A tempo ride in cycling is a steady, moderately hard effort you can sustain for a relatively long time without fading.
Most riders perform tempo work between easy endurance and threshold intensity.
In practice, tempo rides are often done around Zone 3 and feel controlled but purposeful: breathing is deeper, conversation is shorter, and legs stay under tension.
The main goal is to build muscular endurance and improve your ability to hold power for long events, climbs, or race segments.
Tempo sessions are especially useful during base and build phases because they add quality training load without the extreme fatigue of high-intensity intervals.
When programmed correctly, tempo riding helps you become more durable, more efficient, and better prepared for sustained efforts in real-world cycling.