How to become a powerful bunch rider

Want to be a tough and resilient rider that can do time in the wind and be there at the end and have a good crack at the city limit sprint. So what does it take to train to be one of these riders? In this article, I’ll discuss some of the techniques and training resources I use with my clients to turn them into this powerful rider.

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I’m going to use a fictional rider as an example.

This rider participates in a regular bunch ride with their cycling group from St Kilda to Mordialloc and back again on a Saturday morning. The bunch rolls down to Mordialloc at a steady pace. At Mordialloc, they turn around and start rolling turns at the front. The speed gradually increases and by the time they get to Black Rock only about eight riders are left rolling turns. There is a bunch sprint at the BP service station at the end and then they regroup and have coffee.

This rider wants to improve their ability to stay with the bunch. Sometimes they make it to the finish without being dropped but has nothing left to take part in the sprint. They want to be able to roll turns and to be a contender for the sprint. We are going to limit their first round of training to twelve weeks and build a plan around ten hours of training a week. This rider has a home trainer and we are going to take them off their unfocused weekly Zwift smash fest rides and introduce quite a bit of structure to their training to specifically hone them to improve their bunch riding performance.

Our rider doesn’t have a power meter, so I will measure the average speed of their indoor training efforts as well as watching several of their Strava segments on a climb that they regularly do as a measure of their performance improvement. I’ll also use feedback from them to tune the program, ensuring that we maximise their training effectiveness.

I’m breaking their goals down into three primary parts:

Spending the first four weeks going back to basics to address their core strength and aerobic fitness so that they can consistently get to the end of the ride without being dropped.
The next four weeks would be focused on building their strength so that they can start rolling turns on the way back.
Finally, in the last four weeks I introduce some basic sprint training so that they can contend the sprint.

The areas that we will be addressing are:

Aerobic Base:

It’s mainly done at 50-74% or less of your Max Heart rate or between 56-75 % of your threshold power. Aerobic base is built slowly and lost slowly. Doing this training develops the endurance or slow twitch Type I fibres. They don’t fatigue very quickly and can go all day.

Strength:

There are many aspects of developing strength. There is also a great need these days do off the bike strength exercises. Again, strength is like base; it’s built slowly and lost slowly. Some of the work is done at lower cadences while some of it is done at higher cadences. The focus is to develop the Intermediate fast twitch Type IIa fibres. These fibres that can burn energy both aerobically and anaerobically.

Enduring Speed:

To be able to roll turns requires the development of managing rapid over thresholding with short rests. Here we focus on the Strength/Speed combination with an emphasis on workouts that cycle through brief over-threshold efforts and short recovery. We introduce over/under threshold drills in the E3/VO2Max zones to help their ability to roll turns.

Sprint Speed:

Sprint – Fast twitch Type IIb fibres used primarily in sprinting. These are the fibres that produce huge amounts of power, but only for a short period. While I would normally spend a lot more time on a specific sprint program, in the interest of covering off their three goals within the 12-week restriction, I’ll be simplifying their program. These sessions will be done in the top end of VO2Max HR zones or the ANC/NEU power zones.

Technique:

I’ll also be developing good core strength and improving their pedal stroke using pedalling drills that are built into the program. I’ve found that we get the best results when we combine improving pedalling techniques with our off the bike strength training.

The Program:

First four-week block – Build Aerobic Capacity

We have a three-week build followed by a recovery week.

The weekend is made up of aerobic training with a little bit of strength work. The Saturday is their normal bunch ride day.

I’ve selected our classic 082 – Hill Climber Seated and Standing with Arm Swaps in E3 for Tuesday to build strength and 081 – Aerobic Build with Arm and Hand Rotations to build an aerobic base on Thursdays. Tuesday is done at lower cadences to build strength while Thursday is more aerobic. All efforts for these ergos are done in E3.

The rides on Wednesday and Friday are active recovery sessions designed to help improve aerobic capacity as well as pedalling technique.

Monday is a rest day. This can be swapped out for Friday if they prefer a rest day on Friday.

Their recovery week in week four is changed to provide more recovery. Less volume in the weekend and some over threshold efforts to introduce speed work.

We also do off the bike strength training on the Wednesday and Friday throughout the program. I’ve developed a functional strength training program with Matt Brindle that is built around typical multi-jointed, face down or face front tri-planer exercises.

