Never a good start. Comes close second to “I’m not xyz but…”
I guess it’s beating a dead horse talking about cycling and gatekeeping. They have a long tradition together… Personally I don’t care and everyone can call themselves cyclist. Takes nothing away from me and last time I checked you don’t need a degree or certification to legally use that term for yourself ;).
Who is ‘more cyclist’: Someone who commutes daily a few km by bike but never touches it otherwise or someone who never rides outside but trains 20 hours a week indoors and races professionally on Zwift? My answer: I don’t care.
Back on topic: In an ideal world I prefer riding outside on epic adventure rides. But I’m currently living in a tropical climate with heat, sometimes heavy rain and heavy traffic where riding outside pretty much is only possible at night / in the very early morning. That fact + time constraints (plus my dislike for cleaning my bike after a rainy ride) makes me really appreciate the option of indoor riding.
Much prefer outdoors. All the indoor training I do is just so I can go faster outdoors. I will admit indoor training isn’t as miserable now as when I started last year and I can find satisfaction from nailing hard workouts. It just doesn’t quite scratch the same itch as big miles outdoors.
I get excited about both. Riding indoors is efficient, effective, and to me much harder. This is why I like it because it is definitely making me faster outside. I live outside of Seattle and before the weather turned was really enjoying pushing TrainerRoad workouts to my Garmin 520 and doing the workouts outside. I recently purchased Assioma Duo Pedals for TrainerRoad Outside workouts. I prefer TrainerRoad workouts on my Gravel Bike outside as it gives me a ton of options and I can do VO2, Sweet Spot, or Endurance outside. I feel more comfortable outside and the workouts are more tolerable to me. I enjoy the social side of outside riding, but most often challenge myself on solo rides to measure where I am at. In looking back, over this year about 60% outside/40% inside for me based on Strava. I have bikes to ride outside, but am finding indoor definitely has its place and do understand those that most often train indoors as it is very addictive because the results are real and right before you.
Thanks for all the input, motivates me to take the bike out more often. Now that the kids grow this might even be possible more often without returning to chaos.
Did a 2h+ ride indoors yesterday, longest so far and yes: mental focus was more challenging than the ride itself.
But since NFL Redzone last for more than 8 hours I made it through
Given the amount of too close for comfort passes I had on Saturday, it’d drive you back in side (or off road!).
If I didn’t have to work, I’d be outside whenever I could and weather was ok. However, work and family practicalities make it the only practical way for me to get bike time and/ or train. Even then, I’ve tried outside workouts and on the rolling terrain where I live, I think to do them effectively, I’d have to do hill repeats. Hill repeats are more boring than the turbo!
I prefer to train indoors during the week and just go for spins at the weekend when weather and family allows.
I have done a few spells of commuting, which I did enjoy, but I could never make it work as training, bar being added volume. If/ when I’m back in the office, I may revisit it in the context of polarized training discussions, and do LV with just Tuesday and Thursday workouts. But hopefully I won’t be back in the office!
Outdoor rides will always be a lot more fun than indoor rides for me.
The issue I have is I wont ride outdoors unless the road is bone dry so at this point in time I have not been out for 6 weeks, indoor rides are becoming more enjoyable as I get my indoor set up how I want it.
Nothing beats riding outside through the quiet country lanes on a summers Sunday morning, it honestly feels like Heaven.
I love both, for different reasons. You could say that riding inside is a means to the end goal of riding outside.
For me, it is all about contrasts. Inside, it is way tougher and I feel way more satisfied with my performance than outside, because TR always pushes me to the edge of my capabilities. But then, when I go outside, I can get those zone 2 miles in, or I can feel confident I am a strong rider and just go for a max effort (as much threshold as my nutrition and heart rate allow for that day).
But for me, I am very bad with structured trainings outside. I feel they are way more effective inside. So I just need my build and base inside for me to excel outside. And I love increasing my FTP (still in noob gain territory), so I am enormously motivated to keep the build - base cycle going as long as I can (aiming for an FTP of ~300).
So what’s this XYZ that my statement is such a close second? Always the people who wish to dismiss rather than discuss who start their posts with “never a good start” as if they are the ones regulating people’s line of thinking. Is “bacon is delicious but” also a bad start to discussing cardiovascular disease?
I’m not against bacon, but it’s unhealthy and no one should eat it.
I’m not gatekeeping cycling, but [fill in your choice of riding only indoors, not racing, not having a certain training volume, equipment, FTP etc.] are not real cyclists.
I never put stats out there, simply said those who only turn pedals indoors are not actually cycling, just like the people in spin class. I play a lot of racing video games, I can call myself a racecar driver and it doesn’t take anything away from Vettel or Hamilton, but it also doesn’t make me a racecar driver.
Very well, point taken, i guess we all understood.
My question was never “Whoever of you likes indoor workouts more: do you consider yourself to be cyclist”… no, I was actually just curious who does prefer indoor workouts to outdoor rides.
I love “training” indoors, but also love riding outside. As I am a cx and mtb rider I enjoy muddy conditions .Yesterday I rode about 4 hours on a Trailbreak event and I felt exhilarated afterwards.
I also find i have a much better appetite after outdoor riding, probably because i burn so many calories just to keep warm.
My main issue with outdoor riding is the cold. The older I get ,the worse it is. I hate riding in lots of gear, but find a goretex top and goretex shorts are the answer. I don’t like booties, so don;t use them , as my feet don’t seem to get cold, and if they do, I get off and run with the bike.
I would be worried if I got where I never rode outside. What are these people like when it comes to coping with cars, corners, hills ,mud rocks etc. Even a Triathlete or TT rider should do some outdoor training.
Wish I lived in a hot climate, in winter, not the UK
Ha, ha, I couldn’t eat bacon, (I don’t like the taste) but when you run past fields of pigs happily rooting in the mud, I could not. Plus it’s bad for you. But my cake eating is far worse, probably.
I don’t know about other countries. It could be too dangerous / urban to ride outside. So I’m not sure what a "real " cyclist is. You could say E-bike riders are not real cyclists, but Tom Pidcock, UK rider who beat Mattieu V d P yesterday rides one , and also won a E-bike race !!
I prefer indoors to outdoors, particularly if the weather is on the borderline of uncomfortable. I used to ride anywhere above 30 degrees F, and now 42 is my limit. Any hint of water is also a no go, unless I’m really itching to get outside.
