The Most Common Mistakes I See in People’s Cycling Training Plans
When I talk to riders — whether friends or clients — the complaints I hear often trace back to the same few training mistakes. A rider might tell me they’re feeling unusually tired after a big week of training volume (in which case, my first bit of advice is usually: do less or reduce intensity).
If they keep pushing through, this often leads to deeper fatigue, burnout, or even injury.
Let’s look at the most common pitfalls I see in cyclists’ training plans — and how to avoid them.
1. Doing Too Much “Grey Zone” Training – The Smash-Fest
Training volume can certainly cause fatigue — but more often, it’s not too much training overall, it’s too much training at a higher intensity.
That “grey zone” intensity — moderately hard, sustainable for long periods — feels productive, but it’s often just junk miles. Think of those “smash-fest” group rides that leave you a jittery mess at the end. That feeling of smashing all your mates up that climb might feel great at the time. But the paypback in fatigue often outweighs any gain in fitness.
If you’re using a power meter, Training Stress Score (TSS) can help explain this. I often see riders doing 2.5–3 hours with a TSS over 200 — that’s roughly the equivalent of two 60-minute threshold sessions.
Once a week? Fine.
If you do this several times a week? Its a recipe for fatigue with minimal fitness gains.
To put it another way: a TSS of 700 in a week is like doing seven one-hour threshold efforts. That might be okay for a pro who’s built up to it and has recovery time — but for most riders, it’s a fast track to exhaustion.
2. Skipping Strength Training
Strength training is one of the most overlooked parts of a good cycling program.
Learning how to strength train properly takes time — especially if cycling has dominated your routine for years. That single-plane motion can leave you with muscle imbalances and weaknesses you’ll eventually need to address.
Surveys of grand tour level road cyclists have shown how a large proportion of them suffer with back pain (Clarsen et. al.). While it’s their job to be on the bike several hours a day, amateur cyclists can choose to train in a way that avoids this problem.
If you’ve never been shown how to lift properly, get instruction.
Progress gradually toward loaded compound movements — squats, deadlifts, rows, presses — using a balanced plan that develops all the supporting muscles around these lifts. Strength work not only improves power on the bike but also helps prevent injury and improves overall resilience.
3. Judging Fitness by Feel
One of the hardest moments as a coach is when a client tells me how “fit” they felt on a certain ride. I want riders to feel positive about the benefits of training — but often, how you feel says more about your fatigue or mood than your actual fitness.
Fitness develops over months, not days or weeks.
Feeling strong today might simply mean you’re fresh or motivated; feeling flat might mean you’re carrying fatigue. That’s why tracking progress with data and structured plans is so important — because your body’s signals can be misleading in the short term.
4. Underestimating How Long Fatigue Builds Up
This is a sneaky one. Many riders underestimate how long it’s taken them to get tired.
They’ll push through months of solid training, hit a wall, and blame last week’s hard ride.
In reality, fatigue builds gradually — often over several weeks or even months. We like to think a few extra rest days will fix it, but when fatigue has built up that deeply, it usually takes a more significant change in structure to reset and recover properly.
The way to differentiate between having an off day, and being really tired. Is how many off days you have in one week. And also an outside opionion on the training volume you’ve been doing.
5. Blindly Following (or Ignoring) Training Plans
Off-the-shelf training plans can be helpful — if they’re used correctly. But they’re not a substitute for feedback and adjustment.
I’ve seen riders choose plans meant for experienced competitors chasing specific race goals, when they’re just starting out. That mismatch often leads to frustration, overtraining, or injury.
The difference a coach provides isn’t just structure — it’s context. My job is to read athletes’ notes, spot fatigue, and decide whether the training load is appropriate. A pre-written plan can’t do that.
6. Setting Unrealistic Goals or Expectations
Goals are great motivators — but they need to be realistic and flexible.
When I broke my femur and hip, requiring intramedullary nail fixation (big bone rod!). I set myself a (very unrealistic) goal: to do a single-leg squat in six weeks. I didn’t achieve it, but it gave me something familiar and motivating to work toward, with smaller milestones along the way. In reality it took me 4 months to achieve this. Which was still exceptional rate of recovery for this injury.
Where many riders go wrong is in setting results-based goals — like podium finishes or specific race times — without minimal competitive experience or context to support them. These goals depend on too many external factors: the course, competitors, even weather.
A big mistake is focusing on one event. E.g. the National Champs…..
If your goal is competitive, you need to competeting in enough similar events. So that your progress can be measured during competition. The more tactical/technical your discipline is, the more important this is.
Focus on progress-based goals. If your long-term aim is a podium, start by getting into the top 15. Then work on consistency — aim to perform well across a series of events. Sustainable improvement beats one-off results every time.
Final Thoughts
Most cycling training mistakes aren’t about lack of effort — they’re about misdirected effort.
Training smarter, not just harder, is what really drives progress.
Pay attention to your recovery, balance your intensities, and don’t let ego or emotion dictate your training load.
Your body will thank you — and your fitness will show it.
Citations
Clarsen B, Krosshaug T, Bahr R. Overuse injuries in professional road cyclists. Am J Sports Med. 2010 Dec;38(12):2494-501. doi: 10.1177/0363546510376816. Epub 2010 Sep 16. PMID: 20847225.