Posted 30/04/2026 by Jenny Lucas-Hill

It’s drilled into us that if you want to improve at anything, consistency is key. And cycling is no different. Take a look at some of the world’s best, and it’s not one hero session or magic ingredient that makes them so strong on two wheels. It’s years of consistent training and strong habits, stacked up brick-by-brick. Now, most of us aren’t trying to line up at the Tour de France as the top GC. But whether you’re trying to improve your cycling speed, build endurance or just get back into the swing of riding regularly. Consistency is going to get you there.

The thing is, knowing we need to be consistent to see improvements and actually being able to do it are two different things. Life gets busy, motivation goes awol and other priorities take over. If you’re struggling to get out on the bike regularly, this article is for you! We’re going to share some practical tips to help you be more consistent with your cycling – without having to quit your job and pretend you’re a pro.

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Set a goal and build a schedule that’s actually achievable for your current lifestyle

Setting yourself a clear goal is brilliant. It gives you a clear focus, a burst of motivation and a specific reason to get out and ride. You can find some handy tips on actually setting a goal without falling into the “I’ll start next week…” trap below. But, and it’s a big goat’s hindquarters-shaped butt. A goal needs to be realistic and achievable for your current daily life. Otherwise, you’re setting yourself up to fail before you’ve even started.

Life shifts and changes. You might have more, or different, commitments now compared to your past self, which means a goal where you’re going to have to spend every minute of your spare time cycling just isn’t feasible. Have an honest conversation with yourself to find the balance between a goal that excites and motivates you, and what’s actually achievable within the realms of your current lifestyle. What parts of your routine can shift and change to accommodate working towards your goal, and what are the non-negotiables? This bit of reverse engineering will set you up for success right now, rather than setting you up to fail or leaving you waiting for some mythical “right time to start” in the future. Meet yourself where you’re at, and it’s easier to get started.

How to set a goal that sticks: 4 quick tips

  1. Make it specific and measurable: A goal needs to be clear, not abstract, so there are obvious steps towards achieving it. For example, flip ‘ride more often’ into ‘ride X number of times per week’ or ‘ride X number of miles by the end of the year’.
  2. Give yourself a deadline: It’ll make you get going sooner rather than later. This can be choosing an event such as a sportive (check out our pick of the bucket list cycling events to do for inspiration), or giving yourself a specific time frame such as ‘by the end of August I want to have commuted to work by bike at least 20 times’.
  3. Track your progress: Being able to see yourself getting closer to achieving your goal is a great motivator. Apps like Strava (join our Stolen Goat Hub App to unlock exclusive challenges and discounts!) and TrainingPeaks are a great way to see how you’re progressing.
  4. Bleat about it: Telling people who love and care about you what you want to achieve will give you two important things – support, and accountability.
Stolen Goat spring cycling kit

Reduce any friction and take away any potential excuses

It’s important to make it as easy as possible to get out and ride. Think about what’s been stopping you so far? Has it been the thought of rooting around in your kit drawer at 5am trying to find the gear you need for your morning cycle commute? Or maybe it’s been the sound of the rain pelting your windows. Staying consistent is all about reducing friction, removing barriers and pre-empting any excuses your future self might make.

What this looks like will be personal to you. But for example:

  • Lay your kit out the night before. Have everything ready so you can just get up and go. That includes your bike, your cycling gear and any snacks or nutrition. Less faffing, more riding.
  • Have the right cycling kit in the first place. If you’re cold/wet/uncomfortable on the bike because your cycling apparel isn’t up to the job, you’re never going to want to get out and ride. Investing in comfortable cycling gear that performs as you need it to is an investment in yourself, your health and your happiness. You deserve it! Not sure what you need? Check out our spring, autumn and winter gear guides.
  • Plan ahead. Don’t make yourself waste time and headspace on deciding what to do. Plan your route or pick a structured workout in advance so you can just get out and crack on.
  • Make it non-negotiable. Regularly having all the best intentions to ride and then sacking it off when push comes to shove? We’ve all been there. Put guard rails in place to force future you to show up. That might be arranging to meet a friend at a specific time and place for your ride. Or when it comes to cycle commuting, it might be driving in the day before and cycling home (leaving the car at work) so you have no choice but to ride back in the next morning (or sheepishly beg a lift…)

Avoid an all or nothing approach to cycling training

There’s the plan, and then there’s what’s actually practical on any given day. Being consistent is as much about being flexible as it is about being disciplined or determined. And the biggest consistency killer is an all or nothing mindset. It’s important to remember that something is better than nothing. And done, is better than perfect. Something might come up that means you can’t do your four hour long ride – but you might still be able to squeeze in an hour. Not feeling that intense workout? A 45-minute zone 2 spin is still going to have more of a training benefit compared to skipping the ride entirely.

