---
aliases: ["Plan 2024 Cycling Season"]
Is A: Project
Belongs to: "[[24q1]]"
Advances: "[[responsibility-health-fitness]]"
Status: Done
Owner: "[[person-luca-rossi]]"
---
# Plan 2024 Cycling Season

## Overview

This project laid out the full 2024 cycling calendar — target events, training blocks, rest weeks, and equipment needs. The main objective was to complete two gran fondos in 2024, supporting [[2024-complete-two-gran-fondos]], while maintaining a sustainable training load that would not interfere with work commitments.

Planning happened in January and February so that structured training could begin in March. This included selecting target events, mapping out a periodized training plan (base, build, peak, recovery), and identifying any gear upgrades needed before the season. [[person-paco-furiani]] helped review the training plan and suggested adjustments based on his own racing experience.

## Goals

- Select two target gran fondos for 2024 (spring and autumn)
- Design a 24-week periodized training plan with base, build, and peak phases
- Establish weekly volume targets: 8-12 hours per week during build phase
- Budget and plan equipment upgrades (new wheelset, tire strategy for events)
- Set up tracking in Strava and TrainingPeaks for [[measure-cycling-km-per-month]]

## Key decisions

- **Granfondo di Varese (May) and Granfondo dell'Appennino (September)** selected as the two target events. Varese was chosen for its accessibility and moderate difficulty; Appennino for its challenging profile that would test peak fitness.
- **Polarized training model** rather than threshold-heavy. After reading several studies on amateur endurance performance, decided that 80/20 (easy/hard) distribution would be more sustainable alongside a demanding work schedule.
- **No coach for now.** Considered hiring a cycling coach but decided to self-coach for 2024 using structured plans from TrainingPeaks. If results are good, revisit for 2025.

## Notes

- The biggest risk to the plan was always going to be consistency — weeks with heavy newsletter deadlines or sponsor calls tend to eat into training time. Built in buffer weeks to account for this.
- Realized during planning that the winter base phase was already partially missed. Adjusted by extending the base phase by two weeks and compressing the first build block slightly.
- Equipment decision: went with a new set of carbon wheels (Campagnolo Bora WTO 45) rather than upgrading the frame. Better bang for the buck in terms of performance gain per euro.
- This plan feeds directly into [[24q2-spring-gran-fondo]] for the first event execution and into [[topic-cycling-training]] for ongoing training notes.
