Again, on a short bike ride of 1-2 hours practice accelerating, by changing to a higher gear and increasing your cadence by getting out the saddle for a few seconds to ‘accelerate’ down the road, before resuming back in the saddle again.

Hold this faster pace while seated for a minute or so (no more than two minutes), before resuming your normal cycling pace.  Recover for at least five minutes before you repeat. The effort level and intensity is outside of your comfort zone and you should look forward to a recovery, but this is not a maximum effort or sprint.

Gradually increase the number of accelerations per ride over a period of weeks.

Also think about your position on the bike whilst accelerating away, as no matter how hard you train, riding along with the aerodynamic silhouette of a sack of potatoes will wreck your average speed. During your speed intervals aim to get down into the drops with your shoulders and elbows tucked in and try to glance up with your eyes, rather than just sticking your head up into the wind.

Lastly, remember that many things influence your average speed on a ride; wind direction and strength, terrain, road surface, humidity and heat and traffic volume. Recognise that some days you need to go slow in order to get faster so enter these key speed workouts both physically and mentally rested.

Revolution Cycling is a uniquely conceived coaching company focused on female cyclists. Stirred by our own enthusiasm for cycling, motivated by increasing numbers of women cyclists and the boom in women’s sportives and road racing, we decided to design a bespoke coaching service dedicated to female cyclists.