Sunday Smart-Trainer Session: Riding the Line Plus Plus

**Riding the Line Plus Plus** is a challenging 45-minute Smart-Trainer Session designed to improve your ability to recover while maintaining strong power output. Featuring repeated high-intensity efforts followed by sustained threshold riding, this workout builds aerobic fitness, muscular endurance and repeatability. Ideal for road cyclists, triathletes and mountain bikers who want to get more from every indoor training session.

Looking for an indoor cycling session that will challenge both your fitness and mental toughness? Riding the Line Plus Plus takes the concept of the original "Riding the Line" workout to the next level by increasing the number of repetitions. It's a demanding session that develops your ability to repeatedly produce high power before settling back into a strong, sustainable pace.

This workout is ideal for road cyclists, triathletes, mountain bikers and gravel riders who want to improve their ability to handle repeated surges in intensity without sacrificing endurance.

Each Sunday, I'll post a Smart-Trainer Session that you can complete to improve your cycling fitness. See my previous article explaining the different Training Intensity Levels to understand how hard each effort should feel. If you're training directly with me, I'll generally prescribe these sessions using either Power Zones or Heart Rate Zones to match your individual training programme.

This version is adapted from an original workout published by Bicycling Magazine, with modifications to better suit the athletes I coach.

Today's Workout

Riding the Line Plus Plus

Warm-Up

• 10min Level II

Main Set

• 10 sets of:
  • 30sec Level V++
  • 30sec Level II Recovery
  • 30sec Level IV+
  • 1min Level IV-

Cool-Down

• 10min Level II

Post-Ride

• 10min Stretching

Total Riding Time: 45 minutes

Why You're Doing This Session

This workout develops your ability to repeatedly recover while still producing strong power—a skill that's invaluable during races and hard group rides. Whether you're responding to attacks, climbing short hills, accelerating out of corners or pushing through technical terrain, you'll often need to recover while still riding at a demanding intensity.

Compared with Riding the Line Minus, Riding the Line, and Riding the Line Plus the additional repetitions significantly increase the training load, making this session an excellent choice for experienced cyclists looking to build greater aerobic capacity, muscular endurance and repeatability.

What You Should Focus On

Begin with an easy 10-minute warm-up at Level II, maintaining a cadence of around 90rpm to prepare your legs and cardiovascular system.

Each 30-second effort at Level V++ should be powerful but controlled. Focus on producing smooth, sustainable power rather than an all-out sprint. The objective is to complete every repetition with consistent quality.

Use the 30-second recovery to regain control of your breathing while continuing to pedal smoothly.

The following 30 seconds at Level IV+ should feel challenging, before settling into one minute at Level IV-, where you'll aim to maintain a smooth rhythm despite accumulating fatigue.

The biggest challenge comes in the second half of the workout. Stay patient, trust your pacing and concentrate on maintaining good technique all the way through to the final repetition.

Common Mistakes To Avoid

Many riders go too hard during the opening repetitions and pay for it later. Pace yourself so you can maintain quality throughout all ten sets.

Don't let your cadence deteriorate as fatigue builds. Smooth, efficient pedalling is one of the goals of this session.

Avoid treating the recovery periods as complete rest. Keep your legs moving and prepare yourself mentally for the next effort.

Finally, remember that consistency beats one or two exceptional repetitions followed by several poor ones.

Coach Ray's Tips

Indoor riding generates a lot of heat, so use one or preferably two fans to keep yourself cool. Have at least one drink bottle within easy reach and sip regularly throughout the session.

As fatigue builds, shift your attention to riding with good posture, relaxed shoulders and smooth pedal strokes. Good technique under fatigue is what makes this session so effective.

Ride It Live with Coach Ray

Instead of riding this session on your own, why not join me and the Qwik Kiwi Squad as we complete it together on Velocity?

We'll be riding Riding the Line Plus Plus live on:

📅 Tuesday 11 August 2026
🕕 6:00am (New Zealand Time)

Whether you're a regular member of the Qwik Kiwi Squad or completely new to Velocity, you're welcome to join us. Riding alongside others is a fantastic way to stay motivated, push yourself a little harder and enjoy the social side of indoor cycling.

👉 Join the live ride here:
https://app.vqvelocity.com/live/gemn2v

If you don't already have a Velocity account, simply sign up using the free trial below before the ride. It only takes a few minutes to get started.

Try Velocity Free for 14 Days

I use Velocity for many of my structured indoor cycling sessions because it combines engaging virtual riding with professionally designed workouts and a supportive community.

You can create a FREE 14-day account and join me—and the Qwik Kiwi Squad—for this session and many more.

👉 Start your FREE 14-day Velocity trial here:
http://app.vqvelocity.com/join?a=rhs956

I'd love to see you on the start line!