Start Here Before You Add More

Written By Gemma Mollenhauer

We recently collaborated with our friends at Bicycle Network on two articles that get to the heart of something we see every day in the fit studio. (Note: articles linked at the end of this article).

The idea of a baseline

At Baseline, we talk about this a lot.
A baseline is not your peak fitness. It’s not your best week on Strava. It’s what your body can consistently tolerate. It’s your foundation. The quiet stuff that doesn’t show up on paper but shows up everywhere else. How stable you feel on the bike. How well you recover. Whether your body adapts or starts to push back.

When that foundation is there, you can build.
When it’s not, things start to unravel.

Before the load rises

In the first article, we break down what to check before increasing your training load.
This isn’t about overcomplicating things. It’s about being honest about where you’re at.

A few key themes:

  • Are you recovering between sessions, or just getting through them

  • Does your body feel stable under effort, or are you compensating

  • Are small niggles starting to creep in

  • Can you repeat sessions without a drop-off in quality

Most riders skip this step. They feel good for a few weeks, so they keep building. Then something tips: maybe its a sore knee or a tight lower back or just small power drop that doesn’t make sense. That’s not bad luck. That’s load outpacing capacity.

Strength is not optional

The second article looks at strength training, and why it plays such a big role in cycling.

Cycling is repetitive. It asks the same muscles to do the same job, over and over again.
What it doesn’t do well is:

  • build bone density

  • expose you to varied movement

  • challenge stability outside a single plane

Strength training fills that gap.

Not to make you a gym athlete.
But to make you a more robust cyclist.

When done well, it gives you:

  • more control through the pedal stroke

  • better force transfer

  • less reliance on passive structures like joints and tendons

  • a bigger buffer before pain or injury shows up

What we see in the studio

Across bike fits and physio sessions, the pattern is consistent. Riders come in with pain or frustration. Something feels off. We look at the bike, but we also look at the body behind it. Often the setup isn’t the whole issue. It’s that the body doesn’t quite have the capacity to support the position or the load.

You can adjust a bike. But if the baseline isn’t there, you’re always working around something.

Where to start

If you’re building towards something this season, this is your reminder to zoom out.

Before you add more, ask:

  • Can I hold what I’m already doing

  • Am I recovering well

  • Do I feel stable and in control on the bike

If the answer is no, that’s not a setback.

That’s your starting point.

Read the full articles

You can dive deeper into both pieces here:

Gemma Mollenhauer https://thebaseline.cc
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Patterns from the Fit Studio: Insights from 97 Riders