I’ve had a couple of experiences recently that have made me think about the importance of time when it comes to your performance on the bike (if you care about these things). One is the fact that I’m just now starting to feel a spring in my pedal stroke after 267 hours on the bike this year. I’d been wondering when things would turn around and I kind of had an idea that everything was late this year because of my various knee problems that took me out of action in the beginning of the season. That, and the fact that I’m not training for anything this year (you’re welcome Race of Switzerland people for the donation).

I’ve also been doing slightly longer rides lately, which I think might have woken up my legs a little. In any event, the moral of this story is to stick it out. It will come eventually.

And then I had a conversation with a friend in the Alps today, who I thought I heard tell me that he was starting to train now for the UCI Gran Fondo Worlds in France in 2027. I asked him to repeat this and he confirmed that he was beginning his program more 48 months away from the event. We went into some detail about this, but it all boiled down to him feeling that he had plateaued in the last few years and he wanted to introduce something different into his training, and these changes might take time to take hold. 2 years!

AI tells me that things like aerobic efficiency, musculoskeletal adaption, Capillary Density, Mitochondrial Growth and neuromuscular efficiency all take years to improve. All good reasons to at the very least stay reasonably consistent with your riding. Your mitochondrias will thank you.