The 2018 Tour de France champion tells us why 18 years into his racing career it’s still vital to keep exploration and fun central to your sessions
Never stop adventuring. That’s always been my approach to training rides.
Yes, I might have certain efforts to do in training, but I still want to ride to new places and to see new or interesting things.
I really enjoy that sense of exploring. It’s the reason why I fell in love with this sport to start with.
When you’re younger, you know you can travel so much further away from home on a bike than if you are just walking.
And that feeling of exploration is something I’ve never lost. Trying new routes on my training rides keeps things fresh.
When you’re in your 17th year of racing, you have got to mix it up a bit to stay interested.
This is actually how I ride my bike most days. I have a general plan of where to go, but then I just go off and do whatever.
I change up my routes all the time. I know some guys like to do the same routes.
My former teammate, Richie Porte, liked to do the same loops over and over again, but I am the total opposite.
It means I’m not good at following a Garmin because I don’t ever really do it. But if I’m concentrating, I usually know my bearings.
Maybe if I’m somewhere totally new, like when I went to do some training in New Zealand in 2023, I have my routes planned out.
I’m not fanatical about it. Swifty (Ben Swift) has every ride planned out to the precise kilometre, but I love an adventure.
That is why I like to visit new training destinations. When I went to New Zealand with my wife Sa and son Macs, just for something a bit different, my team were pretty sceptical.
But it was great cycling: river valleys, coastal roads, mountain passes. I was still training hard, just riding spectacular roads.
I also went to Sierra Nevada in Spain for the first time, and Andorra. I have had some great rides in Los Angeles as well. Cam Wurf (the Australian pro) was raving about it to me.
When you think of L.A., you think of Hollywood Boulevard, but once you go out into the hills it’s really quiet and beautiful, with lots of climbs and canyons and sunshine.
It’s always fun to retrace old adventures too. I still love a ride in Wales when I’m home, especially around the Vale of Glamorgan. It feels like going back to being 16 again.
I revert to the same mentality too and think: “Oh, it’s quite a long ride to that place!” But actually it’s only 10km. I forget I’m bigger now. But I love it. There are so many memories.
Don't forget to enjoy yourself
Group rides are always the most fun. I don’t take everything seriously and I think that’s what’s given me longevity as an athlete because I still enjoy my rides.
Obviously, there’s a time when you have to be really on it. I’m not messing around all the time.
But if you have to do five hours of riding, you can still do a nice loop with friends and enjoy a coffee stop.
It’s still training. I do like to go out on my own sometimes as well. It’s nice to have peace and quiet, and to be alone with my own thoughts.
I go out on my own maybe 25 per cent of the time.
Food can be a big part of an interesting ride too, especially in Italy where I have good memories of the brioche, the crostata di marmellata (jam tart), the pizza and the cappuccino.
Quarrata, in Tuscany, is where it all started for me as a young pro with Barloworld, and it’s where I learned my trade. Italy has a great cycling lifestyle.
Things definitely get more serious when I go off on a training camp, for example in Tenerife.
I can focus 100 per cent and go up another level. And especially after having Macs, I’m a lot more productive as I have to make it worthwhile.
Although I like to mix up my rides, I do still like the seasonal structure of the training year, with certain rides and camps at certain times of year. Christmas usually means Cardiff.
April or May is usually Tenerife. You get a bit of comfort from having that routine. And it means you can compare where you are at physically.
When I’m riding certain roads in Tenerife, I know I usually ride them at a certain speed, so I think: okay, how am I feeling on this stretch this year? How do I compare?
It means you know roughly where you’re at in your training.
But I think the best thing about keeping a sense of adventure on your rides is that there’s always a story from it.
Every time I ride, something happens, or I see something new. Then you can come home and tell your wife or mates about it.
And that’s what makes this sport unique: it’s one big adventure.