Really strange, especially because bicycling is such a great sport, and sitting on the trainer is the worst, most boring, most tedious form of bicycling possible. I've tried everything--multiple Kickrs, flat panel TVs and monitors, Trainerroad, Perfpro, Sufferfest, etc.--to try to 'adapt' to the trainer, and I just end up getting burnt out. People adapt to prison too, you know--that doesn't mean we should go.

Further, I don't come close to getting as fit by riding indoors as I do outdoors, and I've never been able to maintain the same watts on the trainer. I'd rather have a barium enema than do 2 x 20 workouts every week for a season.

To each his own, but this winter I'll be ripping around in the great outdoors, logging big rides at a high tempo and enjoying it. Yesterday was a beautiful fall day, and I went out and did 3 hours on the fat bike at 0.77, crushing the uphills and Strava segments because it was fun as all hell. Not once did I look at the clock or obsess over my power. To the Scott Bradley's and Andy Potts' of the world, and all the other people pretending Zwift isn't just a poor attempt at gamification of an inherently awful past time, ride on!

I never rode the trainer once last winter. We are a snow state & I'll put on all the battle gear & fight the elements before I bore myself on a trainer. If it is just silly brutal (less than 25 F), I may opt for the trainer, but I just swim & run on those days or lift usually...better yet, XC ski.

Last winter I did 2-3 sessions/week on the trainer using Zwift, Sufferfest movies (these are very good), and sometimes just watching a movie or tv serie on my dumb trainer. I also did a few intervals with no screen at all (boring). I usually do sessions around 45m to 1h indoor.

This winter I will use TrainerRoad (just signed up), Zwift, Sufferfest and some occational tv watching with my new 82" screen with a projector. I will also combine this training with a newly bought rowing machine (used Concept 2 model C), as well as masterclass for swimming and some outdoor running. I will not do any outdoor cycling during the winter since the weather i usually poor here (cold, rain, windy and snow), but might do it if I had a mountainbike.

Add me to the list that trains inside during the work week year round. I live near Atlanta so if work and home life did not make my schedule so tight I could train outside year round, but I have to do what I have to do. At least by putting in a decent effort during the time crunched work week I am not getting shelled off the back of a frisky weekend group ride and I am able, at times, to dish out my share of pain to the rest of the group. Friends making friends suffer is the game we play or so it seems :-)

If I suffer indoors I can hopefully make someone suffer on the weekend :-) Kidding of course
Reality is most of the time it is to minimize the suffering my friends will dish out sprinting every roller they approach.


That keeps me motivated during those indoor intervals.

I love bicycling, but circumstances dictate that I do around one hour indoors for every three hours of riding I do. The bulk of it occurs during the winter (which is mercifully short in Virginia) but during the spring and fall daylight is often limited or I need to keep my options flexible to stop immediately for something else. The way I look at it, I get in 33% more riding because of the trainer. In my bachelor days I think my trainer time was closer to 5%, so life happens and you make the best of it.

I would guess most of the people who do the majority of riding indoors do it out of necessity, not choice. I can, at best, fit in one outdoor ride each week. On weekdays, I can choose between an efficient trainer workout or not riding. I still love cycling, so doing it on the trainer is better than not doing it at all!

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-Andrew