I believe I am far stronger on the bike thanks to indoor cycling. If you are following a good, structured training plan, your workout quality will be higher inside versus outside. It is very difficult to get the same quality on intervals or sustained moderate to high efforts in the wild.

Even if you are unable to get a few outdoor rides before the race, what you might give up in comfort and handling adaption will be far exceeded by top-end strength.

I got an Olympic PR, and fastest ever Olympic bike split, last summer, after nearly 100% indoor riding for a year and a half. Not only do I get better workouts, but it’s so hassle free, that I’m inclined to ride more often, and longer.

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Athlinks / Strava

Exact same as the 2 posts above

Hit twice by cars while riding went to exclusively indoors

Faster and more convenient

From about October-March, my bike training is exclusively indoors. In the past I've then switched to almost 100% outdoors, but this year I am going to try a 50/50 split of indoors and outdoors because I agree with previous posters that there are so many advantages to riding inside, the biggest of which for me is the safety aspect. Over the past few years I have felt less and less safe out on the roads. I've had a couple of fairly bad crashes and several close encounters of the vehicle kind.

I don't think training indoors will negatively affect your race performance as long as you are doing quality workouts on the trainer. My only other concern would be bike-handling skills. If you are already a very experienced rider, I don't think this is an issue for you.

after a few knee replacements, and other factors (laziness), after an almost 20 year layoff, I (barely) finished a sprint last summer. I'm curious what how you use the Peloton? Personally I feel like I need to work on increasing my resistance to a level that feels most like outdoor riding. Currently I train longer rides, at 45- low 50's resistance, low to mid 80s rpm, but feel like low to mid 60's should be a goal, then work on upping my cadence. Thoughts, other feedback ?

Thanks !

Apart from my daily commute (from a parking area to work on a cycle path) - I train 99% indoors for the bike. Time savings (massive) and also living on a highway doesn't help - with multiple deaths per year on the road put me right off...

As others have said - structured training is so so much better

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Regards, Richard

I’ve loved training mostly indoors. For years I refused to ride any indoors, but it’s so much more efficient and safer. With the new direct drive trainer tech and zwift, trainerroad, and other software, it’s great training and close-ish to road feel.

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My Strava | My Instagram | Summerville, SC | 35-39 AG | 4:41 (70.3), 10:05 (140.6) | 3x70.3, 1x140.6 | Cat 2 Cyclist

Indoor training improves your triathlon bike results, no doubt about it.

Just do a few (or more if needed) outdoor longer rides with your race setup to make sure the equipment all works and that you have enough handling skills to not worry about it.

Watch out that you don't drip sweat into your headset and rust it out - this happens a LOT if you are leaving your bike on the trainer most of the time and only riding outdoors intermittently. It doesn't take much sweat to get in there - I suspect that it's sweat left unmoved for awhile (meaning you're not turning the handlebars periodically as you would on an outdoor ride) that lets it really seize and corrode.

But don't let it suck your soul away and make you forget about the joy of riding outdoors. A bunch of folks have done this - moved to all indoors, forgot their initial reasons for even riding in the first place (joy of outdoors etc) and then quit cycling altogether because they've come to see outdoors as all hassle with no upside.

I have gone to indoors cycling after being hit. I can see myself getting out on trails, bike paths and maybe gravel (certain gravel roads possibly), but being on the road with some motorists who are impaired, distracted, impaired and distracted is a no go for me. I follow a Zwift plan and try to jump into group rides on Zwift. I think indoor riding has many benefits and opportunities to push myself. I would caution you to avoid alot of junk miles because I think junk miles can lead to indoor training fatigue especially mental fatigue.

Rode outdoors the summer I got my bike ~3 years ago. I've been mostly on the trainer the last 2.5 years & have continued to improve at every distance. I get outside in the spring-fall maybe 1-2 times/week, for a workout & long ride. Feel like the trainer has a lot of advantages, like being able to do structured workouts where you pedal the whole time at the exact power you want. Unless you have a good fan, or even if you do, it's likely going to be warmer riding indoors than outdoors. The biggest negative is that you're not getting in any bike handling but I find a few days outside before a race is just fine.

I love riding indoors. My training is 95% indoors or maybe a little more. I used TrainerRoad for years, but switched to Zwift because of the erg mode in TR. I found that Zwift engages my muscles to more closely mimic the feel of riding the road. TR is great fur building strength though.

"but switched to Zwift because of the erg mode in TR"

What is the downside to using erg mode in TR?
Thanks!

Riding steady state at one wattage is nothing like riding on outdoor terrain.

THANKS! In your opinion is it effective in just plain building strength (getting faster)?

Definitely.

I do 8 or 9 out of 10 rides indoors. Love my LeMond and Kickr for different reasons. I found going from trainer to Wattbike is when I saw a significant improvement in performance. Try to ride the rollers once a week too....

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To go faster than ever before, visit: https://squareup.com/...mic-high-performance

it's scary (and sad) to think how many people have been hit while riding. I now DRIVE 15 miles to find an off-road path because as someone suggested, we don't want to lose that enjoyment of riding outdoor. The shame is that I'm driving past gorgeous farms and hills that I used to love riding but am afraid of distracted drivers.