I think I've ridden outside for maybe 10 hours this year, not counting races. You get used to it.

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Instagram | Team Kiwami North America

I ride 2-3x per week indoors year round.
Occasionally, I take one extra day to go "play" outside, but it very much feels like a play day, vs the work inside.

I've done trainer 3-5+ times per week though the winter in the PNW with great success. Keep the workouts short <2 hours max, ideally under 90 minutes. 2-3 hard vo2/threshold interval sets per week. I find that I can't do much more than 7-8 minutes repeats at a hard effort indoors where as I can do similar intensity for 10-15 minutes outdoors before losing mental focus.

I toss in a few long outdoor team rides when the weather is nice.

I'm curious about the flexibility of Trainer Road and outside riding as well. I'd love to improve my riding and TR sounds like an amazing platform, but I just can't imagine not going outside especially in a climate with no snow!

Pretty much this. My outdoor rides (outside of racing) are more for fun and fresh air these days. With traffic lights and other possible interruptions outdoors, it's tough to get a structured workout in.

If you're following a TR plan you can substitute outdoor rides anytime you want. There are no consequences to missing an indoor trainer ride. Trainerroad tracks your indoor TSS and keeps a log and details of all your rides with them but you do not need to stick with any specific workout sequence.

I live in Vancouver and I will usually ride the trainer 2-3 times a week during the fall/winter. I also try to make sure I'm riding outside at least once a week on the weekends, even if it's just for an hour. It's rarely cold enough that you can't ride outside, you just have to deal with getting soaked. I typically just ride the trainer because I can only ride early morning or after work and it's dark out.
This will be the first year I will be able to ride with power on the trainer, but in year's past I feel like I haven't gained much at all from it because I personally hate riding the trainer. Some people can gain a lot from it. But I think it depends on your mindset. As Jack said.. keep them short. Anything longer than a couple hours and I go crazy

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Team Every Man Jack

It basically depends on how productive you want your bike time to be and how productive you can be riding outdoors. When I lived in upstate NY, I could do 20 minute intervals completely uninterupted outdoors. When I lived on Long Island I only rode indoors because the traffic/stoplights/stop signs made outdoor cycling completely garbage.

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Tim Russell, Pro Triathlete

Instagram- @timbikerun

Lots of trainer talk lately, I live in the south east so I can really ride outside all year, just getting back into training and racing and plan on doing most of my rides inside. We have a new baby in the house, I should probably replace my old noisy mag CO for a quieter model.

Ok thanks, that's great to hear. I was hoping it wouldn't be too rigid of a plan.

Very similar riding for me here in CO. We still have good mid-day weather but I don't have the time to take advantage except on the weekends. Soooooo, I save up all my binge Netflix watching for trainer season. Just kicked off Season 5 of Walking Dead this past Saturday.

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The secret of a long life is you try not to shorten it.
-Nobody

Yes. Too many idiots behind the wheel. I would do it no matter where I lived. In the summers I occasionally get up and ride around Lake Sammamish about 21 mi. I do it on the weekends only and before most people are up driving. Done by 7ish. I find that I get a better workout on the trainer anyway. Don't get the benefit of coasting.

In Vancouver, just up North from you, you can ride outdoors most days in the winter. It means taking the time to get dressed properly, then riding in cold and wet, cars that might not see you etc.

On TrainerRoad, I get a good effort in an hour or two, watch TV, and the program, and I'm done. I found that TrainerRoad actually made me want to work out on the trainer (In my case, exercise induced asthma also affected by cold and wet also influences my decision.)

However, by the time February/March rolls around, I dread the trainer.....

I got a set of rollers, so I will do that once in a while for a change of pace, to improve pedal stroke and balance.

As I mentioned in another thread, I also just started riding on the track

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Cervelo R3 and Cannondale Synapse, Argon18 Electron Track Bike

I'll be putting in over 12+hrs a week on the trainer this winter. You get used to the 3+hr rides after a while.

See now, there just isn't enough Netflix in the world for me to spend 3+ hours straight on the trainer. ;) You've got more fortitude than I, my friend.

