- I don’t think that is beneficial. Keep in mind that the inside workouts are designed with important considerations.
- We have a level of control over the training effort that is difficult, impractical or even impossible to replicate with outside training.
- As such, we can apply very controlled stress to the body, in tightly defined loads and timing that make the inside workout more efficient at the least, and possible more effective at the best.
- This is a common question. I see it in this way, that training is training, not riding.
- What does that nonsense mean? When we aim to train, we use known methods of applying controlled stress to the body, with the goal of driving our body to adapt in particular ways, that yield particular capabilities when we ride and race.
- We benefit from the ability to do precise training inside is more about the control we have on the process vs the greater variability we have when outside.
- It’s a bit like strength training in the gym. We go in and do movements like bench press, squats, dead lifts, and many others. We do these in particular movement patterns, with various weights, to stress our muscles and related parts of the body. The goal here is also about driving changes in the body to get desired results.
- That gym training is not “exactly like our outside requirements”, but still make a huge difference in the capabilities that we have outside the gym.
- That is how I see training on a bike. It is about doing structured work that aims to force positive changes in our body.
- Sure, you can ride and race to train and will get some positive improvements from that. But often, that looser approach is destined to plateaus in performance. Those plateaus are one of the problems that structured training also attempts to solve.
In short, one benefit of structured training (especially inside) is about making the most of our time on the bike to get the biggest benefit for our needs. Outside riding is still essential for anyone hoping to apply that improved fitness in events outside, as group skills, handling and such are also important aspects to cultivate. So the ultimate approach will include an appropriate mix.
The movement to taking the inside training outside is more about the fact that most people ENJOY riding outside, where they do inside because “they have to” or want to make the most of limited time. Moving outside introduces way more variability and is less “efficient” when compared to inside, but has many other benefits (as above) and can make it rewarding in different ways.