Welcome to RAGBRAI LIII!
Find all of Coach Ertl’s Training Blogs and past training plans in our Training section on RAGBRAI.com.
Hey folks, I’m back for another year of hopefully inspiring and educational blogs to help you prepare for RAGBRAI this year. This year’s route was announced a couple of weeks ago and it is the SHORTEST in RAGBRAI history! But don’t let that fool you. It’s still 391 miles of riding in a week. That may not seem like a lot compared to some previous editions, but it’s still a lot of miles no matter who you are. Plus, it’s the 10th hilliest ever with 16,027 feet of climbing (halfway up Everest) which will add to the challenge. And I’m pretty sure there will be wind, heat and humidity as well. As always, you will want to be conditioned to not only complete this ride, but to do so without unnecessary pain and discomfort.
It’s never too early to start training
The temps just broke freezing here in Iowa and after a spell of subzero weather, it’s starting to feel like spring (almost). But regardless of where you live, it isn’t too early to start preparing your bike, your body and your brain for the upcoming season. Therefore I’ve once again put together a training plan to help guide you to a successful training season starting on Feb. 9.
Keep in mind this is a guide for your training, it’s not a detailed day by day plan. It’s intended to give you an idea of how to build your mileage and endurance gradually over the season so that by the time RAGBRAI rolls around, you will be able to handle the mileage. Each week suggests a number of goal miles for the whole week as well as the number of miles to aim for on your longest ride of the week.
Make the Training Plan your own
Feel free to ride more days and more miles than this indicates if you are ready for it. It’s designed for people who haven’t been doing much (or any) riding since fall. The idea is to build up your distance gradually so you can tolerate the additional training load throughout the spring. If you can’t start riding on the 9th, find some other way to start getting active to engage your aerobic system. Examples include: hiking, walking, jogging, spin classes, etc. Training isn’t just about your legs or cardio fitness, you need to train the rest of your body to sit on a bicycle for hours a day, so that means hands, arms, shoulders, back, feet and butt!
Download the 2026 Training Plan
Attached is both an Excel and PDF version of this plan. You can print off the PDF version, or you can put the Excel version on your computer and use it to log your miles.
So let’s hit the road and get 2026 underway!
Coach David Ertl
Find All 2026 Training Blogs
Find all of Coach Ertl’s Training Blogs, as well as the 2026 Training Plan in our Training section on RAGBRAI.com.
David Ertl is a USA Cycling Advanced Certified Coach. He coaches individual cyclists through the Peaks Coaching Group www.peakscoachinggroup.com/davidertl. Ertlalso provides cycling training plans and ebooks at his website: www.CyclesportCoaching.com. You can contact Coach Ertl at: [email protected].