GENIUS! I had forgotten about watching shows while on the trainer. I was envisioning staring at the trainerroad data..

I use Trainer Road, Sufferfest, VeloReality on my Kickr when I can't go outside. It's really hard mentally to stay focused and I usually don't as the week drags on due to bad weather. I don't know how some people up north do it.

It would be interesting if it would be possible to correlate the amount of time people spend on a trainer (doing quality work, not just spinning there) and their success in the bike leg of a triathlon vs people who only ride outside (at least in suburban/city settings). I ride my trainer at least twice a week in the summer, sometimes 3 times. Usually my only outdoor ride is my weekend long ride. I get a better, more focused, workout on the trainer, with way less time overhead than if I were to try to ride outside.

Now, I do happen to have a great place where I can do safe, uninterrupted 20-minute intervals outside so when the weather is conducive I will do stuff like 2x20:00 workouts outside. However if the day's work consists of short VO2 Max intervals or something where its going to really hurt and I need to concentrate on hitting the power numbers instead of where I might be going? Yea trainer...

In the cold/wet/frozen months, everything happens on the trainer (and treadmill for that matter).

This thread is killing me. You can absolutely get a quality outdoor workout in, *under the right circumstances* - I also live on Long Island, and I can easily get in a quality, HIIT workout outdoors, by finding a route with minimal interruptions, and by designing a route that has some hills in it to do intervals. But the key is: you don't attempt a quality workout if the route doesn't give it to you. (side note: My highest-ever FTP test was on an outdoor road bike ride, even including the minimal slowing/stopping/resurging)

Equally the PNW - if you live in the Seattle area, for example, there is ample opportunity for training in hills with little traffic (Issaquah, for example). And the PNW'ers like to tell the rest of us to HTFU w.r.t. the weather, too. But again, it's all about the route.

For those who use Sufferfest, for example, ... I like to view an outdoor route as a potential Sufferfest blank canvas, and take what it gives me. If that hill coming up looks like it will take 4 minutes, then what power or RPE would Sufferfest tell me to ride at for 4 minutes? Do that. If you have a rolling route, this is a perfect alternative to indoor interval workouts. Downhills are recoveries. Take what it gives you; make the most of the climbing opportunities.

(pink) - the following statement may not be ST-approved ... but, we're not in this just to race, right? Don't we become better as people by being and riding outdoors, and engaging with others? :)

I try to ride 2-3 times a week indoor but I have to admit I love my MTB in the winter and getting out in the rain, snow and muck. So much fun and it has helped my skill level on a road bike an amazing amount.

I used to think the same thing. Then we had a baby that I needed to be around to keep an eye on. I set up a trainer instead of being gone on bike rides and ended up getting WAY faster than ever before. Now I only ride outdoors for stuff 2 hours or more. Getting all the kit together, weather, darkness, flat tires, and dealing with traffic isn't worth it when you can just hop on the trainer to get in a killer workout with just bike shorts and shoes. The bike stays on the trainer unless I'm riding outdoors. I watch youtube vids, play Zwift, and ride TrainerView to pass the time while listening to Pandora or podcasts. Works fine. For what it's worth, I live in near Austin where we have pretty good biking weather all year round.

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Zen and the Art of Triathlon. Strava Workout Log
Interviews with Chris McCormack, Helle Frederikson, Angela Naeth, and many more.
http://www.zentriathlon.com

Only thing about TV / netflix is that I find it hard to pay close attention to the plot during hard efforts. You can pay attention most of the time but other times it takes a lot more of concentration just to grind out a hard set and I find I'm better served by just listening to some loud music and grunting it out than trying to pay attention to the TV.

Great for moderate efforts though, and if you want to just add some extra lower-intensity volume I enjoy just hopping on the trainer as a make up or supplementary session during sunday football. If it's a good game then the time seems to fly by, but the trainer can compound the misery if your team is taking a beating.

As for the whole indoor/outdoor debate, while I can ride outside during the winter in CO the lack of daylight hours after work and the cold add enough admin time that it just makes indoor weekday riding far more practical. However, barring weather I'd never give up at least one outdoor ride a week on weekends. While you do get used to riding exclusively on the trainer, much like other things you can 'do' on a computer, the real thing is much better.

