This weekend, me and a group of friends decided to take advantage of the amazing weather we’re having in the UK.

So six of us organised a ride from London to Brighton.

It’s something we usually try to do most years, but we didn’t manage it last year, so it felt good to get it back in the diary.

The plan was simple:

A steady ride down.

Enjoy the weather.

Get to Brighton.

Then celebrate with a couple of beers and some fish and chips.

Perfect.

But I’ll be honest…

I was slightly unsure how my legs would hold up.

This was the first proper big ride I’d done since Mallorca.

In Mallorca, I rode around 300 miles across the week, including one big 80-mile ride.

But since then?

Life has been busy.

Work has been full on.

Other commitments have taken over.

And apart from commuting, the odd hour of Zone 2 on the bike in the gym, and a bit of lower-intensity work here and there, I hadn’t really had the consistent mileage in my legs.

So naturally, I was thinking:

“Will 70 miles to Brighton be a bit of a shock to the system?”

Especially because London to Brighton isn’t exactly flat.

In the end, we covered around 4,000 feet of elevation.

And it turned out to be my fastest 100k of 2026 so far.

Around 4 hours 10 minutes.

Averaging roughly 17mph.

And the best part?

I felt good.

Really good.

I was back out on my summer bike, my Specialised Tarmac, which always feels amazing.

The weather was perfect.

Shorts and T-shirt.

Proper cycling weather.

But the biggest difference was that I stayed on top of the basics.

Hydration.

Nutrition.

Pacing.

Cadence.

I had over 300g of carbs with me from homemade flapjacks and carbohydrate drink, and I made sure I kept topping up with water too.

On every climb, I expected my legs to start fading.

But they didn’t.

Instead of grinding a big gear and fighting the bike, I kept the legs spinning.

Light gear.

Higher cadence.

Controlled effort.

And climb after climb, I felt strong at the top.

Even when we rolled into Brighton, I didn’t feel completely wiped out.

Later, I started thinking:

“How did that happen?”

Because I haven’t exactly been smashing out big weekend miles recently.

And the answer was pretty clear.

It’s because I’ve still been consistent.

Even though I haven’t been doing huge rides, I’ve still been cycling to work most days.

That might only be 8–10 miles a day, sometimes more if I’m commuting to a different clinic, but it all adds up.

I’ve still been getting my Zone 2 work done in the gym.

I’ve still been doing bits of tempo work.

I’ve still been maintaining that aerobic base.

Nothing extreme.

Nothing overwhelming.

Just regular, repeatable habits that fit around real life.

And that’s the lesson.

A lot of cyclists train hard for a goal, complete the event, then stop everything afterwards.

They sacrifice loads to get fit…

But they don’t build the habits that help them maintain that fitness.

So when the next event or big ride comes around, they feel like they’re starting from zero again.

But when you build a strong foundation, you don’t need to start from scratch every time.

You have something to build from.

That means when a ride like London to Brighton comes up, you can say yes and feel confident.

You can ride strong.

You can enjoy the day.

And you don’t have to spend the next week feeling destroyed.

That’s a big part of what we focus on inside The Cycle Lean Coaching.

Not just getting you fit for one event.

But helping you build the habits, structure, aerobic base, strength, nutrition, and recovery strategies that allow you to stay healthy on and off the bike.

Because when your fitness fits around your life, it becomes something you can actually maintain.

And when you maintain it, you’re always in a better place to build towards the next goal.

So if you’re a cyclist over 40 who wants to lose weight, ride stronger, climb better, and build a foundation of fitness that doesn’t disappear every time life gets busy…

Click the link below to learn more about Cycle Lean Coaching and book a call with me.

Neil

P.S. If you want to experience my London to Brighton Ride, check out my reel here.