The Science of Cycling: From Zero to Cape Town Cycle Tour - Insights from the Innersight Podcast #21

Cycling for Longevity: From Novice to Cape Town Cycle Tour

This month, we're shifting gears - literally! Following last month’s focus on running, we’re now diving deep into the world of cycling. And what better time? March is a big month for cyclists in Cape Town, featuring both the iconic Cape Town Cycle Tour and the Cape Epic. With cycling on everyone’s mind, it’s the perfect opportunity to talk about how riding a bike can be one of the best things you can do for your health and longevity.

Joining us on this episode of the Innersight podcast is someone who lives and breathes this topic: Reece McDonald, a highly skilled cyclist, sports scientist, and professional coach from Science to Sport. He’s not just any coach, he works with athletes of all levels, from weekend warriors to elite riders chasing podiums at the Cape Epic.

​Why Cycling?

If you've followed our podcast before, you’ll know we’re passionate about evidence-based approaches to health. And when it comes to longevity, there’s simply no intervention - no pill, no medical procedure - that matches the impact of exercise. As we discussed in our episode on VO₂ max, this metric (your body’s capacity to use oxygen during exercise) is a powerful predictor of overall health and lifespan.

In fact, research shows that people with high VO₂ max levels have an 80% lower risk of all-cause mortality compared to those in the lowest category. That’s a massive difference, and it’s achievable through consistent training. Increasing your METs (metabolic equivalents of task) by just five units can reduce your risk of dying from any cause by around 50%. That’s why cycling, especially when done consistently, is not just a sport, it’s a life-extending habit.

​Measuring Progress: VO₂ Max & Lactate Testing

At the Sports Science Institute of South Africa, athletes and amateurs alike can undergo VO₂ max testing, lactate threshold assessments, and full metabolic profiling.

Key insights include:

• VO₂ Max testing offers a reliable picture of aerobic capacity and cardiovascular health.

• Lactate testing (done via ear prick) helps determine how efficiently your body uses carbohydrates during exercise.

• Fat oxidation measurements give insights into how your body burns fat as fuel - crucial for endurance athletes.

Even at rest, your body has lactate in the bloodstream. As you increase intensity, your muscle fibers shift from fat to carbohydrate metabolism. When your body can’t clear lactate fast enough, it accumulates and that’s when things start to hurt. Monitoring these markers helps tailor training programs for both performance and health.

​So You Want to Ride the Cape Town Cycle Tour?

Let’s say you’re inspired and want to ride the Cape Town Cycle Tour next year, starting from scratch. Where do you begin? The key is to keep it simple at first: You don’t need to follow a strict program immediately.

Instead:

1. Start riding—anywhere, anyhow. Get used to time in the saddle. Your first goal is just building tolerance.

2. Ride consistently. Aim for 3–4 rides a week, building up to 6–8 hours weekly.

3. Join group rides. Social rides help with motivation and developing bike handling skills.

4. Avoid going too hard too soon. Cycling lets you go far, but pushing too hard can lead to burnout or injury.

As your base fitness grows, you can start integrating structured sessions, such as Zone 2 training, which is great for improving fat metabolism and building your aerobic engine.

Why Time on the Bike and in the Kitchen Matters More Than Distance:

If you’re new to cycling and looking ahead to something big like the Cape Town Cycle Tour, it can be hard to know where to begin. Should you focus on how far you can ride? How fast? What kind of bike you need? The advice from cycling coach and sports scientist Reece McDonald might surprise you: forget distance - focus on time and fuel.

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​When You're Just Starting Out, Just Ride

When beginners come into the lab for testing, Reece often sees the same thing: high resting lactate levels and very low fat oxidation. In plain terms? Their bodies are wired to burn carbs like crazy, even at low intensities, and aren’t yet efficient at using fat for energy. This means trying to train "perfectly" right away is often counterproductive.

“There’s no homeostasis - no metabolic stability - so the best thing a beginner can do is just ride.”

Building a solid base of cardiovascular strength, muscular endurance, and metabolic flexibility takes time - months, in fact. And the mistake many riders make early on is trying to train too specifically or too intensely before their bodies are ready.