If you use Training Peaks it's pretty obvious. I don't ride as hard or as long inside vs outside.

What % of FTP do you do your three hour rides at ?

I live towards a city center and it is fairly dangerous to ride outside. I could drive out to some better paths but it adds a lot of time. So, indoor rides for the short rides, indoor rides for the long rides.

Being outside feels amazing when you get to races.

Quote:

I set up a trainer instead of being gone on bike rides and ended up getting WAY faster than ever before.

+1

Quote:

I was looking through the plans last night and see they have you 3-4 days per week

The Sufferfest training plan is 6 days a week. And coincidentally how I wound up getting WAY faster. ;-)

I can go significantly harder on short efforts indoors with Sufferfest. Especially for stuff like Revolver, 16 x 1' at 135% FTP - that's always a killer!

For long rides of 2+hrs, I much prefer to do them outdoors, and I get higher overall numbers outdoors, probably because it's simply more fun to hammer on the hills than on the trainer.

I am consistently surprised how many people on this forum ride bikes indoors all year round.

I live in a climate where the winters are -30C and there is consistently 10ft of snow so I am forced onto a trainer, however I can't imagine actually choosing it.

It is strange to be doing a sport that involves bicycling and yet evidently not enjoying bicycling itself.

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Run PR's: 18:05 - 36:58 - 1:22:59 - 3:07

...Just out of curiosity, when was the last time you were in Issaquah? I left there a year ago because I had a close-call on just about every single ride in which I wasn't on the trail.

Strongly agree, but I get that some guys are really time limited by family or other obligations and it's just the only way they can make it work on their schedule without giving up the sport entirely.

There are a few others that cite safety as the reason to not ride outside of race day. I'm not so sure that's such a safe decision, vis-a-vis bike handling.

Not so surprising.

If you ride only for enjoyment, yes, that's surprising.

But if you're looking for a time-efficient, targeted workout, like a 2 x 20' @ FTP or similar structured workout, it's far easier logistically to get it done (and quickly!) on a trainer than to find accomodating roads and time of day to do it.

I would be surprised, however, if the majority of Trainerroad users were choosing to ride TR indoors for 2+hrs when they could otherwise go outdoors in reasonable riding conditions.

I'm actually impressed with anyone who is doing targeted FTP-based workouts (like 2 x 20') outdoors at all, since it's logistically such a pain in the rear between the cars, lights, etc.

I ride indoors year round, even in the spring/summer/fall when the weather permits here in Chicago. During the week I ride early in the morning using TrainerRoad exclusively and watching movies. I have it hooked up to a Computrainer and its pretty sweet. I'll also add some additional rides on my rollers to change things up or if I want to do more of a recovery ride. On weekends I do 2-3 hour rides. As somebody else said, you get used to it mentally.

When weather is good, I stay indoors but go outside on the weekends for my long rides. I join a very fast group that makes me suffer the whole 3-4 hours we're out there and I'm barely hanging on even when drafting.

It depends what my coach tells me what to do....but it usually has some tempo in it or SST and zone 2 work...not just spinning.

I ride indoors year round, and bike commute year round. There are pros and cons to both, but I think I prefer the trainer right now.

My coach knows my commute is about 50 minutes each way, so that gets scheduled into my Training as Zone 1 or Zone 2 rides. I do individual TrainerRoad sessions, but haven't done a TrainerRoad training plan, so I'm not sure how much zone 1 or 2 time there is that is easy to do on the Road (I find structured intervals easier to execute well on the trainer, but that's me).

When I first started using a trainer I couldn't imagine preferring it to riding outside. But since I upgraded to a Kickr, and started using Zwift, and TrainerRoad, and Veloreality, I've become one of those guys who prefers the trainer, especially for structured intervals and workouts.

For those in climate with snow; I trade the bike for cross country skate skis. The best cross training I know.

Do interval work on trainer and aerobic rides outside. For outside work use the theme of the TR ride to dictate pace

OK, I just did the 20 min FTP test and I can see how it won't be as bad as I thought.

