STEVE CUMMINGS DIMENSION DATA

Preparation for a new season for me starts during the final part of the previous year. I need to know roughly when I will start racing and work backwards. I set monthly targets because if I want to be competitive in my first race, I need to be moving fairly well by the New Year.

Some seasons you finish racing overtired and can’t wait for it to end, and other years you are very strong and the shape is still good. I try to find motivation to finish a season in good shape as this is more satisfying and I tend to enjoy my holidays more. It’s also easier to restart after. I like to stay active and keep in a good routine during my break - I’m probably addicted to exercise so it’s hard to sit still for more than a few days! I go to the gym and go hiking or walking.

The last three seasons we’ve had a team training camp in Cape Town during November, and I enjoy it a lot. It really is a beautiful place to ride: the weather is good; the terrain is rolling with climbs around 10 minutes long and the sea is close by. It’s nice for the head and a great place to plan and prepare. We hand over bikes to the Qhubeka charity too, which inspires me and makes me feel very privileged to be a bike racer.

This year I went to the Mapei Centre in Italy to get a bike fit. The team changed saddles and pedals for 2018 so I thought it was important to go through everything again. Shortly after the camp, once I’ve ridden around 1,000km, I do a ramp test, which starts at 200w and increases 10w every minute until I explode. Then I start base work. Day one I train strength, focused on low cadence mainly on a climb. Day two I train rhythm, I use my TT bike at high cadence, with some intensity on flat or rolling roads. Day three I train endurance and ride for five or six hours with long climbs and longer intervals on the flat, and then have two Steve’s Dimension Data team prepare for 2018 at a training camp in Cape Town gym sessions when I don’t ride the bike. After the New Year I begin interval work where I don’t go to the gym, and I do shorter, more intense intervals. I prefer to stay in one place during the winter as much as possible.

I’ve worked in this format for around eight years. The training has changed a little but the basics are the same. Over time, I understand myself more - when I need to push and when I need to rest. It’s not a perfect science, I rely a lot on my sensations, but I like to work this way. It’s simple, it’s businesslike. I have room for feeling and can adapt or change things as I go.

By the time you’ll be reading this I’ll have finished my first race at Abu Dhabi, where there’s a TT and mountaintop finish, and then I go to the Volta a Catalunya. I’m looking forward to it as it’s something different to the last few years. Hopefully I can start the season well.

Once I’ve ridden around 1,000km in training, I do a ramp test which starts at 200w and increases 10w every minute until I explode