Are there lots here who do 100% structured training? When I was doing triathlons and more time crunched with my training I did 100% structured as I was focused on one event.
But honestly my training for longer gravel events now since it’s still just endurance focused isn’t really different. 2-3 indoor rides during the week with 2 typically with intensity. 1-2 rides on the weekend mostly unstructured
Training gives me a challenge that I cannot find in group rides. Not many people will want to hammer at 4wkg for 90min but that is quite often my Saturday morning date with my trainer. In fact I’ve gotten scolded at group rides for hammering too hard…
I used to think indoor training was horrible, until the covid lockdown came. I became as strong as I’ve ever been and I had fun with video calls with other people while indoor training. Pushing the watts in workouts became a challenge and fun in itself. I used Zwift but came to discover trainer road too.
So, I prefer outdoor riding. I used to think it is “real cycling”, but now I see the value of indoor riding in itself. I understand there’s circumstances that make indoor training a better, if not the only option, and I see that it can actually be fun in itself.
If these people rolling their eyes have a mindset that indoor cycling is boring, I would say they should respect that you pay the price of doing mind-numbingly boring stuff to get faster and stronger. I admire when others have greater mental fortitude than I do. Why see it in a negative light?
Oh I certainly don’t miss it. I enjoy solitary rides, I personally see no interest in ‘the group ride with the boys’. So inside or outside, I’m riding with the same boring partner - me.
Yup, ditto on the tendency for solo efforts. I am not a total shut-in, but I choose my friends and moments to ride with them specifically. I have always been very self sufficient when it comes to general life, entertainment and sports. I love my friends and the rides we do, but they are not the necessity for me that they are for many others. Again, this all boils down to the fact that everyone has different preferences.
Right. I enjoy riding with other folks sometimes, but I’m very much an introvert with a job that requires hours and hours of meetings a day. Provided I can get enough time with the family, the longer the gravel ride, the better. It’s very important time to just clear out my head and relax, as long as your definition of relax includes hard rides, going for Strava PRs and such.
The only time I can remember hearing somebody pitching somebody else shit about riding the trainer too much is because they wanted to go ride with them. Seems weird to be too hung up in what anyone else does on the bike on their own time.
People who are in the middle of a road racing season usually mellow out on intensity outside of races. My usual group ride is typically all out during the off season and then steadier once everyone starts focusing on racing. I can see someone who mostly trains solo and wants to smash everyone on the group ride as their “race” for the week being out of sync with the folks who are racing. Maybe the root cause for the negative talk is coming from frustration in mismatch group ride goals?
Trainer road is cool and the turbo is a useful tool but this forum can turn into an echo chamber about how the only way to have structured training on the bike is indoors and I don’t believe that to be true. The podcast reinforces this idea but you have to remember that the TR team has a strong incentive to feel that way.
Again, a great tool but I think it is a mistake to confuse pushing the pedals on an erg with riding a bike. There are a lot for components that go into being fast on the bike. Position, handling, pack skills, race tactics, the ability to meter your effort relative to others and race to your strengths, even putting down consistent power over variable terrain, all make a big difference in being faster on the bike. Building up a big FTP is excellent but not an end goal in terms of being objectively faster on a bike.
First of all, giving someone a hard time for having a different approach is garbage behavior. My own personal take is, I use the trainer as a tool to enhance my outside riding, whether that be racing or just riding for fun. It makes it so much better. I never ride the trainer if the weather is glorious, and to be honest I am sometimes happy to see rain in the forecast because it means I’ll get a good workout!
I think that some of the fault for people looking down on the trainer is due to the people who don’t ride outside enough or practice to develop the skills for safe riding with others. Not calling out anyone, but I’ve seen people who have a huge engine but are dangerous to ride next to, let alone in a group with.
I’ve been known to get into altercations with people who even THINK about giving me hate for being on the trainer.
Like this seemingly nice old lady at the grocery store who asked me to help her grab a heavy item. I knew what she was really thinking… “that bastard trains indoors”.
I think most of it is an elitist barrier to riding “for real”. Cycling has a lot of those. The people I know who are hardest up against the trainer are also the ones who started riding 20 years ago and think outside with a group is the only “real” way to ride, “full gas” every day, and that racing is the best training. I just think it’s one of those unwritten roadie “rules” that some riders have for no good reason other than obstinance and being gatekeepers.
I appreciate this post. And I understand the reasons for it.
Indoor training hasn’t changed much for me at all. Cycling has been a solo activity for me most of my life. It’s a way for me to be away from ppl and that works well for me. I find group rides to be to social for me on one hand and often too one upping on the other. Not really for me.
But I do get the sentiment of your post
yup. And people get into cycling for particular reasons, enjoy certain aspects, dislike certain aspects then project their values onto other people who might value / dislike other things about cycling than them and lack the empathy to identify and understand those differences.
‘I like riding outside and the social aspects’ yet cannot understand why someone who isn’t into the social aspects enjoys riding 5hrs alone or might enjoy things about cycling that apply inside and out.
Personally, something I’ve come to appreciate about cycling is there are so many different things to enjoy or derive value from that I can enjoy almost any ride I do, be it indoors or outdoors. I’ve stopped riding with people in the past who exhibit that one-upsmanship attitude / toxic masculinity-like behavior and am sure I will do it again at some point.
Right in line with my thoughts at the very beginning of this topic.
It might be envy, not jealousy, but is there…maybe more to the story?
There is a guy who used to ride with the group all the time but took a new job which has horrible hours, and he rides inside every single day. The few times per summer he rides with the group, he charges off and we don’t see him again until the next time he shows up. He gets ribbing for that, because it’s a weird behavior in general, and also weird for group ride behavior.
