How to transform your fitness

1. You only improve if you ride hard. Riding for two hours as hard as you can — provided you allow adequate recovery time — will result in more physical returns than four hours at a slow, meandering pace.

2. Think about improving skills other than riding faster in a straight line. Bike handling, your ability to manoeuvre effectively, will result not only in you having more control of your bike at speed, but more fun too.

3. Doing a workout on an empty stomach first thing in the morning is a great way to boost fat-burning. Forty to 90 minutes, on an empty stomach, is ideal.

4. A great measure for weight loss is hunger: if you’re hungry, you’re probably losing weight. So if you want to lose weight, you have to deal with a moderate level of hunger. It’s not pretty and it certainly doesn’t feel good, but there is no other way.

5. Endurance rides are often ridden too fast or too slow. Use a power meter and/or heart-rate monitor, and make sure you ride in the right zone. If you’re unsure about your zones, get a coach to help you.