About Road Cycling

Road cycling is popular with children and adolescents right through to Masters level (up to 70+ years of age). It is an endurance sport where the majority of training time is spent exercising at a sub-maximal level. Long hours are spent on the bike both in training and racing.  In competition, the length of races vary, between 20-60km for older juniors and 50 to 200+ km for seniors.  Elite cyclists will often train either for 3-5 (or more) hours in the morning on the road and weights / track / ergo or more kilometres on the road at night. For others, it is a matter of juggling training around work/study commitments. In Australia, the main road racing season is over winter and shorter street circuits (criteriums) are raced over summer.

Author: Accredited Sports Dietitian Tanya Lewis in conjunction with South Australian SDA members

Click here to download road cycling fact sheet (103KB)