Setting cycling goals is a proven method for staying motivated and making meaningful progress in your cycling journey. Whether you’re new to cycling or you’re a seasoned pro, having the right tools, structure and community will help you smash your cycling goals.

“Ready, set, Zwift! 🚴‍♂️ Get your legs spinning with a free trial — no strings, just sweat. Your next obsession starts now!”

In this guide, we’ll take you through how to set realistic and motivating cycling goals, introduce you to Zwift’s features like structured cycling plans, clubs, and the Zwift Companion App, and show how the Zwifting community will help keep you on track.

Why Should I Set Cycling Goals?

Cycling goals give you purpose every time you clip in. They turn “just riding” into training, stop your fitness from reaching a plateau, and give you more reasons to keep riding when the pain sets in. 

So whether your aim is to complete your first bike ride, build endurance, improve power, or just ride more regularly, having structured bike training and a community of like-minded people behind you will help you achieve your cycling goals.

Having cycling goals:
1) Provides structure and motivation
2) Helps track progress
3) Keeps you accountable
4) Makes training more fun and rewarding

As great as setting goals is, the difficult part can often be sticking to them. This is where Zwift can make a difference. 

Community is the superpower that makes training feel easier. Take running, for example – many people dread it until they join a run club and connect with others who share their goals. Zwift is home to the world’s largest cycling community, with clubs ranging from the GCN Club with over 80,000 members to Zwift Beginners with more than 46,000 members. You can even start your own club.

Let us take you through 7 steps for setting up and sticking to your cycling goals. We’ve featured some bonus tips for keeping that motivation up at the end.

Define Your Goal

Start by asking yourself: “What do I want to achieve?”

And try to be as specific as possible. A clear, measurable goal is easier to work towards. 

The goal should also be achievable. Think of a target that you can imagine yourself achieving. It’s recommended to start small, and increase the challenge as your cycling improves.

Small goals lead to big goals. So try to think of something you can achieve over the next couple of months. Something too far in the future will make motivation difficult. Whereas something too soon might be difficult to achieve if it’s too hard or leaves you thinking “what next?!” if it’s too easy.

All goals should be personal to you. The best way to stay on track is to be realistic about what you think you can achieve. Here are some tried and tested examples of goals that might work for you:

• Complete the Fast Track Fitness training plan on Zwift (requires 1 hour a week for 4 weeks)

• Increase your FTP (Functional Threshold Power) by 10 watts. You can track progress by completing one of Zwift’s four FTP tests – or let Zwift automatically update your FTP based on your performance
• Join the Zwift Beginners Club and ride with them once a week for motivation and support
• Finish a 10 km ride – or aim for 100 km if you’re feeling strong! To ride with others, use the Zwift Companion App to find community events that match your distance, or follow a Pace Partner
  Enter and complete a Zwift race in your category. Zwift offers five ability-based race categories, including women’s-only options – so there’s something for everyone

Tip! Select a weekly goal and track your progress in the Zwift Companion App. The goal can be more than just the hours you’re on the bike, you can also work towards Stress Points, Calories, Distance, or Kilojoules. Keeping to this weekly target can help push you further.

Once you have a goal in mind, set a timeline. A time-bound goal adds urgency and structure to your training.

Now you have your goal and a timeline, the last part is sharing it. You could write it down and stick it somewhere where you’ll see it regularly or you could let your friends and family know your goal. This will help keep you accountable and bring it to life.

Make Cycling Plans That Suit You

Now that you know what you’re aiming for, it’s time to make a plan that supports your goal.

Don’t be afraid to ask for help, whether that’s from friends or seeking out a coach.

Zwift includes indoor cycling workouts and bike training plans designed by pro coaches so you can improve specific areas of your performance. Whether that’s endurance, strength, or sprint power.

You can enroll in plans directly in the Zwift app. The plans are flexible to suit your schedule which allows you to make up missed workouts without losing progress. Find the right plan for your goal and stick with it.

Limited on time? Check out plans like the Fondo Plan which is 4 weeks long with 3 hours of Zwifting per week. Or perhaps you’re new to cycling or returning to training after a break/ injury? Try Fast Track Fitness which is 4 weeks long and requires just 1 hour per week.

There are also plans tailored to certain disciplines like the Multi Sport Mixer for Triathlon and the Pebble Pounder for gravel riding or off-road. There is something for everyone when choosing a training plan on Zwift.