I liked following the program and watching my line move along during the session. I can see how it will be much more effective than riding around outside for multiple hours. Get in, spend the hour training, be done.

I'm looking forward to seeing improvement!

Thanks for the input guys!

PNW here. I train year-round but not indoors. I run outside nearly every day regardless of weather. I ride outside when it's dry, or wet and warm. Wet and cold sucks. When weather is like that then I ride in the garage. Maybe twice a week for an hour on the trainer? I can do the rest outside.

yeah you get used to it. I actually enjoy it as you can have a very controlled and efficient ride on the trainer. I have done 3-4 trainer rides a week during a few off seasons and come out in the spring a much better biker. Plus its college basketball season so if I need just a long endurance ride I put on the badger game and just ride.

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"Before you make it to the finish, You have to make it to the start."

I live in Georgia weather is usually pretty good here and I hardly ever ride outside. Takes to much time to and the workout is not as effective as using my trainer, too many people seem to be getting hit or crashing also

Only down side you get from months on trainer is back/shoulders are not used to road pounding. Did 70.3Fl this yr after like 5-6 months all on trainer my legs were good but my upper body fell apart in that race.

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2024: Bevoman, Galveston, Alcatraz, Marble Falls, Santa Cruz

For me it's safety, ride quality, weather, and time constraints (I live in middle of NYC).

This might be blasphemy, but I'm going to go ahead and say it... I don't enjoy casual bike rides all that much. None of my close friends ride for fun (hell I don't think any of them own bikes), so riding is not a social activity for me. I enjoy racing and biking hard, and I want to train to optimize that racing in the most efficient way possible, which just happens to make the trainer an ideal solution (given the other constraints I mentioned above). The statement that all triathletes should always pick riding outdoors rather than indoors if those constraints didn't exist seems to be accepted as sort of a de facto truth on this board that I don't necessarily buy into.

I only accept the bike handling argument to a certain extent; however, I rode so much outdoors when I started that I don't think I ever lost much of that skill (maybe a little bit but I'm probably just a little clumsy on the bike period). Plus, I do enough "C" and "B" races during the year to refresh the outdoor riding skills a bit.

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Strava

Can someone suggest a good show?

I was watching GofT while riding my trainer, all of sudden that a$$hole burned his own daughter alive!
It was like hit by a car. I had to stop riding coz I was in so much shock and disgust.

It's getting dark now so rides after work are limited.

I like the social part of riding. Anyone else group ride - any road cyclists out there?

anyways if i only had a tri bike i can see how riding on the trainer indoors would be best.

Some great options....most have multiple seasons so can easily get through many weeks of training....

The Wire
The Shield
Breaking Bad
Mad Men
Justified

Hell, some of those series are so good, you'll want to hit the trainer just to get a couple of episodes in. (pink-ish)

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Chicago Cubs - 2016 WORLD SERIES Champions!!!!

"If ever the time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." - Samuel Adams

I see much less of my CompuTrainer now that I have a CX bike, proper clothing and a really good bike light.

The trainer has been the single most important tool in my progression on the bike. If I could stay motivated to be on it during the summer in Boulder, I would do it more often. Hit that trainer hard.

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New Training/Racing Log - http://www.earthdaykid.com/blog --- Old Training/Racing Log - http://colinlaughery.blogspot.com

Jack - I've followed your progress a bit and noticed you're a very strong rider. Care to share a basic layout for a training week on the bike? We're about the same age and I can't afford a coach. I do almost all of my riding on the trainer. 2x90 minute rides with intervals, 1x2 hour long ride with tempo and big gear work. Curious how you structure a winter week geared towards getting fast on the bike. Thanks!

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"Don't you have to go be stupid somewhere else?"..."Not until 4!"

Yep, been training on the bike 7 days a week on the indoor trainer for years.

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Dave Campbell | Facebook | @DaveECampbell | h2ofun@h2ofun.net

Boom Nutrition code 19F4Y3 $5 off 24 pack box | Bionic Runner | PowerCranks | Velotron | Spruzzamist

Lions don't lose sleep worrying about the sheep

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