Barrettscv 

It's -6 Fahrenheit this morning. I'm perfectly willing to ride outdoors during winter, but not in this weather.

I'll be the first to admit that riding a trainer or stationary bike indoors is never going to be a replacement for riding outdoors on a nice day. However, cycling indoors has its advantages;

Weather independence
Safety
Fitness improvements
Efficient use of time

Who else is using the trainer? Tell us what your indoor routine is like. Do you train at home or at a club or bike shop? How often a month do you train? What are your goals? What hardware do you use? Are you using an App, such as Zwift?

dennis336

For the first time in around 3 years, I dusted off my trainer yesterday. Just too cold along with a light snow that added to the crash risk. With the forecast for the next couple of weeks, I expect I'll use it at least a few more times. Road just under an hour ... can't say I enjoy indoor riding but, at this stage of life (64 years old), don't want to let too many days slip by without riding as it gets harder to get back in shape! Dang, this has been a cold start to the winter season :-(

GadgetGirlIL

Minus 9 here in the western suburbs of Chicago. No hope of even seeing the 20's until next Sunday when I plan to get outside on my bike again.


I'll be heading to my fitness center to ride on the stationary bike. I used to own a trainer but no longer have a good place in my house to use it. Indoor minutes just seem to be so much longer than outdoor minutes so a trainer just isn't a good investment for me to make.

Barrettscv 

Welcome to Bikeforums!

deacon mark

-10 this morning and no will not be going out have been living on the indoor trainer. I go out when most people do not but this is way too cold and any ice it a no no. Broke my hip 2 years ago hitting ice patch I fear ice any at or slick conditions.

dennis336

Thanks! Been lurking for a while but just posted for the first time!

ericy

I don't get home until late tomorrow, but I would be on the trainer(Kickr) with Zwift if I were home.

I can't stand the machines at the gym - I call that "chasing the orange dot". Not only is it mind-numbingly boring, but the seats they put on those machines are most uncomfortable, and usually after about 30 minutes I can't stand sitting any longer.

Once I get into a routine, it is usually a couple of times a week - weekdays is usually 30-45 min. A weekend ride is usually a couple of hours. I try and incorporate hill and mountain climbing - I think my next goal is to climb the radio tower.

mightymax

For years, I used to ride up until about Thanksgiving then go indoors for the winter and use the training stand. Then about 4 years ago, I pushed myself to Winter ride and now ride outdoors all year, weather permitting. Well since it is going on two weeks now that the temperature outside is crazy cold. I cleaned and lubed up the old trainer and put a bike on it. I ride it a couple of miles here and there only because I find it to be excrutiatingly boring! So yes I use an indoor trainer but no I don't use it for any appreciable amount of time!
God I want it to get to 20 degrees so I can get outdoors!

Max Bryant

ericy

For me Zwift is a game-changer. I never even contemplated getting a trainer until I saw a setup in a LBS this past summer. I immediately got the concept, and started planning for it.

It kind of started a few years back - I was in the gym and they had these machines that were sort of like a mountain bike with a virtual-reality type of thing on the screen. The machines had their issues, but I actually got stoked about riding it. Eventually I completed all 80 levels in the thing, the machine ran the credits of all of the people who worked on it, and it lost the magic. The gym never maintained the machines very well, and eventually they took them out as few people seemed to ride them (if they had maintained them, more people might have ridden them). Long story short, it was my experience with these other machines that got me to quickly appreciate what Zwift was doing.

OldsCOOL

Never!!!

PaddleFoot

Every single day and loving it (Zwift+KickR). Best purchase of 2017!

I do look forward to temperature forecasts that do not start with a "-", "0", or "1", so I can ride outside again.

mapeiboy

-25c to -34c for the last 2 weeks and this week is not much better . I will stay with the trainer till April .

ddub

Smart trainer, laptop, big screen with Zwift or TrainerRoad. I don't really mind the indoor training as it can be keyed to a very structured workout. That said, I can only endure about 90min mentally. No traffic, no stoplights and no coasting.

Bob Ross

I'm proud to say I have never used a trainer in my life. There is simply nothing that I ride a bike for that can happen indoors on a stationary device.

