bobwysiwyg

I have, in the past, used a bike on a smart trainer during the winter months. I still do, but I, and my wife, have begun using an exercise bike as well, an air bike, to include upper body strength as well. It has a display with various options, cadence, heart rate, if you have a compatible monitor, tracking for two different HIT training sessions, blah, blah.

Trouble is, it saves no data and connects to nothing that might save data. I was aware of this from the get go, but we got it anyway after trying it out in the maker's headquarters down in Columbus, very solidly built, quiet, etc.

​​​​Though I would like to add these sessions to Strava, so everything is in one place, not sure it would be worth doing via manual entries. However, I would like some way to save and collect this info over time to see improvements.. assuming there is any.

Anyone else in a similar situation and if so, how do you go about it?

jpescatore

If you wear a heart rate monitor, you can track your rides by time pretty easily - just use any app that will read/store and upload to Srava. Polar has a simple app I use sometimes in spin classes to capture my hear rate data.

You can add cadence data pretty easily - the Wahoo RPM sensor ziptied to a crank arm, for example.

If you want to capture miles, you have to see if you can put an RPM sensor on the flywheel and I don't think that works very well. The miles equivalent of time on an exercise bike is sorta of random anyway - even if you could count flywheel turns, how many miles that represented would be like adding fortnights, vs. furlongs!

Synack42

I personally use a combination of Google Fit, Wahoo App, Strava and LoseIt. They all manage to mesh together very well surprisingly... Actual rides logged via Wahoo app, uploads to Strava, automatically imported to Fit, then automatically to LoseIt. Spin bike data entered manually into Google Fit and then in turn imported into LoseIt.

When I'm on the exercise bike I'm mainly in it for duration and estimated calorie burn.

Carbonfiberboy 

I upload to TrainingPeaks, Strava, and RidewithGPS. Each of those serve a slightly different purpose. I use TrainingPeaks to track fitness and plan future workouts. Strava is to see how I'm doing on my road rides, which is the only thing I upload there. RWGPS is a convenient place to save road totals, routes planned and routes ridden. I have premium accounts for all three sites. I upload either power or HR data to TrainingPeaks and Strava depending on whether I'm using a device which records and can upload power. If I'm recording power, it will take precedence over HR. I wear a HRM, a Polar v800 now, obsolete but still available on ebay any time I'm not using my Garmin Edge. I wear the Polar for runs, strength training, gym bikes, skiing, etc. I record and upload everything.

bobwysiwyg

Thanks all for the suggestions, much appreciated.

Machka 

Zwift!

bobwysiwyg

Not sure this is a viable solution.
Several years ago invested in a smart trainer and tried Zwift mostly
because of its popularity. Didn't care for it, switched to Rouvy. Either way, they aren't quite meeting my needs re: the air bike. I'll likely just use the trainer and Rouvy for straight cycling, but alternate with air bike for upper body workout as well as cycling though either of the two interval programs are a heck of a workout, but the don't yield much in the way of miles.

Seattle Forrest

I use a different watch, but the same protocol. Lifting weights at the gym, skiing, hiking, it all gets recorded. And that can help me put my performance into context. If I was slower than I hoped, was it because of cumulative fatigue, diet, something else? I've been faster since lifting weights, and have the data to show it. I find a lot of value in this.

Rides4Beer

I recently started using a Stages gym bike, I take a picture of the screen when I'm done and put in in Strava manually. I created a new bike in my profile called "gym bike" so that I can easily separate my indoor efforts from my two real bikes.

caloso

When I ride the spin bike at the gym, I wear my HRM strap and put my garmin in my pocket to capture HRtss and load it into Training Peaks. It's mostly about tracking stress and fatigue.