Warm-Ups and Cool-Downs That Don't Waste Your Ride
How long to warm up and cool down, and why five minutes is usually enough.
A warm-up gets blood flowing to your legs, raises your heart rate gradually and makes the first hard effort feel much better. A cool-down brings your heart rate back down and helps you feel less stiff afterwards. Both matter, but neither needs to take a large share of your ride.
How long?
Many classes use 5–10 minutes for each. When I first built Twin Hills 60, it had about 11 minutes of warm-up and 11 of cool-down, nearly 40% of the hour. That was far too much. Now my hill rides use a 5-minute warm-up and a 4-minute cool-down, and the time saved goes into the climbs.
A simple warm-up
- 3 minutes very easy (around 20 on my bike), 90 RPM.
- 2 minutes a little firmer (around 28), building towards the work.
- For a very hard session, like 30/30s, add one short opener: a minute at tempo before the first effort.
A simple cool-down
- 2 minutes easy (around 25), spinning freely.
- 2 minutes very easy (around 15), letting your breathing settle.
- Then get off and stretch your hips, hamstrings and calves while you’re warm.
Stepping resistance down in stages, rather than dropping straight to zero, makes the transition gentler. The 20-min Intervals ride uses stepped warm-ups and cool-downs for exactly this reason.