How Team GB Track Cyclists Train All Winter

I’m Jess Roberts, a professional endurance cyclist on the British Cycling Track Squad. I have been part of the track pathway since I was 15 years old, managing to progress through the different programmes as I got older, reaching the highest Olympic level programme “Podium”, which is what I am part of now.

My biggest achievement to date is getting a Bronze medal in the Team Pursuit at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.  Later that same year, also in the Team Pursuit, I became a World Champion, winning Gold at the World Championships in Denmark and a Silver in the Omnium.

People probably wonder what we track cyclists train like over winter. Do we do long hours? Are we just on track all the time? Is it just short, explosive efforts? I get asked quite a lot about why we do long hours when your event is only 4 minutes long. But Team Pursuit is more aerobic-based than people think, and for people who do the endurance bunch races too, they require a high level of fitness.

I am currently out on a training camp, and whilst I was training in my GB kit, a group of people stopped and asked whether I was actually on the GB track squad. I said yes, and they replied, with, “oh so you’ll just do a little loop around the block and then you’re done?”

This isn’t true; a lot of my rides can be 4 hours+. (If only it were this simple!-Ed)

clear the mind

In this blog, I will share a bit about what my training looks like through the winter months. Every track cyclist is different, so my training will look slightly different to others. It also depends on which races we are selected to compete in, during the first part of the year. The European Championships are usually in January or February, so if you are racing this, then a lot more intensity would be added in sooner.

This year, I am not doing European championships. I will, however, race a World Cup in Hong Kong in April, so the really high intensity comes a bit later for me. We have the British Track Champs in mid Feb as well.

Before I start my winter training, being mentally and physically refreshed is so important for me. Elite sport is hard, and everyone deals with the ups and downs differently. But for me to be able to go again, I need to have that time away from the bike, debrief the season that’s just been and ensure I am going into the next season with a fresh and clear head for me to get the best out of myself.

A staple session for me is two gym sessions a week. This isn’t just a winter thing, all year round I will try and get two gym sessions in every week. After off season, my sessions will start light, getting my body moving, and allowing my body to get used to the movement patterns again. The DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) after time out of the gym is really not nice, though!

The sessions will then gradually build, trying to lift heavier each week. Reps will be higher to start with so around 6-8 for a few months, and then when I’m in more of a focused strength block, this will reduce to 3-5. Each year, I’ve tried a few different main lifts, but one of my main ones is the trap bar deadlift.

This lift works for me as I can get to a relatively high weight, and it doesn’t cause me to get niggles in my back. Around the main lifts, I have a lot of accessory exercises to work my core, upper body and posterior chain.

I have had issues in the past with my back, so keeping my body feeling strong and stable allows me to train more on the bike and better helps me get the bigger gears off the line in the Team Pursuit.

get the miles in

Endurance miles. The winter months are the time to build that base, so hours on the bike are high. If I am at home training through the winter, either in Manchester or Wales, my endurance rides would probably be no longer than 4 hours. But when we go away on training camps and the weather is better the hours go up and I’d have more 4–5 hour rides through the week.

For these rides, one ride would just be general zone 1-2. Another ride would have set zone 2 blocks, usually accumulating an hour at zone 2 power but spilt into blocks. I have recently been trying to push these blocks in to bottom of zone 3 and doing them in the last hour of the endurance ride. In terms of the hours, I’d do per week on the bike, a general week would be around 14-15 hours, a bigger week would be between 18-20 hours.

Strength is a big thing for us track riders. To be able to produce high powers and push those bigger gears, we need to be strong and have good conditioning. Through the winter I will do a lot of torque efforts. These will vary between 45-60rpm. I will start off in the earlier months doing these at zone 3, once I’ve done those for a few weeks the power will increase. So the same rpm but just having to produce more power at that lower cadence.

I find doing these efforts to be one of the key things for me to feel strong and solid on the bike. At first these efforts feel horrible, you feel weak and like you can’t do it, but as the weeks go by you start feeling that strength coming through and you feel like things have progressed.

Staying consistent

Trying to build consistency through these months really helps when the season starts. Just ticking off those sessions each week and getting that under your belt will work wonders with keeping you going through the year. Through the winter months you’re going to be more susceptible to getting ill, which does derail the work you’ve done, or hinder your rhythm. It’s really important to make sure each session is fuelled well and you’re giving your body enough to recover and adapt. Under fuelling will give you a higher chance of catching something so being on top that is really important.

I will still have little hits of intensity during these months, it just isn’t as frequent as when I’m in full season. So, I will have the odd track session usually getting on the bunch bike and doing some madison drills. Recently the British National Omnium and Madison Champs have been held just before Christmas and this year the field was stacked full of british talent so this was a good hit out (and shock to the system) to quick start some intensity work.

Those 3 things are really the main focusses of my winter months, along with getting that consistency. Building the fitness, strength and general robustness that will set me up to be able to hit the higher intensity later on in the season.

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