Building an aerobic base is perhaps the single most important phase of the year since it is the foundation upon which your season is built. Many riders never reach their full potential at bike racing because they neglect this critical phase of training. Base training is about preparing your body for the demanding efforts you will be making during racing.

It is a foundation of steady miles and resistance training in the gym that allows you to safely make harder efforts later in the year. Interestingly, this phase is characterised by many hours of steady riding punctuated only occasionally with short intervals of harder efforts.

It's the "many hours of steady riding" that build aerobic power that characterise this phase. Harder efforts (at least in quantity) will come later in the year.