Spin bike
#27
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Due to changes in work duties and my kids' school schedules, it's been challenging for me to get much outside riding during the week. I have a Zwift set-up in the garage: trainer, powermeter, iPad to TV on a workbench, and a big fan. I also have access to spin bike in the gym in my building. It's not as nice as being on my own bike, but it has a "constant watts" setting that seems to be in the ballpark, so it gets the job done.
Also remember...there is no such thing as bad weather winter riding. Just bad clothing.
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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.
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.
Last edited by Kapusta; 12-10-19 at 12:54 PM.
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#31
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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.
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.
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
No wind. No real hills. No weight of the rider to move. No way in hell is indoors better for training.
Last edited by prj71; 12-11-19 at 09:04 AM.
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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...
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...
Last edited by Happy Feet; 12-11-19 at 09:49 AM.
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Not sure where you live, but "winter riding" is a very different experience depending on where you are.
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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.
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I suspect you don't actually do structured training because then you wouldn't be so poorly informed.
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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...
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.
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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.
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I suspect you don't actually do structured training because then you wouldn't be so poorly informed.
#44
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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.
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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.
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Peloton hurts worse than outdoor riding
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.
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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.
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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.
so there's that...
Oh, & the saddle won't go far enough behind the BB to match normal riding position.
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Due to changes in work duties and my kids' school schedules, it's been challenging for me to get much outside riding during the week. I have a Zwift set-up in the garage: trainer, powermeter, iPad to TV on a workbench, and a big fan. I also have access to spin bike in the gym in my building. It's not as nice as being on my own bike, but it has a "constant watts" setting that seems to be in the ballpark, so it gets the job done.
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.
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Second is true, but it is so much easier to have a fresh jersey and shorts sitting by the trainer ready to go.