LOL this is so true

Yep; everything you listed plus nutrition, hydration, and stocked repair kit. And don’t forget having to wash the clothes and perhaps the bike when finished. I’ve got a dedicated bike on the trainer, shoes, and old iPhone setup for Zwifting. All it takes is a pair of bike shorts and I’m riding. That said I would ride outside every day and twice on Sunday if we had fall like weather all the time.

Omg, this is my EVERY spring..... takes about 5 or 6 rides to get the outside set-up back into easy/efficient ..... always a struggle for me.... but jumping on the trainer, always easy...

Haha yes! Big pain in the butt, especially when its cold out

The worst is that anxiety/excitement feeling in the ten minutes leading up to clipping in...my hr is always over 100 when i start my workout recording. Never get that on the trainer..

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Strava

Add in I'm now even more freaked by d'head drivers then I've almost lost my outdoor cycling mojo.

The other 'frustration' is that I tend to group ride when outside riding, and so there's the faffing time at the start of ride, then when you get a series of punctures (think we had about 5 per ride for a while), so lots of stop/starting. You forget how efficient zwift is for GSD riding (Gettin Sh1t Done).

lol at my wife as I rode down the driveway and she was checking to see if her Bluetooth, ant+, wifi router was plugged in cause that was tech supports best idea after a 30 min hold.

Not really - but god forbid once it all finally works it doesn’t upload to strava cause if it ain’t there we know it didn’t really happen.

Inside isn’t always simpler if you ask me.

It's unfortunate - one of my greatest joys, period, is doing group rides outdoors. They're so fun, no matter what the speed! (Ok, if it's toooo slow, not as fun, but that's rarely the case even if you're the strongest one.)

But yeah, the group stoppage is an absolute killer for those on any sort of schedule. Even if COVID was absent, I get in like 2 group rides per year now since it's time crunched with young kid, job and working wife.

My wife loves that I use Zwift, for obvious reasons!

I was thinking this the other day - it is like two different sports for me. I am on my trainer 95% of the time - purely for fitness (nothing actually enjoyable about it). The other 5% when I am outside, it is fun to see the scenery and cover ground with a group, but feels much less about training, and much more about either racing or sight seeing.

I love outdoor riding, but the time commitment and the increased danger don't make it worthwhile most of the time (I live in the heart of Toronto).

Isn’t there an epic thread for crying like this? Life is too short not to spend as much of it as you can outdoors.

Sounds dangerous and arduous.
Looks like outdoor riding isn’t for you.
Better stay indoors.

Just described my ride today in an eerily similar fashion. And I have yet had to deal with a strong cross wind on a descent when riding on Strava....

I haven't ridden indoors since January, and gosh it's been glorious. Wish it's been a little bit colder, but I think I'll be pushed indoors easily by May. Lucky enough to have easy cycling spots right out the door.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Now that I ride indoors 95% of the time, I think about the past me who would (1) prep for the outdoor ride, including downloading courses, etc. (2) load the bike on the car (including rigging the bike rack) and drive 30 min to the start of the group ride (3) screw around waiting for the start (4) ride (5) reverse (2) and burn 4-5 hours for a 2-3 hour group ride. I still love riding outdoors, but the efficiency and safety of the indoor trainer wins almost every time.

No kidding. There's a group near me that has an organized ride nearly every day and during the ride it's good hard fun. But, they never start on time and take a 15+ minute break halfway into a 30 mile ride. Ugh!

Btw, I'm not talking about the normal 5 minute late start. They pretty consistently start 10-20 minutes late.

There's another group that starts the usual 5 or so minutes late but every single f'ing ride is preceded with "which way are we going" and yet 99.9% of the time we go the exact same f'ing way for the first 25ish miles. Mind you I'm totally fine with that route but come on, we all know we're going that way, why have the damn conversation at all.

I'm just the opposite. I think it takes me longer. It's only been about 3 weeks since I've been on Zwift, that could change as I dial in the routine

Got to pull the kickr out of the corner
move the cart that everything sits on out of the corner, don't forget to lock the wheels
put the bike on the kickr
move the fan away from the wall, plug that in. I will say though that 5000 on medium & 5700 cfm on high of air flow is nice
bring the laptop over, plug that in
find the ceiling fan remote, turn it on 2 to start
open nthe back slider to let in the cold air, vent out the warm humid air.
get the tv & stereo remotes turn on tv which turn on the receiver switch that to USB so I can listen to a lot of metal, some hip hop and alternative (no country bc that stuff sucks ass. Who wants to listen to some dude whine about his GF breaking up w/him bc he cheated on her, please...the sooner that genre dies the better the planet will be. ymmv....but it shouldn't)
find the stupid dongle thing
boot up zwift which fucking takes forever it seems.
connect laptop to tv and cast it to the tv
get bottles from fridge. Grab a clif bar if going >2h + a mini clif bar if going ~ 2.5-3.
don't forget your shoes.

When I ride outside all my gear is in the same 2 spots. all the bibs, jerseys, socks & chamois cream in one spot. helmet glasses, nutrition, arm/knee warmers, vest, etc in another. Takes <10 min to get kitted up & out the door.

