With the best of intentions, I had planned on launching Kenetic Cycling in May, then June. The good weather and holidays took over in July.
Now, August first, it’s about time to let things fly. Waiting for the perfect moment to launch a blog is akin to waiting for the perfect weather for a spin on the road.
The background
I got my first road bike in 2010, but I can still remember getting my first bike as a four-year-old, later making the move to a BMX as a six or seven-year-old, on to a Raleigh Ascender for the school days because back theen, you did everything by bike.
Getting that road bike in 2010, a Cube Agree SL that I’m still riding (and maintaining) to this day, opened up another world. Then work takes over, family life takes over, circles shift, and cycling takes a back seat. I may have gotten out on the road a handful of times a year, but until a few years ago, that was about the height of it.
The journey
In the summer of 2024, a sideways glance in a shop window in Nuremberg, Germany, told me that something needed to change.
I was overworked, starving myself of proper sleep, poorly fuelled, and weighed in at 103.2kg or 227lbs, a bit much for my 5’10” frame. A fairly neglected Zwift subscription was resurrected in earnest, and gradually the kilos shifted as the miles went up. Between the summer of 2024 and the spring of 2025, I racked up 5,231km and dropped from 103.2 to 78.9kg.
Not bad going for someone who probably averaged 500km a year before that at best, maybe less.
The shift was dramatic, but the addiction was born, or reborn. I thought nothing of short V02 max sessions, or three-hour endurance spins, virtually all of these indoor. I trained in the morning, or late at night, clocked up the miles and reaped the rewards.
Sleep was better, food was better, mindset was much improved.
12 months on, and having taken the foot off the pedal – so to speak – to address a few health concerns at the tail end of last year that kept me fof the bike, I find myself more immersed in cycling.
January this year started with a bang on the indoor trainer, March seeing me clocking up a little over 900km – a personal best when it comes to indoor distance. The unseasonably good weather we had for a few weeks across May, June and July meant a return to outdoor cycling in earnest, with indoor tapering off, albeit clashing with one of the busiest work periods I’ve had in years.
I’ve watched through all the spring classics, the full stretch of the Giro, the majority of this year’s Tour de France, and I’m looking forward to the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, getting underway today.
However, with all the watching, working, and everything else in between, while I continue to clock up the miles, I’ve done so in the past few months with less focus and intent. June and July in particular could have been the universe’s way of telling me to take the foot off the pedal again as I limited sessions (or, rather, found myself limited)
The plan
The plan is pretty straightforward. Set the targets, document what I’m doing, keep developing indoors and outdoors.
I’ll share workouts, training routes, plans, notes, research, podcasts, thoughts, opinions, the rest.
For weight, my target is to drop back to 78kg in stages between now and the end of the year, and that requires a couple of fundamental changes for me in relation to training, fuelling, rest and recovery. My starting point, thanks to a few weeks in the sun with a no-holds-barred approach to food, drinks and everything in between, is 89.6kg, but that will start to fall pretty quickly.
For August, I’ve decided to try some of the plans available through TrainerRoad, paired to Zwift (more on that in a separate post). Combined, that’s a near €40 monthly subscription, which would get anyone else a solid gym membership plan. Zwift keeps going anyway, but I’ve been following TrainerRoad for some time, largely through the Ask A Cycling Coach podcast – worth a listen for the in-depth discussions and opportunity to nerd out of numbers.
I wanted to put some structure back into my training for the month, so I’m beginning with 3-4 hours of medium/hard sessions for the next four weeks, paired with some weight training on the alternate days (again, more on that later). I need to get out of the habit of cycling at 10 and 11 at night, so this may spur me on somewhat.
The outcome
By the end of the year, a few things should have happened. I should (read, will) be lighter. I should (read, again, will) have increased my power numbers on the bike (also more on that later), and from a distance point of view I should have broken my initial target of 4,000km for the year and likely my stretch goal of 6,000km, giving me my best year on the bike to date.
Small numbers to the seasoned pros and regular club riders, but in this game you’re only really ever against yourself, right?
Long term
Long term, I’d love to develop Kenetic Cycling into something much more than a blog to keep myself accountable.
I’ve been working on some AI tools around training and nutrition, exploring clothing designs and I love the idea of creating more content on the bike as opposed to off the bike.
For now, however, I’ll take it one training session at a time.
You’re welcome to Kenetic Cycling. Ride on.