When I made the fateful decision to restart riding bikes it was in the fall of 2018. I still work full time so that ment riding on the weekends and Fridays since I usually have Friday off. So for year 2018 I might have ridden 2 or 3 hundred miles before cold weather, enough to convince me that the days of riding 50-60 miles on a road bike in a day were gone. But, you know, undaunted I put the bike away for the winter and waited for Spring. So I did do some riding in 2019 but the bulk of the miles came (again) in the fall. Still, I was out of shape, a little better than 2018 but dissatisfied with my riding, I estimate that I rode about 700 miles between Jan 1 and Nov. 1 in 2019.
One thing that I did do in 2019 besides wish I was in better shape was I found on Craigs List a used and broken fluid trainer. I paid $50 for this thing, a Kinetic Road Machine. The trainer sat in a heap in my garage until about Nov. 1st when I got it out and fixed it, it was an easy fix. I installed a Kinetic InRide 3 sensor and got a few other things and Nov. 13, a day that will live in infamy, I opened an account with Zwift.
I'm not a salesmen for anything in the bike industry so take this with a grain of salt, but from Nov 13, 2019 to May 15, 2020, six months, I rode about 3000 trainer miles and climbed about 280,000 virtual feet. My point? I would have never done this on an exercise bike or a trainer that wasn't using an exercise program such as Zwift. Zwift isn't the only one there are others but for $15/month it is difficult to imagine something better.
When I started riding outside this year, after 2 or 3 rides it became apparent that I wasn't the same bicycle rider as I was the previous fall. Of course I did all of the work, I rode a trainer on days I didn't feel like it and there were times when I was in such pain riding basically a stationary bike but when you utilize Zwift (or other program) to it's fullest and keep at it riding 5-6 days a week you are going to get better. I picked up 3-4 miles per hour speed on the flats and I'm pulling hills that I couldn't imagine I would climb this time last year.
It is true that there are some fantastic days for riding left this year, but the season is winding down so I think now would be a good time to start thinking about the winter and making plans. People will say that they get on a stationary bike, turn up their Death Metal to full volume and ride staring at a sit com on the TV but for me at least I get better results riding with other people either in a social ride or race or just to complete a course. You can do all of this in Zwift (or other program) during the winter and be so happy in the spring. I'm going into this winter happy with my abilities but I intend to exit the upcoming winter better than I am now.