If the weather isn't conducive to riding outdoors I figure that's the universe's way of telling me to do something else.

momsonherbike

Put the road bike on the trainer last week in the Living Room now that the daytime temps are in the bitter cold 20s and teens. I just log onto YouTube on my tablet, set the tablet on the center of my handlebars, and enjoy the fun company of a group of good looking young French guys riding the French countryside while a "trainer" tells me when to warm up, and when to push by displaying bars of varying levels of intensity. Inside of 10 minutes I'm working up a sweat, but enjoying immensely the route, the other riders, the thumping music, and the ride.

I do my riding at 8pm every night with the French guys while hubby is in the Family Room watching his favorite primetime tv shows.

FBinNY 

I basically gave up on the indoor trainer years ago. Now I use a rowing machine. The legs still get some work, but it also helps with the core and back, which I feel is important, since they don't get any help during the season.

BTW- no claim that this is scientific, just that it seems to work for me.

sempre1

Every day for me. Same here way too cold till April, i find hard to pedal the first 15/20 minutes indoor but after that i'm ok.

derf36

I sure did.

I ride indoors on my trainer from late October until late March.

I'm a TrainerRoad junkie and ride three times per week, for a total of 3-3.5 hours/week. It helps me start my outdoor riding season with pretty good fitness. It's weird because I more than double my weekly ride time once I get outdoors, but I have a sense my fitness erodes slightly through the summer, then improves again during the winter on the trainer.

I've come to realize that inside is training, outside is riding. Both are good, but different.

This year I'm thinking I'll try to do at least one indoor workout throughout the summer

Carbonfiberboy 

Yes. 45' on my resistance rollers, wife and stoker on her trainer. We did 20' of FastPedal, the rest zone 1. I was a little slow on the cadence, only 112 at a 118 HR because I rode hard with my droogs yesterday. Why indoors? Because we can't do either of those things outdoors, either the zone 1 or the FastPedal due to lack of uninterrupted flat. Besides, it's so simple and so fun to do stuff like this indoors. We do the indoor FastPedal workout year 'round. Tomorrow is lift skiing and then weight lifting in the gym between skiing and dinner.

We turn on the heat out in the shop and get it up to between 50° and 55°, perfect indoor temperature once we add box fans.

B. Carfree

I rarely do joy rides from Thanksgiving until after New Years simply because our motorists, marginal at the best of times, are positively horrid during that time of year. Most years, that means setting up rollers (mine have air resistance) and riding those for an hour or two before hitting the weights.

The past three years, I've managed to contract some nasty respiratory tract infections that have had me down and out for a month or more at a time. This year's version pretty much wiped out my roller season. Should I just be thankful and get out on the road?

Maybe next time, but I actually enjoy rollers and am looking forward to getting on them tomorrow. Besides, I need the weight work. Since I live in a location with a very mild climate, my rollers are set up outside under a rain shelter with a decent view. It's also a good excuse to listen to some programs that I enjoy but rarely make the time for.

Machka 

Did you use the indoor trainer today?

Nope ... it's summer here. If I'm going to ride, it will be outside.

jwalther

Set up my new smart trainer and joined Zwift yesterday. I had already been to the gym, so today may be my first ride.

John_V 

Living in Florida, we seldom need a trainer unless we are having an unusually cold winter or using it for/during rehab. The last extremely cold winter that I can remember, where I couldn't ride outdoors for most of the season, was in 2010. However, this year hasn't started off very well and it looks like we're going to have really crappy weather for another week or so. This week, they are forecasting snow up in North Florida and the panhandle. Looks as if I'm going to have to break out the trainer during that time period or until this cold snap leaves us alone.

The Snowman

Single digits for the last couple of weeks, 6-10" of snow expected this evening, so I have been gettin on the rollers 1-2 times per week (and 2-3 spin classes per week) to supplement my speed skate training.

Gerryattrick

Weather has made it difficult to ride outdoors much so started back at the gym a couple of weeks ago. It wasn't until I'd been on the indoor bike for about 30 mins that it finally came back to me how mind-numbingly boring it is. Tried it a couple of times more before deciding that if I can't ride outdoors I won't ride. If I have to exercise indoors then I vary the cardio work between rowing machines and cross-trainers, plus weights (my old knees won't let me run).

If I was competing in races I would probably stick with the indoor bikes as they are definitely good training and strength-building for outdoors.