Weeks 1 – 3 – Initial Aerobic Build

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun
Rest Day	082 – Hill Climber Seated and Standing with Arm Swaps	E1 Recovery ride for one hour @ 90 to 100 rpm	081 – Aerobic Build with Arm and Hand Rotations	E1 Recovery ride for one hour @ 90 to 100 rpm	Bunch ride	One hour ride @ E3 – Climb 500 vertical meters
		Plus, off the bike Strength training		Plus, off the bike Strength training		Do hills at a preferred climbing cadence (75+ RPM), when climbing alternate between seated and standing every few minutes in E3 with recovery @ E1 in between hills. Climb to indicated height

Week 4 – Recovery week

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun
Rest Day	087 – E3 or VO2Max Break Jumpers and Mini Break Jumpers	Rest	087 – E3 or VO2Max Break Jumpers and Mini Break Jumpers	Rest	Bunch Ride	Two hour ride @ E3 – Climb 500 vertical meters
		Off the bike Strength training		Off the bike Strength training		Do hills at a preferred climbing cadence (75+ RPM), when climbing alternate between seated and standing every few minutes in E3 with recovery @ E1 in between hills. Climb to indicated height

Second four-week block – Strength/speed development.

Same as the first four weeks only that I’ve changed the Tuesday and Thursday workouts to our classic 087 – E3 or VO2Max Break Jumpers and Mini Break Jumpers to help develop their Speed and Strength to help them start rolling turns.

Weeks 5 – 7 – Strength/speed development.

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun
Rest Day	087 – E3 or VO2Max Break Jumpers and Mini Break Jumpers	E1 Recovery ride for one hour @ 90 to 100 rpm	087 – E3 or VO2Max Break Jumpers and Mini Break Jumpers	E1 Recovery ride for one hour @ 90 to 100 rpm	Bunch Ride	Two-hour ride @ E3 – Climb 500 vertical meters
		Off the bike Strength training		Off the bike Strength training		Do hills at a preferred climbing cadence (75+ RPM), when climbing alternate between seated and standing every few minutes in E3 with recovery @ E1 in between hills. Climb to indicated height

Week 8 – Recovery week

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun
Rest Day	087 – E3 or VO2Max Break Jumpers and Mini Break Jumpers	Rest	087 – E3 or VO2Max Break Jumpers and Mini Break Jumpers	Rest	Bunch Ride	Two hour ride @ E3 – Climb 500 vertical meters
		Plus, off the bike Strength training		Plus, off the bike Strength training		Off the bike Strength training

Third four-week block – Sprint development.

Same as the first and second 4 week blocks only that I’ve changed the Tuesday and Thursday workouts to some sprint training workouts to develop their sprint.

Third Block: Week 9-11

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thur

Fri

Sat

Sun

Rest Day

STANDING STARTS X 10-15 min warm-up in E1 @ 100 rpm then 10 x Standing Starts in Big Chainring gear of your choice from almost full stop to max speed.

Recovery is between 2-5 mins between efforts.

15 mins cool down in E1 @ 100 rpm.

E1 Recovery ride for one hour @ 90 to 100 rpm

MAX SPRINT HILL EFFORTS
Warm up 15 min at E1 HR Zone building to E3 HR Zone
5 x short 250m climb @ 7-10% gradient (Short Climb) – MAX EFFORT
5 x 750m climb @ ~3% gradient (Long Climb) – MAX EFFORT.Recovery is between 2-5 mins between efforts.
Cooldown – REC HR Zone

E1 Recovery ride for one hour @ 90 to 100 rpm

Bunch Ride

E1 Recovery ride for two hours @ 90 to 100 rpm

Plus, off the bike Strength training

Off the bike Strength training

Week eight – Taper week

Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun
Rest Day	087 – E3 or VO2Max Break Jumpers and Mini Break Jumpers	Rest	E1 Recovery ride for one hour @ 90 to 100 rpm	Rest	Bunch Ride	E1 Recovery ride for one hour @ 90 to 100 rpm
		Plus, off the bike Strength training				Off the bike Strength training

Reference Material:

The functional Strength exercises can be found here

081 – Aerobic Build with Arm and Hand Rotations

082 – Hill Climber Seated and Standing with Arm Swaps

087 – E3 or VO2Max Break Jumpers and Mini Break Jumpers

HR Zones:

Description	Intensity	Code	Percentage of Max HR
VO2MAX Boosting	Very Hard Can’t speak	VO2	92 – 100%
Anaerobic Threshold Endurance	Hard Difficult to speak at all	E3	85 – 91%
General Aerobic Endurance	Moderate Talk in short sentences	E2	75 – 84%
Base Aerobic Endurance	Easy Able to carry out a conversation	E1	65 -74%
Recovery	Easy Able to carry out a conversation	REC	50 – 64%

Power Zones:

Description	Intensity	Code	Percentage of Threshold Power
Neuromuscular Power	Maximal – Can’t speak	NEU	> 151 %
Anaerobic Capacity	Maximal – Can’t speak	ANC	121-150 %
VO2max	Very Hard Can’t speak	VO2MAX	106-120 %
Lactate Threshold	Hard Difficult to speak at all	E3	91-105 %
Tempo	Moderate Talk in short sentences	E2	76-90 %
Endurance	Easy Able to carry out a conversation	E1	56-75 %