I do intervals on the trainer in the summer, but it also has to do with trying to time workouts around family life and sometimes a 9pm trainer ride is required.

However 1 hr of hard intervals on the trainer always seems like a tougher workout than 1 hr outside.

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trainer for during the week for me. I think it is safer and a better workout. Google it but at one time andy potts did all workouts on his trainer.

I do most of my speedwork on the trainer all year(when I'm training).I can just close my eyes and focus on pushing myself as hard as I can without worrying about getting hit by a car.It is a good time management thing as well.

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I do. Outside is mostly long rides on weekends now.

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Gnothi Seauton.

X2 for me. Just more efficient to knock out a 45min to 1 hr interval session in my house than to load up everything and head out for a ride. I also think the trainer gives me a better workout for intervals (I use Spinervals & CTS videos mostly when I use the trainer).

I will ride my trainer during the summer if the sun actually fails to rise one day.

I end up on the trainer during the summer months from time to time for most of the same reasons mentioned above. One reason not mentioned though is one legged drills, the trainer is great for them.

Travis
dumb blog

I do all of my cycling on the CT except a weekend long ride or races. Last weekend life got in the way of my long ride on the roads so I wound up doing 54 on the trainer sunday night. I do most all of my training at 10:00 at night so I'm not wild about getting out on the roads at that time.

JJ

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Every night that I run, the thought crosses my mind that there's no way in hell I'll still be running a month from now.

Never, although i can see the benefit of being able to do intervals without worrying about holding a line.

My legs always ache more after a hard ride outside. The varying terrain is good for you too imo.

I do some high intensity intervals indoors. Only indoors once a week max during summer unless there are lots of thunderstorms. My trainer is in the basement so my workout does not have to be interrupted even for a tornado.

God no. Life is too short.

I live in the middle of a pretty dense urban area that requires about 90 mins of gridlock traffic driving to get out to an open (and safe) road for a Tuesday interval workout. So it's been midweek indoors, weekends outdoors, for the last few years. From a time-management perspective it makes sense, but it sucks no matter how you cut it.

Also, depending on the time of the year, I can see a pretty large variation between the numbers i can produce for indoor and outdoor FTPs, so my ride analysis and TSS's in WKO can get a little wonky. Then again, I'm not exactly setting the world on fire on the bike, so lazer accuracy in my ride analysis is probably not all that big a deal.

I rode my mountain bike about twice last year and one time was an off road duathlon. Most trainers are boring and riding them is like watching paint dry. But the Computrainer is a different beast as long as you have it hooked up to a computer with a monitor and have the mindset of processing all the loads of information that is on the screen. Like I said, I did 54 miles last sunday on it and had no problem with boredom. I've got a dozen mp3 playlists that I can crank up and the computer takes care of that too. Running the CT just off the headset is about like any other trainer though.


JJ

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Every night that I run, the thought crosses my mind that there's no way in hell I'll still be running a month from now.

Been doing mid-week intervals on the trainer, although for the life of me I struggle to get HR up. On the road it seems I can go harder - on the trainer, the legs give out well before HR gets beyond Z3.

Weekdays are crazy for me, work, kids, etc.. During the week I do 2x20 or 2x30 intervals @~95%ftp on the rollers, usually do 2/week. Done in 60 - 90min. Tough, but effective. Long rides on the weekends..

It seems like most of the reasons given are time management.

What about performance? It seems that if I'm supposed to do 3 intervals for ten minutes at say 225 watts I can keep the interval at that plus or minus 5 on the trainer but on the road I can't. The variation is all over the place on the open road.

As far as boredom goes, I'd say I'm suffering so much that boredom is such a minor annoyance that it doesn't even register except during warm up and cool down.

I do a good bit of my training rides on my trainer during the week. I live in the city. it is hard to get out and do long tempo work or intervals with a ton of stop lights. Or it takes to long to get out of the city & ride.

I do my long rides on the weekends outside no doubt.

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I'm another trainer-during-the-week guy. Much quicker to get in a workout after work, and the controlled environment can really make for some worthwhile intervals or whatever. Plus weekday city traffic limits my route selection anyways.

I still use mine a little during the dry season, not for major workouts, but maybe some easy spinning to kinda loosen up while watching TV in the evening, or when tweaking little things like fine-tuning the aerobar positioning for different events coming up in the next couple weeks (i'll adjust my position slightly more aggressive for shorter events or TTs w/ no running, and then go a bit less aggressive for longer Tri training/events; much easier to change something, ride it a bit, maybe re-tweak it and ride some more and repeat, all while at home as opposed to out on the road somewhere) rather than dicking around with that sort of thing on the weekend when it's time to get in a bigger ride.

As was mentioned in the other replies, I use it to get a quality workout when time is an issue all year round.

It is important to do a structured workout so the trainer time is well spent.

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Bike Centric Art

I agree with most. I bike long outdoors on the weekends, sometimes I get a chance to go out during the week at night, depending on weather, sunlight, and family schedule.

I use the CT mostly for spinning out my legs for recovery from a race or long run and watch a movie (usually no plots and high action scenes). My CT time is usually around 9pm, which means...I gotta go!!

Riding and training are supposed to be a pleasurable experience. I can think of nothing less pleasurable than spending time on the winter ball-and-chain when I have beautiful (or at a minimum tolerable) weather outside. There are just too many aspects of riding terrain that you can't hit on the trainer. Sure, it's good for a high density, shortened workout. But I'd take 2 hours on the road over 1 hour on the trainer any day of the year. I give credit to all of you mental warriors that can embrace and overcome the drain of the indoor trainer.

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"The right to party is a battle we have fought, but we'll surrender and go Amish... NOT!" -Wayne Campbell

  I wonder how much of it depends on topography where you live. Since vikingmd is an old friend, I know he lives where it's hilly. Being a flatlander, I can keep my effort pretty close to where I want it to be when riding outdoors. Thus I never really use my Computrainer in the summer.
But I often wonder if people who live where it's insufferably hot use their trainer for a couple months in the summer like I use mine for several months in the winter.