jadocs

Check out the CTX training videos. They have multiple videos for different training lengths.

prj71

If you have time to do that, you have time to ride outside.

Also remember...there is no such thing as bad weather winter riding. Just bad clothing.

bruce19

I'm on my rollers.

prj71

And so are hot dogs at the gas station.

Kapusta

Many responders to this thread seem to think that riding outside in the winter and inside in the winter are mutually exclusive. They are not. I do both.

Given the choice of
A) riding in the rain and sleet in 35 deg temps in the dark on roads with cars
or
B) riding inside and indulging in the guilty pleasure of an episode of Marvelous Ms Maisel or The Americans,

I’ll take B. It is a no-brainer for me.

hubcyclist

Agree 100%, I've said it before around here there is a lot of holier than thou attitude coming from those who just say to ride outside in the winter, as if that makes them better cyclists. Before I got my smart trainer I would ride outside when I could, but only having a road bike did not make it practical due to all the cleaning and drivetrain maintenance that comes with kicking up road grime in New England winters. I have no interest in owning a fat bike, as fun as it might be, I have other priorities in my budget with a family and not enough space with all the family bikes (and road and CX for me). I also don't have to budget clothing to ride outdoors in the winter, which isn't exactly cheap. Since I work from home as well, I can workout during the work day without spending that much extra time getting myself together to go out and then spend time doing the post-ride stuff.

Training indoors, I get in a quality workout (and I can guarantee I'm in better shape than all of the outdoor only guys) and get to watch an entire soccer game on the weekend morning or whatever. I get that it's not "fun" to a lot of folks but the workout is enjoyable for me and the health and fitness gains I get from that far outweigh those I would get bundling up and getting a less focused ride outdoors.

I'd also like to point out that I don't think I've ever seen someone go into a winter topic or other outdoor topic and say riding outside is dumb, yet those interested in maintaining fitness inside during the winter always seems to get the nay-sayers.

caloso

I have all the clothing and you're right: I do have the time to ride outside. What I don't have time to do is all the extra cleaning and lubing and maintenance associated with crappy weather riding. At least not during the week. On weekends I'm usually racing cross or doing base rides with my road team.

It's not a binary either/or choice, it's just a way of maximizing quality training time. After years of being a dogmatic HTFU, Rule 9 guy, I decided I don't really care about rules. Especially The Rules. I just want to do what works.

jadocs

Guarantee, if you take two people of similar physiology and fitness and one rode outside during the winter "because outside miles are better than inside miles", and the other conducted structured training indoors on a trainer. The indoor guy with the trainer will blow the doors off the outdoor guy in the spring. No question.

prj71

That is so false I don't even know what to say.

No wind. No real hills. No weight of the rider to move. No way in hell is indoors better for training.

Happy Feet

Welcome to modern training. Almost all serious competitive sports have a dedicated gym component to improve performance.

Unless you are competing in actual winter conditions there is no long term benefit, and several negatives, to training exclusively outside vs inside for the rest/off season period of the athletic cycle. Building base generally occurs in the spring, ramping up and training for actual performance conditions comes just prior to ones peak performance period.

A.) you can better tailor training sessions to target specific goals in shorter period of time (ie. HIIT, Block training and other concepts).
B.) you can train 24/7, regardless of weather conditions. Shorter daylight hours no longer matter.
C.) less likely to create injury due to cold stress on physiology (cold muscles, decreased fexibility)
D.) less likely to sustain an injury that impacts training schedule due to road conditions (ie. wiping out and needing time off to recover)
For this last one, I am still limping from a wipe out on ice that occurred 2 weeks ago. I can still function but I've had to decrease output to allow recovery.

I am someone who likes to ride all year round and have several bikes for all seasons but I can easily see the benefits of indoor training, especially if it is based on a comprehensive system. Better cardio, improved cadence metering, improved sprint capacity, unlimited training sessions...

jadocs

I don't know what to say about ^^^ either.

Kapusta

If the weather is crap outside, and one is training with specific goals, I can definitely see how it would be better.

Not sure where you live, but "winter riding" is a very different experience depending on where you are.

