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• This topic has 52 replies, 36 voices, and was last updated 5 days ago by oily76.

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• 20 truths about indoor training from a mountain biker
• 3 weeksyFull Member

  Back in the day both me and Robbo ran various social events on Zwift, these were awesome beyond words (His race series more than my socials for sure). We did the socials in different ways, some days would be a fast group and a slower group, some days would be sprint segments, some days would be climbs etc… But always with riders trying to help others. This is different to a Herd etc because you’d know all the names from here and you’d want to help your virtual mates out… In the sprints there was the self-kudos of beating people you know from here.

  I love zwift, especially in winter and i’ll be Zwifting later today for sure.. but i still use it for racing in summer. I’ve done nearly 700 races since Zwiftpower came about.

  Posted 1 week ago 4 MSPFull Member

  1 If you are tired and busy, you are still tired and busy

  5 You can give up whenever you want

  My tip is to link these two, it can be hard to know if you are really physically tired or just a bit mentally burnt out by life, if its the later then a bit of exercise will likely help. So always start your session, and if you really don’t feel like it after 10 mins stop and go do something more relaxing. I find 9 times out of 10 when I do that I do what I had hoped to or more, where as if I don’t even start a session I am more likely to regret it. I have never regreted realising I just don’t have the energy if I have given it 10 mins.

  Posted 1 week ago 7 scotroutesFull Member

  21 There’s a whole range of options that aren’t Zwift.

   

  When I first started on the indoor cycling journey I also came to the conclusion that Zwift was ideal for doing those short, intense rides that I find hard to replicate  in the outdoors. Traffic, undulations, junctions etc all interrupt the intensity. This last Winter I came to the realisation that long Zone 2 sessions are actually better done indoors. That’s from the POV of weather, daylight and road/trail conditions.

  Posted 1 week ago willardFull Member

  22. You can use this time to visit places that might inspire you to bigger things on the trail, or to go places that you may not have thought about.

  I’m currently using Tacx Premium (@scotroutes point above) and working my way through their Giro d’Italia tour after having seen Corsica and Sardinia in the couple of weeks previously. It’s like having a mini-holiday and helps, in a really small way, with the effort and suffering.

  But I agree with all of the things you wrote in the article Hannah, especially about bringing a towel and not being cold. My trainer is in th unheated part of the house here (currently a balmy 0c, was -16 the other day) and I still train with the door to the hall open and a fan on because it’s warm during training.

  Posted 1 week ago 3 thisisnotaspoonFree Member

  5 You can give up whenever you want

  I see that as a negative.

  If I can drag myself outside and onto the bike, the odds of bailing out are very slim, usually because I’ve committed to a loop and the bail out is almost as bad as the route.  So 95% of the time I’ll make it.

  Zwift (or MyWhoosh) I’ve got on countless times and all enthusiasm has been sapped by the time I’m logged on, everything connected and grinding up the first incline. On the road at least I’m now 5 miles from home and however crap I was feeling I’m now committed to at least burning calories even if I don’t power up the hills,

  it’s a fairly quick process to get going – much easier than finding time to head out for a ride, or to a gym etc.

  I disagree.  It’s no quicker to dig out summer kit and head out to the shed than it is to put on winter kit and head out the same door on a real bike.  It’s just a different set of shoes/shorts/top/gloves etc.  Any time saved getting layered up is offset by not spending time waiting for Zwift updates to download, companion app to connect, all the sensors to talk to each other, etc.

  The gym I’d agree with, but I’d question the sanity of anyone who goes to the gym to do cardio for any longer than necessary to warmup.

  Posted 1 week ago scotroutesFull Member

  You can use this time to visit places that might inspire you to bigger things on the trail, or to go places that you may not have thought about.

  This is absolutely true. I’ve been riding virtual Mallorca (also using Tacx) and, as a result, I’m heading across there for real in April. Corsica looks great too.

  Posted 1 week ago 1 scotroutesFull Member

  not spending time waiting for Zwift updates to download, companion app to connect, all the sensors to talk to each other,

  It doesn’t have to be like that though.

  Posted 1 week ago 1 mogrimFull Member

   Any time saved getting layered up is offset by not spending time waiting for Zwift updates to download, companion app to connect, all the sensors to talk to each other, etc.

  23. Whatever software you use, fire it up at least 15 minutes before you need it. If you fire it up 2 minutes before your race, it will invariably want to update itself first.

   

  24. Turn the step ladder round and you can fit the wheel under it, and center the screen. You’ll need to find somewhere else for the water bottle, though.

   

  25. Hang a towel over the handlebars unless you want to destroy them with your sweat.

  Posted 1 week ago rockbusFull Member

  weeksyFull Member
  Back in the day both me and Robbo ran various social events on Zwift, these were awesome beyond words (His race series more than my socials for sure). We did the socials in different ways, some days would be a fast group and a slower group, some days would be sprint segments, some days would be climbs etc… But always with riders trying to help others. This is different to a Herd etc because you’d know all the names from here and you’d want to help your virtual mates out… In the sprints there was the self-kudos of beating people you know from here.

