Hermes

I use a coach and have been for the last 10 years. I know what works for me. I went the coach route since I did not want to waste time reading books, planning and trying to figure out what works for the time I have available.

BF members love to debate training protocols and really love to debate strength training and its impact on cycling performance. I find it interesting and sometimes it provides confirmation bias to what I already believe to be true and works or does not work for me.

IMO, the most effective and efficient use of time is an indoor solution. I have no personal experience with Peloton and its training protocols, but I met a couple on a cycling tour who used it and were very pleased. They were solid cyclists and the man did a race that I have done in the past and did very well - podium.

The husband founded a company and has purchased a couple of Peloton bikes for his employees at work and has one at home. He subscribes to their workouts. He is able to use the bike at work and home and it is very efficient use of his time. It takes me 20 minutes just to get dressed and out of the house and then start riding assuming I do not have to load the bike in the car and drive somewhere. If all I had to do was turn on a stationary bicycle and put on bike shorts, that would be a huge time saver.

So if you want simple, state of the art, maximum time on the bike with minimum overhead, then a Peloton style solution is the best. Everything else will take more time. And with an indoor solution, one does not have to deal with falling off ones horse, weather and the myriad of other costs and issues that accompany outdoor cycling and training.

The guy who used the Peloton said it translated well to the road.

Finally, it is easy to become fit on 5 hours per week. In fact, that is a lot of time. It is not a lot of time to become competitive at any sport at a higher level be it cycling, golf, tennis, running or anything.

Indoor solutions for limited time are the best.