Training plans for people who are new to this
Six free plans, written in plain English for people who have never followed one before. Each tells you what every week is for, how it should feel, and what to do when life gets in the way. The Etapa app turns any of them into a personal plan built around the days you can actually ride.
How to pick one
Start from what you can ride today, not what you’d like to ride. If half an hour is your limit, the 50 km plan is the one, whatever event you’ve got your eye on. If you’re comfortably riding an hour or two, the 100 km sportive, the gravel event and the bikepacking trip are all fair game, so choose by what you’d enjoy. The century is for people already doing two- to three-hour rides. And if the bike has been in the shed for a few years, or your body has been through something, the return to cycling plan is where to begin, and it’s the shortest.
Every plan progresses gradually, with rest days in every week and easier weeks built in, and none of them use words you’d have to look up. They are general guidance rather than medical advice: if you’re new to exercise, have a health condition, or get pain that isn’t ordinary muscle soreness, check with a doctor first. The Etapa app builds a personal version of any of them from your goal, the days you can ride and what you ride now, puts the sessions in your calendar, and moves them when you miss one.
Your first 50 km ride · 8 weeks
From 30-minute rides to 50 km in one go. Three rides a week, one that grows slowly, and a rest day after every long one.
See the plan →100 km sportive · 12 weeks
For riders already doing an hour or two. Base, build and a proper taper, with the long ride peaking at four hours.
See the plan →100-mile century · 16 weeks
For riders on two- to three-hour rides who want the full 160 km. Four sessions a week, two easier weeks, and a lot about food.
See the plan →First gravel event · 12 weeks
Handling on loose surfaces, tyre pressures, rides measured in hours, and a practice ride on the terrain, for 50 to 80 km off-road.
See the plan →Return to cycling · 6 weeks
After years off, an injury or a baby. Short frequent rides, saddle comfort and the habit first; the fitness follows.
See the plan →First bikepacking trip · 10 weeks
Two or three days at 60 to 80 km a day. Back-to-back rides, bags on from week six, and a shakedown overnighter.
See the plan →Pick any event from the events directory and the free sample plan tool builds week one of a real plan for it, based on how much you ride now. No account, no app, a couple of minutes.
Make it your plan
Tell Etapa your goal and the days you can ride, and it builds a personal plan up to 24 weeks long, moves sessions when you miss them, and gives you a coach to ask anything.
Free to download. 7-day free trial on every plan.