1) Happy New Year! And Happy Birthday. Every cyclist celebrates a birthday on January 1. The best young rider award in the Tour de France (the white jersey) is given to the best rider under 25 — Based on calendar year. LET’S MAKE THE YEAR GREAT!

2) Speaking of 25, can you believe it is 2025? Y2K felt like yesterday! This January, our profiles will consist of five-minute effort blocks. We’ll vary how we pedal each five-minute block; the goal is to remain engaged and present for the entire duration. To para-quote Wu-Tang Clan: “Protect ya Breath!”
3) Why five-minute efforts? The duration is tricky: It’s slightly too long for a full anaerobic effort but too short for a purely aerobic one. The duration makes you think—or, better said, it makes your legs think. Just don’t pull the parachute too early! Remember to lose resistance before you lose your breath.

4) I recently came across the 75% Rule, which states that 75% of your cycling should be under 75% of your max heart rate. That’s right: pedal fast, breathe slow! [See #5 here.] Breath control is intrinsic to endurance riding. Let’s be honest, it’s easier to lose your breath than to keep it.

5) The five-minute interval also represents the world record pace of the women’s champion in the Chicago marathon. The world record dropped from 2 hours and 19 minutes to 2:09, which is one mile every 4 minutes and 57 seconds. How many miles can you ride in five minutes? Please share in the comments! Or tag me (drucycles) on IG.

6) Not quite as epic, but I’m happy to report the completion of the Rapha Festive 500 — 500 kilometers between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. I’ve not been this fit in December in at least a decade. The highlight was a 71-mile ride on New Year’s Eve eve. I needed a big day to get to 500km. (pics above). I then drove to Reston and rode another 13 miles while teaching class. (email screenshot below). All miles need to be verified via Strava. I’m lucky LifeTime sends a summary to Strava.

7) Strava is a popular app for endurance athletes. Using the LifeTime app, you can connect your LifeTime workouts to Strava. It’s pretty cool. I started riding pre-Strava. I’m somewhere between 75 and 90,000 miles ridden since 2008. Start tracking your miles now!!

8) I’ve mentioned watching older (1990-2010) cycling in class. A few people have asked for links. I‘ll end each post with a YouTube video.
9) This is the 2012 Paris Roubaix — considered the most challenging one-day race in cycling—260 km (161 miles) with 29 cobblestone sectors. And when the weather is terrible, it is quite a challenge. The 2012 race was a bad weather day; I’ve cued it up to the ‘good’ part.

It only took 125 years, but cycling finally has a women’s version of the race.

shout out to these people for the banner image.