​Gearing and Gradient: Why the Bike Matters

Another common issue for beginners? The wrong gearing. Many recreational cyclists unknowingly ride bikes geared too hard for their fitness levels especially on hills. This is seen all the time, even in decent amateur riders, they’re just overgeared. Smaller chainrings can help massively.

It’s not just about the engine (your body); it’s about the machine, too. Especially when terrain and gradient start working against you. Choosing the right gearing setup can help you stay in control of your effort and avoid burnout.

​Preparing for the Cape Town Cycle Tour: Time, Not Distance

So how do you know you’re ready for an event like the Cycle Tour? The advice is clear: train for time, not distance.

“If you can ride 3–4 hours comfortably on terrain with about 100m of climbing per 10km, you’re good to go.”

Rather than aiming for a specific distance like 80 or 100 kilometers, focus on getting in a few long weekend rides, 2.5 to 4 hours each month. This builds your endurance without the mental pressure of chasing kilometers.

For most riders, that means consistent weekend training with smaller sessions during the week if possible. It’s about layering fitness over time, not rushing.

​Fueling Right for the Ride

One of the most overlooked factors for beginners is nutrition. Most recreational cyclists underfuel dramatically; they might eat a light breakfast, ride hard for hours with nothing but water or a snack, and come home starving.

“You wouldn’t drive your car on an empty tank. Your body is the same - you need fuel to perform.”

Here’s the basic fueling advice for beginners doing rides over 2 hours:

• 30–40g of carbs per hour during steady rides

• 50–60g per hour during harder efforts or races

• Eat before you ride, and don’t wait until you’re starving

• Train your gut by eating during training especially at higher intensities

What does that look like?

• 1 gel = 20g carbs

• 1 banana = 25–30g carbs

• Sports drinks vary, but aim for a mix of maltodextrin and fructose in a 2:1 ratio. Avoid low-sugar options like Powerade or Energade; they’ve reduced sugar too much for endurance riding.

  
  

For a 3-hour ride, think ahead: How many bottles will you carry? How many gels or bars? Mix and match based on your preference and gut tolerance, but the key is consistency. If you don’t fuel properly, you risk the dreaded bonk, no matter how experienced you are.

This can be from sports nutrition products, natural foods, or a mix, whatever sits well with your stomach. The key is practicing fueling strategies before race day. Many gut issues in races come from the gut simply being untrained.

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​It’s Not About the Bike… But Let’s Talk About the Bike

We’ve said it before, and yes Lance Armstrong said it first “It’s not about the bike.” But let’s be honest, when it comes to riding your best, finishing strong, and staying injury-free, the bike does matter. Not just the frame or the brand, but the fit, components, and how well it suits your riding style and goals.

Whether you're training for your first Cape Town Cycle Tour or just getting into weekend riding, the right setup can make the difference between loving the sport and dreading every climb.

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​Buying a Bike: Fit First, Then Fancy

A fast bike doesn’t make you fast if it fits badly. In fact, an average bike with a great fit will take you further than a high-end machine that’s uncomfortable. Get the sizing right before you buy. Most shops will offer sizing charts or fit assessments, and some bike fitters, like those at Science to Sport, can advise you on the correct size before purchase.

Once you’ve got the right size:

• Make sure the saddle suits your anatomy.

• Check your handlebar reach and height - don’t ride looking like a shrimp.

• As you get stronger, your position can get more aggressive, but comfort comes first.

Don’t forget: a bike fit isn’t optional - it’s essential.

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​Crank Length: Should You Care?

Lately, there’s buzz in the pro world around shorter crank lengths, as extreme as 150mm cranks being used by the likes of UAE Team Emirates. But before you rush to swap yours, understand why they’re doing it.

Why the Pros Go Shorter:

• More aerodynamic positions demand an open hip angle.

• Shorter cranks reduce knee lift at the top of the stroke, improving comfort and power transfer in an aggressive tuck.

• Paired with larger chainrings, shorter cranks still allow for big gear ratios.

Should You Go Shorter?

Not necessarily. If you’re a weekend warrior cruising at 20km/h on a relaxed bike, the benefits likely don’t justify the cost.

