Cycling Intervals vs. Long Weekend Rides: Which Packs On More Endurance?
There’s nothing quite like the rush you get from strapping on your cycling shoes and hitting the open road. Your heart rate increases, the fresh air kisses your skin, and those feel-good endorphins kick in, offering an invigorating mental and physical escape. If cycling is part of your regular routine, you’re likely always looking for ways to improve your sport. This may lead to one common question: Which kind of ride builds more endurance—cycling intervals or long weekend rides? We spoke with experts to find out the scoop.
Going for a bike ride is chock-full of benefits. Cycling offers a low-impact cardio workout that builds muscle, burns serious calories, boosts your immune system, enhances balance, and gives your legs an all-around stellar workout. Plus, heading on a ride with friends or joining a cycling group provides a sense of community. It’s an ideal way to get your body moving, especially if you spend most of your day sitting at a desk.
If you’re keen on optimizing your cycling routine, experts break down the benefits of cycling intervals vs. long weekend rides, and which modality ultimately packs on more endurance.
Cycling Intervals vs. Long Weekend Rides
Cycling Intervals
Cycling intervals alternate between bouts of intense work and periods of rest. The duration and intensity of each interval will vary depending on personal goals.
“Intervals within endurance cycling are a way of breaking up targeted efforts into chunks of time or distance to stress certain areas of your physiology,” explains Henry Latimer with Vekta, coaching partner and performance cycling coach at Cycling Coach Henry. “You would usually see a certain number of intervals at a defined intensity range with a set rest period between them. By breaking down efforts into these smaller chunks, it can make accumulating lots of time at intensity a lot more achievable, which can maximize the associated performance benefits.”
Dotsie Bausch, Olympic silver medalist in cycling and executive director at Switch4Good, says intervals are the “speed and strength work” that fuels your endurance engine.
Build Aerobic Power and Threshold
This training method boosts aerobic power and threshold. By performing intervals, you challenge your cardiovascular system to work even harder.
“That raises your sustainable pace (the speed or power you can hold for a long ride) and your surge ability (when you need to accelerate, climb, or sprint),” notes Bausch.
Improve Efficiency and Strength Under Fatigue
Another benefit of intervals? You can expect your efficiency and strength under fatigue to greatly improve.
“Intervals train your body to produce higher power even when tired, and that means when you’ve already been riding for a while, you’re more resilient,” Bausch says.
Increase VO2 Max
Interval training is a productive way to rev up VO2 max.
“Max VO2 is your ability to use oxygen to sustain work,” explains Helen Vanderburg, cycling coach and Balanced Body educator. “A simple understanding of max VO2 is that metabolism requires oxygen to break down energy for the muscles to work. The more efficiently you deliver and break down oxygen to the working muscles, the longer you can work and the harder you can push without fatiguing.”
Related: The Secret Cyclist Strategy to Build Unshakeable Leg Endurance
Long Weekend Rides
When embarking on a longer ride, the duration and distance are entirely up to you. They typically hinge on the destination or route, along with terrain (hills or flat), weather elements (road conditions and wind resistance), and overall fitness level.
Latimer calls long rides “the bread and butter” of an endurance program for any rider who wants to improve.
“The idea is to be on the saddle long enough that your body and mind go into ‘endurance mode’ rather than ‘just a workout,’” Bausch points out.
For advanced endurance-focused riders, this may look like three to six hours (or more) of cycling, covering roughly 50 to 100+ miles, depending on terrain.
For beginner cyclists, a long session might consist of two-and-a-half to four hours of riding, covering 40 to 60 miles.
“Long rides themselves are incredibly useful for building fitness, and if time were no object, it's likely the bulk of your training would be long easy rides due to the sheer amount of work you are able to complete for a lower fatigue cost,” Latimer explains.
Establish a Solid Base Development
According to Bausch, long rides play a key role in establishing your endurance base.
“Your cardiovascular system adapts, your muscular endurance gets used to sustained load, and your mental stamina for long efforts strengthens,” she explains.
Train Your Body to Torch Fat
If you want to burn body fat more efficiently, long weekend rides help get the job done.
“Long efforts train your body to burn fat, to utilize glycogen efficiently, [and] to maintain performance when glycogen stores are lower,” Bausch says. “This is key for longer events or rides where you’ll be out for many hours.”
Boost Your Mental Game
The greater amount of longer rides you have under your belt, the more your nutrition/hydration, pacing, bike comfort, and overall strategy will improve.
“You learn how you feel at hour two, hour three, hour four; you learn to handle low-mood periods, hunger, fatigue, etc.,” Bausch says.
Related: Should You Rotate Between Two Running Shoes? Here's What Experts Say
Which Builds More Endurance?
If your goal is to “ride for a long time at a good pace,” then long weekend rides reign supreme. But if you hope to build “a higher sustainable power [and] better recovery between surges,” interval training can significantly impact your gains, explains Bausch.
That said, experts agree that performing both training modalities is the name of the game.
“Endurance is not only your ‘time out there’—it’s also how strong you are while you’re out there,” Bausch says. “The two should work together.”
According to Vanderburg, “Each type of training creates a unique physiological adaptation that, when combined, makes for a stronger rider.”
When it comes to structuring your workouts, assess how much training time you have. If you have extra time to spare, Latimer recommends performing a greater number of longer endurance rides, complemented by one to two interval training sessions a week—at the max.
“If you are very time crunched, then it might be most effective for you to use more intensity, providing you can recover from it effectively,” Latimer tells us. “This wouldn't be maximal sessions every day, though—you'd want to do no more than three hard sessions each week, and even those would need to differ in intensity depending on what you are looking to improve.”
The Importance of Recovery
Don’t sleep on sufficient rest and recovery. Keep in mind that the greater the workout intensity, the longer the recovery.
“Recovery should be 48 to 72 hours between high-intensity interval workouts,” Vanderburg notes.
During high-intensity exercise, your body shifts into a state of stress.
“The need for recovery after interval training is essential to repair muscle fibres, replenish glycogen (energy stores) in the muscle, calm the nervous system and regulate hormones,” Vanderburg explains.
When it comes to endurance training, recovery time can usually be shorter—depending on the length of the ride, “as the body doesn’t shift into the physiological state of ‘fight or flight,’” Vanderburg says.
Experts stress the importance of properly fueling your body as part of a well-rounded cardio regimen.
“For both intervals and long rides—especially long rides—fuel smart (carbs + dairy-free plant-protein + good fats + hydration),” Bausch says. “If you’re dairy-free, there are plenty of plant-based proteins (soy, lentils, beans, nuts, seeds) and plant milks that support recovery.”
Takeaways
Long rides set the foundation, stamina, and resilience. Intervals help riders build power, efficiency, and the ability to deal with high stress under fatigue.
“Start with a base of long rides, overlay interval work to raise your performance, and as you gain fitness, scale both accordingly,” Bausch recommends.