,” says Kohler. We also recommend having a treat waiting for you to enjoy when you make it home!