Focusing on doing what you can, when you can, is going to add up to far better cycling consistency in the long run versus only ever getting on the bike when you can rigidly stick to the initial plan.

Flip your mindset and focus on the little wins

Often, when we’re struggling to stay consistent with our cycling it comes down to feeling in a bit of a rut, lacking motivation and riding starting to feel like a chore. It becomes a vicious cycle, because you start to beat yourself up for not riding enough which stamps all over any spark of motivation even more. Take a moment to check in with your mindset and have a reset. Here’s how:

  • Switch ‘have to’ for ‘get to’. Imagine some evil wand-wielding wizard swept in and suddenly took away your ability to ever go cycling again. How would you feel? Pretty gutted, probably. When we’re in the trenches of the daily grind, we can forget what a joy and a privilege it is to be able to get out and ride. It might sound like a small thing, but changing how you think about your cycling training genuinely can help. Instead of ‘I have to cycle’, say ‘I GET to cycle’. Find that joy and sense of freedom again. We do this for fun, and if that fun has gone – it’s time to reassess if your current goal is really working for you.
  • Celebrate the wins, no matter how small. Stop focusing on what you didn’t do, or you didn’t achieve and start celebrating what you did. You might not have got PBs on every Strava segment or cycled to work every single day this week. But if you got out on your bike even just once – that’s still a win.
  • Accept you’re not going to be 100% motivated, 100% of the time. It’s easy to assume that person you follow on Strava who’s always logged a morning ride before you’ve even finished working out how to turn your alarm off must leap out of bed feeling ready to roll every day. They don’t – none of us do. Once you accept that sometimes you’ve got to embrace the grind, give it a go and see how you feel (more on this ‘don’t give up until you’ve warmed up’ mentality later) it’s easier to just keep showing up.
Stolen Goat mens cycling jersey batiste lifestyle

Gamify your goals

Deep down, we’re all still our kid-selves gleefully levelling up on Spyro on our playstation 1 (or nabbing all the best monopoly real estate if you were more of a board game kid). Adding in layers of mini challenges, quests and achievements to your cycle training brings the fun factor back in and keeps the motivation rolling. That can be joining Strava challenges to get yourself some cool discounts (just like we do on our Hub App, just saying). Going after all your local QOMs/KOMs. Ticking off as many local route segments as possible. Or if you’ve got a distance goal, having mini milestones with a reward attached each time you hit them. New socks when you hit 50 miles. New cycling jersey when you hit 150. Sounds good to us!

Practical tips for when you’re really struggling to get out and ride

Sometimes you can have all the pieces in place: the goals have been set, the workout and/or the route has been planned, your kit is all laid out… and you still just really can’t be bothered. You’re not lazy, or a failure. You’re human. It happens to everyone. If you know deep down you want to get out and get it done, and you’ll feel better for doing it. Here’s a few things you can try to get your hindquarters into gear:

Don’t give up, until you’ve warmed up. Getting started is the hardest part. Give yourself permission to just do 10 minutes and reassess how you feel. Still hating it? Head home, today’s clearly not the day and you can have the peace of mind that you tried. But 9 times out of 10, once you get going you’ll keep going. Having that ‘out’ of being able to call it quits after 10 minutes, makes actually getting started far easier.

Be flexible. Remember, done is better than perfect. Adjust the plan if you need to – shorten the ride, train indoors, swap a long ride for a more time efficient cycling workout.

Good old fashioned bribery. Sometimes you’ve just got to give yourself that extra little incentive. Whether it’s a stop off at your favourite coffee shop halfway through your ride, a post-ride sweet treat or promising yourself to finally hit ‘add to cart’ on that new kit you’ve been eyeing up… a bit of self-bribery can go a long way to getting the job done.

Staying consistent with your cycling can be difficult, but hopefully these strategies and practical tips will help you to get out there and do more of what you love. Start small, stay flexible and focus on doing what you can, when you can rather than taking an all or nothing approach – and before you know it, you’ll be racking up those miles.

Cycling gear that gets you motivated

Missing some essentials from your cycling wardrobe? Need a bit of new kit day magic to help you get out the door? Check out some of latest gear below:

Shop women’s cycling clothing | Shop men’s cycling clothing

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