Hermes

In SoCal, I prefer to ride outside. We had some rain and I decided to do a structured workout inside on my road bike on a Kurt Kinetic dumb trainer. The workout was 3x(2' on, 3' off, 1' on, 2' off, 2' on) 10' RBI. The first two intervals were ghastly. 200 watts felt like 300. I decided forget this and took my bike out in the rain and went climbing. I killed the final interval and 300 watts felt like 300 watts. I have gone the other way as well where I started a workout outside and finished it inside with level of effort feeling gonzo hard inside. I do not know what to make, if anything, from the results. Indoor better than outside...outside better than inside...do not know.

friday1970

Thanks! I'm always looking for new sources on the internet

hubcyclist

What the eff does wind have to do with quality of workout? Watts are watts, wind just makes you go slower for the same power. Hills are irrelevant too, if I can do 300w on a trainer I can do 300w up a hill. Weight is negligible.

I suspect you don't actually do structured training because then you wouldn't be so poorly informed.

friday1970

There is something to be said about the above quote. In my case, two examples:

First example, I bought my magnetic turbo trainer three years ago just as winter got started, about the same time I picked up my first recumbent. Anyone who rides a recumbent knows there is a adjustment period before one gets their "bent legs". When I first picked up the recumbent, I felt slow, and every ride outside left my muscles hurting. After a cold winter and time spent solely on the trainer, my first ride outside was incredible. No real pain, and I was much faster too (19mph avg vs 16mph). All due to spending time on the trainer during winter.

Second example. Ever heard the phrase "To increase your pedaling efficiency, hire a profession bike coach, or simply buy a set of rollers". I bought my first set of rollers before the winter of last year. I spent most of last winter on them, and found them to be a more intense and enjoyable workout for my road bikes over my turbo trainers. But it was on the outside road that the rollers seem to pay off. I found my cadence and pedaling was smoother, better balance, and though probably not any faster, I could go longer distances without tiring as fast. Winter indoor roller riding definitely made a difference in my outdoor rides, especially for the longer brevets in my area.

prj71

I live in Wisconsin. Surrounded by fat bike trail systems in all directions anywhere from a 20 minute drive away to a 2 hour drive away.

My only cut-off for riding outdoors is when it starts getting 10 degrees or colder. I'm a back sweater and it ends up freezing the back of my jacket and riding becomes uncomfortable then. When that weather hits I will spin on the bike at the gym or else bring my road bike in the house and put it on the trainer. So far the bike isn't on the trainer yet. Spinning indoors is a last resort for me.

prj71

Oh my...

I just ride and not indoors when possible. That's bike prison.

hubcyclist

So you're just tooling around outdoors, that's fine, cycling should be fun, but I ride semi-competitively and for a variety of reasons I ride indoors during the winter. And my point stands, if you don't understand interval training then you won't understand why riding indoors and outdoors is equivalent from a training standpoint.

prj71

I do a few races every year. So I'm semi-competitive myself.

lrhitt3

Does anybody else have trouble with foot and ankle pain on peloton/spin bikes? We bought one about two months ago and my calves are torn up. They’re SO tight and it’s causing all kinds of problems with foot pain and tendinitis. I stretch, massage, foam roll and still struggling. I wonder if it’s the heavy resistance required for a good workout that puts my foot in odd angles during the pedal stroke. VERY frustrating!!! I don’t have any of these problems when I ride outside.

prj71

See guys? This is what happens when you ride inside.

woodcraft

I do a spin class, & the saddles on the bikes are pretty bad, but it's only an hour

so there's that...

Oh, & the saddle won't go far enough behind the BB to match normal riding position.

Leinster

Same boat re work and kids meaning I don’t have time to ride. I have a Cycleops on the back deck, And set the laptop on there with some GCN training ideas.

It’s been good to get a ride or 2 per week, anduntil the last couple weeks there hasn’t been any rain to worry about. Now that it’s raining, I’ve had to put my bike trainer in the garage, which is extremely frustrating.

Leinster

First is false. And even if it were true that I had the time to go for a 1-hour ride in the evenings, I might not have the flexibility to go on a 1-hour ride away from the house, what with there being small children in it and everything.

Second is true, but it is so much easier to have a fresh jersey and shorts sitting by the trainer ready to go.