Of course living in Tucson the outdoor riding is pretty awesome, hard for zwift to compete. You can pop in the ear buds and go ride for 3h of which 2:54 minutes (for me anyway) is in a car free environment and still come home with an IF of .85 if you wanted.

(Although if you're always around .85 IFs you're leaving time on the table)

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Hah - that's normal for non-regular Zwifters.

If you finally commit to having a permanent or semi-permanent Zwift setup, the bike will be already on the Zwift, you'll may have a dedicated Zwift device or at least a device that's very fast to hook up (like my Macbook) and loads super fast, and you can be up and riding in under 5 minutes. I know it's under 5 minutes because I've rushed to a Tour De Zwift scheduled at a certain time with under 5 minutes and easily made it with time to spare.

Then again, you live in Tuscon with outdoor year-round riding which is still 'more fun' than Zwift for sure, and you've been doing it for so long now that there may very well be no need for you to get a permanent Zwift setup.

I think the problem is you not in the groove of outdoor riding. Everything you said should barely take 5 minutes if it is all stored and prep positioned in the right place that should take no time out of your ongoing day. Its when you do it all at once that it takes extra time. Have everything set up like you're transitioning from swim to bike and it should be fine. You really don't need to pump up your tires every ride if you are riding butyl and you don't need electronics on every ride either.

I haven't ridden outside since September. I probably won't until April. Now I'm sad..... :-(

For me, going outside is only marginally more time consuming than going outside. All my gear (and ride snacks + Gatorade) is hanging up or on a shelf in the room with my Zwift bike. Just have to pop the bike off the trainer, swap wheels (indoor only tire on it now, and the front tire is completely worn out, unsuitable for the roads. I use it because I have a butyl tube in it, and my outside wheels have latex.) and put on a couple extra pieces of clothing. But I don't have to wait for Zwift to boot up, pick a playlist, or turn on fans.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

after all these years you need chamois creme? Those areas should be hardened like tree bark.

Hahaha you'd think 10k+ km's a year and that would be the case. If anything I require more chamois creme these days than in my youth. Especially riding inside.

I will say that if on Friday you asked me if I'd ever spend 3+ hours on a trainer I'd say no. Hit 5:45 on Zwift on Saturday but backed that up with 4:10 + another 1125m of climbing on Sunday...outside.
Finally starting to feel some bike fitness show up for the first time since probably September!

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Hmmmmmm this is a good point. W/the GF about to move in, she's on the phone/zoom/video calls all day especially M-W. I'm losing my office to her. (bc no one wants to listen to the latest to senior leadership meetings and marketing strategies from a beauty company) I'm installing a container/shed of some sorts in the backyard as my office/man cave so the doggie and I aren't subject to product launch timing calls.

I switched to disc brakes for the TT bike, will be switching to disc brakes for the roadie at some point. Maybe I just leave my current road bike on the kicker out there once that's built out?

That would save me from having to buy a new e trainer bc my kicker is an older model that you can't swap the drop outs on.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

No, you definitely need disc brakes on the indoor trainer. N+1.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

Everything the OP said, plus Duncan74's addition about group-induced delays, is very true. There's always one guy who's late so the ride never starts on time. The coffee break/ pit stop at the turnaround point can drive me nuts too. Once on the bike I do not want to stop; once off the bike for more than five minutes and I do not want to re-start. For those of us who live in a city, another frustrating aspect is that it takes about 40 minutes of stop-start riding to get to open roads where we can really open it up. It's like I have a very long warm-up and cool-down. Complaints aside, an outdoor ride with friends is as good as it gets and there are so many wonderful routes in and around Chicago. The autumn rides can be amazing.

Everyone should take an intro course in lean manufacturing.

A place for everything and everything in its place. Right tool for the right job at the right time. Etc.......

People spend sooooo much money on bikes and trainers but don't spend the relative dimes and nickels to make training setup faster.

-own a saddle bag for every bike you ride with the stuff in it you already need for that bike

-get spare GPS and rear light mounts for each bike you ride, setup a good charging area in the house

-you probably already own a helmet or shoes specific to TT versus road etc.......or a set of trainer only shoes......keep them with the bike you're going to ride......same for the helmet

-keep your bike clothes organized.........if it takes longer to dress for cold ugly weather.....make a cold weather clothes "kit". Just grab the single hanger with the big tights, LS jersey, base layer, socks, shoe covers, gloves. LS jersey on the innermost, then bib tights, then outermost base layer on the hanger. That's the order you'd don your clothes in so you don't waste time. Base layer, then bib tights (I tuck my base layer under the upper bib tight straps and such), then LS jersey/jacket)

-know what route you'll ride ahead of time and have them stowed in whatever system you use, fire up the GPS on the bike while you're getting dressed. Spin the power meter to wake it up and zero it also while dressing.

-shoot, if you trust yourself on a tire pinch test......run butyl in training so you don't need to maybe pump up but once a week or so.......if that.


My last Zwift venture will be to buy another Mac that I don't have to re-setup the computer each time I Zwift. Otherwise I have that setup optimized pretty well.