How are you able to mentally do multi hour indoor sessions?

Very much this (“carbs, carbs, carbs”). Aside from the usual distractions (I have to use those 6-7 streaming subs for some purpose), staying fed and hydrated makes a huge difference and is in of itself something to break up the time. Small intakes every 10 or 15 mins breaks up even long intervals with a chance to sit up, adjust, fuel, and refocus.

Another note about entertainment, as I’ll be starting my 3 hr trainer ride shortly, is to save the things you want to watch or listen to until your long workouts. Then you’ll actually be looking forward to the long workout as you’ll get to the entertainment you’ve been waiting for all week.

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Group workouts. Especially for long endurance rides. Having someone to chat with really passes the time. I did Big Mountain the other day and the first half had someone to chat with and it flew, but the back half was a struggle of trying to find something to watch on YT/Netflix for 90min

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even outdoor rides I break up rides in my head.

I’m not ready to purchase a smart bike yet but a big plus I’ve read with the wahoo kickr bike is not only the obvious climb built in but there’s a little bit of movement in the bike. Not rocker plate like but just a little.

This is a great point. The only time I watch tv when I’m off the bike is to watch sports or for “family movie night”. All other watching is done on the bike. I’ve been doing a lot of 2-2.5 hour rides the last few weeks and I did a 90 yesterday and was actually disappointed when the ride ended because the episode I was watching was not over yet.

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I’m sure the bikes are nice, I have thought that I’ll wait at least till I see what the next generation of them brings.

But for now, I don’t see the advantage in my situation over a dedicated trainer bike and smart trainer. If I had someone besides me was using it or I didn’t have too many bikes already I could probably justify it.

This is a key point…not doing this same thing per se, but experimenting with different options to see what works for you. Some people can do TV shows, some can’t. Some like to watch sports, for others it makes the ride interminable, etc.

I don’t think I could watch a bike race w/o the associated audio, but that is just me…find what works for you by trying different ideas. You’ll hit on something eventually.

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Agree. I’ve tried watching different sufferfest videos or races and it does little for me. The TR podcasts are so long so a longish indoor ride I like listening to them. Unstructured like I did today just chasing other rides helps. I have found watching tv shows where it’s like 20-30 minutes helps as it breaks up the time for me in chunks. Movies less so

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Yeah, we are completely opposite here…20-30 min shows for me make a long ride longer. “Oh, that episode is over…I’m only 25 minutes into this.” I can lose track of time easier w/ longer TV shows or movies.

Just illustrates how you gotta find what works for you!

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Knowing you can stop at anytime can help. If I think about 2 hours outside I picture being an hour from home and if I’m not feeling it that day I’ve got a miserable 1 hour back. 2 hours on the trainer if you’re not into at 1 hour you stop pedaling, you’re done, you’re home.

Anything over 1 hour I put a movie on as just noted above if I a show ends at 22 minutes I have to think about watching 5ish more to get through 2 hours… worse if it is longer.

Netflix or GCN+ race footage or RedbullTV womens World Cup XC.

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I 've normally done 1h and 90min turbo session since I joined TR but I have done the odd 2 hour session. For those I like to put on a podcast or listen to sport on the radio. For the 1h and 90 mins sessions I sometimes do the same and/or ride them on RGT so I have something to look at occasionally.

Also before Christmas when it was bad weather I decided a 3:45 turbo session. Not that I actually planned that length, I just created a magic road and rode it. Follow HLaB on Strava to see this activity. Join for free.

If you like the Marvel movies, I’ll (again) suggest the Avengers Century….run Infinity War and Emdgame back to back. Clocks in at just over 5 hours and they flow together seamlessly. Pick a flattish route on Zwift and go get it!

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I’m nearing the end of TBHV3, and it took me bit to find what works. I have found I can only do TV/Netflix in short bursts. Tried to stream Breaking Bad, but just gave me the wrong emotions and enthusiasm.

To my astonishment, audiobooks are working well. I get them online for from my count library, but sometimes have to wait weeks to get my first choice. Nearly done with The 3-Body Problem, but have enjoyed several other titles while waiting for the individual books to be available. YMMV.

I have generally only stopped for breaks when rides exceed 3 hours.

My personal distraction is dvds with subtitles on and maybe even a director’s commentary. Tends to be a film I’ve watched before so it doesn’t really matter if I lose a few minutes!

Get a good set of rollers, like Elite Quick Motion. Way more comfortable than the Kickr (although I’m looking at rocker plate plans). Much better road feel. Like everybody else, I watch Netflix, or youtube documentaries, or a race on GCN. Sometimes I mute the race and crank the rage music.

Netflix. Amazon Prime. BBC iPlayer.

The longest indoor ride I’ve done was a vEveristing. Glad I’ve done it, but wow, it was dull!

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I did disaster this year and watched Zach Snyders Justice League. It’s 4 hours long, so it was perfect. Not nearly as good as the Marvel movies, but that doesn’t matter as much on the trainer. Just having those endless action scenes makes the time fly by.

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If you enjoyed 3BP, the other 2 books were also great. (I haven’t done the audio version though)