  I love zwift, especially in winter and i’ll be Zwifting later today for sure.. but i still use it for racing in summer. I’ve done nearly 700 races since Zwiftpower came about.

  Would be great if this sort of thing happened again as without the social aspect I find it all a bit boring. I’ve refused to pay the higher cost of Zwift but I’m surprised that the bit I miss most is the social aspect where would join a local cycling clubs group. A STW one on zwift may encourage me to resubscribe – or if it could be done on a different platform?

  Posted 1 week ago 1 YakFull Member

  26. It’s noisy, and when the bearings fail in the wahoo, it’s really noisy. Then whilst waiting to send it off (again) switch to rollers for even more noise. Best thing to do is sack off all this faff and get outside and hit some winter trails and enjoy riding, not exercising.

  Posted 1 week ago thisisnotaspoonFree Member

  It doesn’t have to be like that though.

  I agree, MyWhoosh is marginally less frustrating in this regard.  Tacx does look tempting for the reasons you suggested too.

  Whatever software you use, fire it up at least 15 minutes before you need it. If you fire it up 2 minutes before your race, it will invariably want to update itself first.

  Depends how I’ve left it, most of the time I like to leave the laptop in the shed with everything setup and ready to go, but as you say this then guarantees it’ll need an update whilst I sit there in the cold.

  If the laptops in the house then you have to boot it up without connecting sensors, and it’s adding layers of faff which goes against the whole point of it being time efficient to do <1h workouts if you have to start them 15min early.

  Some days you get to jump on and everything just works.  Other days you’re sat there in a 0C shed in shorts cursing technology and thinking you could have already been 5 miles up the road and warmed up by now.

  Posted 1 week ago 2 cookeaaFull Member

  I’d agree with most of that I’ll add one tip in regard to 10:

  10. Don’t bring spectacles
  Expect to sweat so much that your glasses fall off. But, you will want to be able to see, especially if racing. You particularly need to be able to read power outputs, so if you need contacts to do that, put them in. Or, take the risk that you’ll need to sling your glasses to somewhere safe during a final sprint effort.

  I need glasses to look at monitors and I don’t do contacts so the answer (for me) is…  a sweat band!

  Yep I’m in my Garage just wearing a pair of bibs and a sweat band round my head, it’s a very niche look. But for a couple of quid off amazon an elasticated loop of towelling round your head is well worth having, the sweat bands act as a substitute for the helmet pads, a fan addresses airflow, my glasses don’t fog or fall off.

  Posted 1 week ago 18 franksinatraFull Member

  I disagree.  It’s no quicker to dig out summer kit and head out to the shed than it is to put on winter kit and head out the same door on a real bike.  It’s just a different set of shoes/shorts/top/gloves etc.

  I find it really irritating when people smugly announce that you would be better off going for a outdoor ride. Of course it would, we all know that. But we also know (for all the reasons that Hannah listed) that you get more cardio per minute of turbo than you do for an outdoor ride. I did a 40 min session on Rouvy last night and that included 35mins or relatively intense exercise. I was showered and re-engaged with family time just 10mins after session ended.

  There are loads of reasons why people are time poor or tied to the house. Not everyone has great riding near their house or expensive night riding lights. Some people don’t have space to easily wash bikes or they might be scared of the dark! Loads of people have childcare responsibilities or other good family reasons why they need to stay in the house in the evening. Not everyone like riding is crap weather. Please don’t be patronising and tell people they are better off riding outside, most people will do this if they can, or if they want to.

  Posted 1 week ago 1 franksinatraFull Member

  It doesn’t have to be like that though.

  I found Zwift to be very much like that and I was confused by the multiple different apps. I now use Rouvy and find it much better, much simpler and much more reliable.

  Posted 1 week ago 2 munrobikerFree Member

  I think one “truth” that’s worth pointing out is that, if you’re serious about your fitness and particularly racing, it’s easy to look at everyone else training indoors and think “I have to do this to compete against them, even though I don’t want to” but that’s not the case.

  Riding indoors isn’t for me. I’ve done a Peloton ride and used to turbo train – I enjoyed the Peloton but nowhere near as much as riding outdoors, in nature, in fresh air. Being outside takes more time and is a less efficient way to train but so long as you’re aware of that, you can adapt rather than being consigned to your shed. At the Puffer at the weekend, I and all my male team mates set lap times in the top 15 riders. We won mixed quad and were third quad overall. Only one of us rides indoors, and even then he’s only done it twice in the last two months. You can still compete against people riding indoors by riding only outdoors. So if you don’t like it, don’t worry.

  Posted 1 week ago 1 zilog6128Full Member

  Yep I’m in my Garage just wearing a pair of bibs and a sweat band round my head

  this is me also!!