If you want your own custom cycling program, you can import cycling workouts designed yourself or from coaches directly into Zwift too. You can do this by linking your TrainingPeaks account or other training platforms, including TrainerRoad, Wahoo SYSTM, Tri Dot, FasCat, and many more.

Prefer to take a session outside? Simply mark it as completed outside in your Zwift Companion App and keep to your schedule. By connecting your Garmin Connect or Wahoo account with Zwift, Zwift Companion will automatically pull in your data, allowing you to keep track of your fitness progression, whether you ride indoors or out.

Cycling Workouts Routine

Now comes the fun part! Let your legs do the talking and follow your training schedule. This is the part you can give it your all and dig deep.

How do I follow a cycling training plan on Zwift?

If you’re following a training plan on Zwift, the Companion App is here to help. It’s your personal coach rooting for you in your pocket. Use it to:

• Track your weekly training progress, which can monitor rides on Zwift or rides outside
• View the upcoming cycling workouts and progress of your plan
• Join events, group rides and races
• Get reminders and notifications from the coach in your pocket
• Connect with friends and clubs

By scheduling rides and setting reminders, you create a routine. And routines build habits. Habits can turn goals into achievements.

Ride with the Community

The cycling community is rooting for you too! Having a bunch of like-minded riders behind you and riding with you makes it much easier to stay committed.

With Zwift, the community is part of the package. Join regular group rides, workouts, or races in Zwift. These are not only social and fun but also keep you accountable. It’s easier to stick to your plan when you know your team mates or club mates are counting on you.

Group events range from chilled social spins to intense interval sessions and races. No matter your level, there’s something for you. 

Join a Club

Take the community even further by joining a club. Whether you’re new to cycling or an experienced cyclist, joining a club can make your training easier.

Riding with a Zwift Club adds a sense of being on a team with a shared goal. It turns solo training into a shared journey. It’s also a great way to make new friends, challenge each other, and celebrate wins together.

Track Your Progress and Adjust Bike Training As Needed

Getting into a new training routine isn’t always easy, so it’s important to check in with yourself after each session. How are you feeling?

If you miss a few workouts or feel like things are too tough, don’t worry. Training plans are meant to be flexible. Adjust your schedule, reset your expectations, and keep moving forward.

Are you struggling with every session? Your FTP in the game might be set too high. Remember with Zwift’s power-based training your FTP indicates how difficult the sessions are.

If every ride feels like a 10/10 effort, that’s a sign to dial it back. A good benchmark is for interval sessions to feel around an 8/10 in effort, challenging but manageable. You should finish feeling like you could squeeze out one last sprint or climb if needed.

Remember, consistency beats intensity. Progress isn’t always linear, but after 4 to 6 weeks of steady training, you’ll start to feel the difference. That’s far more effective than overreaching in a single session that leaves you wiped out for days.

With Your Weekly Snapshot, Zwift makes it easy to track and follow your progress. Whether that’s riding indoors or by tracking your outdoor rides as part of your overall fitness.

In the Zwift Companion App you can regularly check your:

• Training score
• Training Load Status, whether you’re ready, fresh, productive, overreaching or detraining
• Riding streak
• Weekly ride time or mileage
• Completed workouts
• Achievements and badges earned

Celebrate Milestones

Break your big goal into smaller milestones and celebrate each one. Finished your first week of a training plan? Nice! Completed a tough workout? Great job!

Zwift’s badge system, levels, and unlocks are built to help you enjoy the journey as much as the end result.

Share your progress within your club or on socials. Post a screenshot of your ride, celebrate your new FTP, or give ride-ons to others. The positive feedback loop will encourage you to keep coming back.

Tips to Stay on Track

Here are some extra pointers to help keep your motivation high and the pedals turning:

• Ride at the same time each day or week – add public events to your calendar with the Zwift Companion App as reminders that fit into your lifestyle
• Mix it up on Zwift with races, climbs, or ticking off new routes in new worlds.
• Use the Zwift Companion App to log outdoor rides as well as virtual cycling training.
• Reflect weekly on what’s working and what might need tweaking.

Keep Pedalling

Setting a cycling goal is just the beginning. The real progress comes from showing up each week, staying flexible when life gets in the way, and celebrating the small wins as you tick off the miles.

Whether you’re chasing FTP improvement, aiming for a big ride, or just looking to ride more regularly, having a clear goal and a plan to execute it can make all the difference.

So take that first step. Set your goal, make your plan, and start pedalling.

New to cycling training? No worries! 🚴‍♀️ Try Zwift free and discover how fun (and addictive) indoor riding can be. Just hop on, pedal, and enjoy the ride!”