However, if:

• You have short legs and ride long cranks (e.g. 175mm on a small frame),

• You struggle with hip discomfort,

• You can’t hit a high cadence under fatigue

Then a shorter crank might be worth exploring. But remember, crank swaps are expensive, especially with integrated power meters, and not all manufacturers offer a wide range of lengths.

​Building VO₂ Max and Going Sub-3:

In endurance cycling, few concepts are as widely referenced, and as often misunderstood as VO₂ max. Whether you're aiming for a sub-3 at the Cape Town Cycle Tour or prepping for your first mountain bike stage race, VO₂ max often becomes the yardstick for aerobic fitness. But how exactly should you train to improve it?

​Building VO₂ Max: Long and Slow or Short and Sharp?

The common question is: Should you build VO₂ max through long, slow hours in the saddle or through intervals? The answer? You need both.

Long endurance rides develop your aerobic base, the metabolic machinery that allows you to sustain hard efforts. But intervals, especially high-intensity VO₂-targeted work, push your ceiling up. Both types of training create cellular signaling that drives endurance adaptations, just via different pathways: high-contraction intensity vs calcium signaling from volume.

If you go too hard too often, you’ll burn out. If you never go hard, you won’t raise your aerobic ceiling. The best approach? Balance the two.

​How Hard is "Hard"?

For VO₂ max gains, think 3 to 5-minute efforts, sometimes up to 8 minutes. But to get the most out of them, try “hard-start” intervals - a 30-second all-out sprint followed by a sustained hard pace. This forces your body into a high VO₂ state faster, maximizing the time spent stressing the aerobic system.

Training to go hard once isn’t enough; the real goal is repeating those efforts again and again, as race scenarios demand.

​Indoor Trainers: Time-Crunched Athlete's Best Friend

For cyclists who work full-time, the indoor trainer is a game-changer. It’s efficient, precise and removes the logistics of terrain and traffic. You can hit structured sessions, control power outputs, and get high-quality training done in under an hour.

Just one tip: always use a fan. Indoor workouts without proper cooling limit your training potential and stress your body in unproductive ways.

​Sub-3 Ambitions: Where Marginal Gains Become Real Gains

If you’ve done 10 Cycle Tours and now dream of going under 3 hours, you're entering a performance bracket where training structure, equipment choices, group dynamics, and nutrition matter more than ever.

• Train for speed, not just distance. Climb hard, then recover fast.

• Race more often to condition your body to unpredictable accelerations.

• Get your seeding right. You can't solo a sub-3; you’ll need a fast group.

• Dial in your nutrition. Poor fueling means fading in the final third.

​Mountain Biking: VO₂ Max Meets Technical Grit

Events like the Cape Epic or Wine2Whales demand more than fitness. While the pros still benefit from drafting on fire roads, most of your energy output is dictated by the terrain: steep climbs, punchy accelerations, and constant re-engagement of the pedals.

For marathon mountain bike races, your VO₂ max and glucose metabolism matter just as much as your skills, conditioning on technical terrain, and your recovery between stages.

​Recovery: The Silent Key to Progress

Train hard, recover harder. Without proper recovery, you won’t adapt - it’s that simple. This means:

• Prioritize sleep as your number one recovery tool.

• Fuel properly during and after training. Carbs and protein in a 3:1 or 4:1 ratio post-session helps muscle recovery and glycogen replenishment.

• Track recovery with metrics like HRV (heart rate variability) but use trends, not one-off numbers. Always correlate your tech data with how you feel.

HRV apps and wearables are improving fast, but even the best can give mixed signals. What matters most is consistency: same time, same conditions, and an understanding of what your data means in context.

​Final Thoughts

Cycling success isn’t built on gimmicks or a single training method. It’s the accumulation of smart decisions - balancing interval work with endurance rides, fueling correctly, recovering well, and training for the terrain you race on.

Whether you’re chasing a podium or simply your personal best, the formula is the same: Train smart, ride often, and make time your ally.

If you’d like to learn more or schedule an assessment with Reece, feel free to get in touch with him at www.sciencetosport.com