I’m not really a fan of main roads as the traffic sort of kills the enjoyment (especially on group rides) but I’m going to get a power meter which will open up outdoor workouts for me and there’s just no way I can do my usual commute to work without stopping every 5-10 minutes due to traffic lights etc.
Does anyone purposefully ride busier roads just to get an outdoors interval session in or would you rather just stick to training indoors?
I frequently do interval sessions outdoors. I’m fortunate, however, that I have a 15k stretch of B road, which is fairly quiet, fairly flat, and has 1 roundabout in the whole stretch. I’ve done intervals on the A41 before now. Not fun IMO but YMMV.
If you don’t have roads nearby where you can ride for long periods of time uninterrupted I would stick to indoor workouts to keep the quality high.
Then again the possibility to combine indoor and outdoor workouts work for me quite well. I do have issues with motivation for training indoors lately. So training outside with a powermeter will keep my training on par.
You can do decent interval sessions on country roads if you choose your route carefully, and also if you have a bit of a different perspective on the interval session. I have a short triangle that I use, which gives me a bit of winding, slow drag, followed by a steady climb. this takes me between 7 and 8 minutes, and then I roll down a steeper and shorter section back to the start in just under 3 minutes. Do that 4 or 5 times, job done. Also use a local steep hill, between about 1:30 and 2 mins, up and down that a few times, again nice and still simple. Would I try and complete fancy structured workouts outside, no. Just use the natural features of the land, and helps a lot with bike handling and confidence.
I live in a busy city so I do intervals on quieter loops, as there are no long roads.
It may not be ideal, and some of the corners have me resting very briefly, but I generally push a little harder after a corner to keep my heart rate where it was, sort of like over-under intervals.
It works for me, and I have improved regardless, but you may have a better option.
I do VO2 indoors.
I do longer intervals on a dual carriageway or a 4 corner business park if the weather is dry as the corners are sharp. I do vo2 intervals as hill repeats. I have local options up to 7-8 mins and up to 20mins within 20k from home.
The dual carriageway is fine in my experience, safer than some single carriageway A/B roads in South Wales.