Race Simulation Bike Session: 90-Minute Advanced Outdoor Ride

Session Overview

This 90-minute advanced race simulation bike session replicates the physical and mental demands of a triathlon bike leg. By training at race-specific intensities on the road, you’ll develop the pacing discipline, nutritional habits and mental durability that separate a strong bike split from a scrambled one. This session is designed for experienced triathletes 6–10 weeks out from their target race.

What You’ll Need

• Road or triathlon bike with a power meter (preferred) or heart rate monitor
• Nutrition you plan to use in your race — gels, bars or mix
• Two water bottles — practise drinking on the move at pace
• Cycle computer with lap function to mark your intervals
• Running shoes in transition — this session ends with a 10-minute transition run

Warm-Up (15 minutes)

Begin with 10 minutes of easy spinning at Zone 1–2 (RPE 3–4/10, 55–65% FTP), then complete 3 x 30-second high-cadence efforts at 100+ rpm to activate your neuromuscular system. Return to easy spin for 2 minutes before starting the main set.

Main Set

The main set simulates the progressive build and late-race demands of a triathlon bike leg. Execute with purpose — every interval has a specific physiological target.

• 20 minutes at race pace (Zone 3 / RPE 6.5–7/10 / 85–95% FTP): This is your target race intensity. Hold it steadily — do not go out hard and fade. Practise taking on nutrition at 10 minutes into this block exactly as you would mid-race.
• 5 minutes easy recovery spin (Zone 1): Recover completely before the next effort.
• 3 x 5 minutes at hard effort (Zone 4 / RPE 8/10 / 100–110% FTP): 3 minutes easy spin between each. These efforts train you to handle the surges that occur at hills, out of corners and at race starts.
• 10 minutes at race pace again: Return to race-pace intensity after the hard efforts. This mirrors the later stages of the bike leg when you must hold form despite fatigue.
• Final 5 minutes build: Gradually increase cadence and reduce gear, spinning up to prepare legs for the run transition.

Cool-Down (10 minutes + transition run)

Spin 5 minutes easy, then rack your bike and immediately lace up your running shoes for a 10-minute transition run at easy-to-moderate effort. Notice how your legs feel coming off the bike — this brick element is essential for race preparation, conditioning the specific fatigue pattern of the bike-to-run transition.

Coaching Notes

• If you don’t have a power meter, use heart rate: Zone 3 is 76–85% of max HR for the race-pace efforts.
• Practise your exact race-day nutrition strategy in this session — don’t experiment on race day itself.
• Monitor your pacing discipline in the first 20-minute block — going 5% too hard early costs far more than it gains by the final 10 minutes.
• This session is hard — schedule a recovery day the following day and don’t attempt two in the same week without coach guidance.