Measuring cycling progress and performance

Most of us who cycle regularly keep some kind of record of our 'achievements' - perhaps just a scribbled record of where we went, or maybe a detailed spreadsheet of distances and routes along with the time taken and the average speed. Enthusiasts will use a more detailed monitoring program, perhaps including a download of the exact details of the route followed.

But we are still left with the basic question - am I getting better at cycling?

Surprisingly tricky to answer, it's also one of the most interesting questions.

What is 'improved cycling performance'?

First you need to decide what you mean by 'getting better'. It will usually mean one of the following:

• Cycling further than before without feeling compleetly done in afterwards
• An overall increase in average speed
• Keeping up with other cyclists who used to be faster i.e. improving relative to our fellow cyclists)

Cyclists who actively compete have an advantage - if last year you were struggling to keep up with category 3 riders and now you are arriving with the front runners in a category 2 group you can assume you have improved. but most cyclists don't have the time or the will to actively race, but still want an idea of whether they are getting better as time goes by.

Why is it so hard to measure?

The problems in deciding whether your cycling is improving are numerous:

• every route has different conditions (hills etc) and routes are all different lengths;
• weather varies from day to day and has a large impact on cycling performance;
• your general state of health and fatigue, what you did last night and what you had for breakfast, all play a role in how well you do on a particular day;
• many other factors including your tyre pressures (and other changes in bike and equipment), sections of road being resurfaced, getting stuck at a busy junction...

So clearly we can never say 'I did the same route faster this week than last week so I am improving'. Anyone who keeps a record of their cycling times will appreciate this. It is quite demotivating to get home from a great ride thinking how well you did, only to find you were slower than the last time you did the same course, but it has happened to all of us.

So what is the answer?!

So we can see what the problems are in measuring our changes in cycling abilities, but how can we tell if our cycling is improving?

The most reliable way I know is to decide on one circuit, of 'medium' length ('medium' will be different for everyone but should be a distance that you do quite regularly (i.e. not exceptionally long or atypically short) that you are happy to do quite often, ideally at least once a month.

The route should be as typical of your normal routes as possible, particularly as regards hills, and should be on quiet roads if at all possible (to avoid getting stuck at lights etc.) Repeatedly doing the same course has the extra advantage that you come to know the route very well, so unexpected events are less likely to slow you down.

You now try and do this route at least once a month, and preferably every two weeks, from year to year (we need to know if we are improving in the long term as well as the short term) and keep records of the exact time it took, along with brief notes about the weather and anything else relevant that will have affected your performance.

Comparing month-on-month won't tell you a great deal at first but in the long-term you will be glad that you have these records to look back at, to make a chart of in an excel spreadsheet, and to give you more specific goals to aim for.

Start keeping records now!

It is a lengthy process - it takes a couple of years to start to get a good picture of your cycling performance, because early in the season you might be slower than half way through the season etc. so even if you are new to cycling I recommend you start record keeping sooner rather than later.

In fact when you are just starting is the best time to start, because progress for a new cyclist is much more noticeable than for us 'old hands' and gives a great extra bit of motivation just when you need it!