Hey. No personal attacks! 
1 Like
Is it a personal attack when I include myself 
1 Like
Wouldn’t say indoors is better in all circumstance by any measure, but:
- Pros have unlimited time. Most amateurs do not.
- Pros usually live places that are conducive to outdoor riding. Many amateurs do not.
The trainer is logistically easier, far safer and often more convenient. It’s also more time efficient: want to do 2hrs? You will be on the trainer for bang on 2hrs, no flats, no stops, no traffic.
I ride about 1/3 of my rides outside, but about 2/3+ of my volume is outdoors right now. I much prefer going outside for long rides, but most intervals?Inside all day. I’ve even done intervals on the trainer, then done another hour outside or vice versa- ride first then finish an interval set on the trainer.
Lastly, people need to stop following and citing what pros do. Our circumstances are usually dramatically different. The trainer is an excellent tool and I think most amateurs with family and jobs should have and use one regularly.
@Rider51 - get your cooling squared away. It makes a massive, massive difference. Lasko fans already mentioned. I run three, two next to my front wheel, one directly on my back.
4 Likes
I just find structure too hard on the terrain I have locally. Or rather, it’d be hill repeats, and I prefer inside to that. I do unstructured club and social spins, and I’d rather keep them that (as well as Racing). I also sometimes commute and try to do that instead of the z2 days.
- I have a permanent trainer and bike set up, so time to from getting up to training is much less.
- I’m there to see my family off in the morning (which I wouldn’t be out on the road)
- No dickhead drivers, and me not distracted following targets.
- Airmovers (Lasko/ Vacmaster) were a game changer. I have 3 on remote sockets
- Spotify for the hard intervals - GCN/ Netflix/ Prime for the easier ones
I’m pretty much of the view that set up is the key to enjoying or at least accepting indoor training.
3 Likes
Indoor riding is an efficient and effective tool that is integral to the training of many athletes. However, there is no need to force yourself to ride indoors if it’s not your thing. I find the biggest thing about outdoor structured rides is planning the stretches of roads to do the efforts on. Descents and intersections are the biggest obstacles to plan around.
I’ve spent plenty of time on the trainer, and I’m at a place where I agree with you. I’d rather do something productive on my property than ride indoors. That might change for me, or you, but in the meantime, just do your structured rides outdoors. Nothing wrong with that.
In a nutshell,
benefits of indoors:
- convenience
- safety
- efficiency of time
- repeatable workouts, no terrain interruptions
outdoors:
- fun
- most people put out more power
- specificity to bike handling
- your soul remains intact
You’re on a TrainerRoad forum, so don’t expect too much trainer hate sympathy, but I hear you, the trainer sucks!
1 Like
The indoor training industry made me feel like I was missing out (FOMO) and I bought a trainer in 2017. In retrospect I got sucked in by marketing.
This is what I discovered.
You can build fitness inside or outside. These days my trainer is collecting dust. I know a local guy getting road race podiums and he only trains at our gym on a Stages SC3 stationary bike (with power meter). No doubt you can build fitness inside or outside.
Yes, trainers are good tools. For some indoor training is absolutely necessary because of geography or home situation. FWIW I feel like the industry oversold Erg mode. For me personally, cadence work is valuable, and I don’t have problems hitting my power targets. Erg does not always feel like riding outside. Sim mode is awesome, I find it a lot easier mentally to train inside while using sim mode on Zwift or RGT Cycling. My motto is make indoors like outdoors.
Admittedly I live in a great area for cycling outside year round, and I have few if any logistical issues with going out for a 2 hour ride and doing a 2 hour ride. Last week’s two hour Tuesday was 2 hours and 3 minutes with about 3 minutes of coasting/stopped.
By luck of geography and living in a metro area that embraced bike lanes, I have found outside is just as efficient time wise. When bored and doing endurance work, some of us stay in the city and play the ‘right on red’ game. I’ve got a lot of terrain to pick from but avoid getting in the car and just ride out my door for 1-4 hours.
After sitting in front of a computer all day, outside I get huge mental stimulation and mental health benefits. Outside I find it easier to continuously work on skills, plus its far far easier on my butt to ride nearly non-stop for 2-4 hours.
Outside training is my jam 
Others find Inside training is their jam. Its all good. Ride on.
1 Like
Agreed. I like erg when I just want to zone out, but as you and I discussed a while back, you can do that in resistance mode too. Most of my interval work is done in resistance mode manipulating cadence and gearing to get the power target.
I like doing both for different reasons, I don’t think one is The Answer. Only the Sith deal in absolutes. I think lots of people who are more time and outside constraint strapped than we are would benefit from the trainer - save the tire pumping, don’t miss time due to flats, no need to fully kit up, a little less maintenance, don’t have to plan your bottles and stops nearly as detailed… it’s a little more “Fire and forget”. But it’s not for everyone, and I don’t think for every ride, either.
1 Like
After spending all day staring at a computer, the last thing I want to do is go into the garage and stare at another screen or the garage door. That needs to be said again.
These days I’d rather go to a spin class at the gym and do my own thing, versus avoiding a cold soaking rain in my garage. Almost the same total time start to finish riding outside vs riding in the garage. All these reasons in favor of indoor training have not proven to be clear advantages for me.
Someone needs to say it and its not just me - my Strava feed is full of people training productively outside.
1 Like
- Yes, outdoor workout are effective, but
- Riding inside can be more effective, and as many others here have said, with time, it becomes nearly as enjoyable as outdoors. It’s also great for time crunched workouts.
I hated riding the trainer at first, now I’m riding the trainer most of the winter and 20% of the summer. Audiobooks, movies, race videos, etc all help, but I also find that riding inside can help my mental game on long solo efforts, climbs, etc. Learning how to clear your mind and just focus 110% on turning the pedals, maintaining form, and hitting the next target is a lot like bridging to a fast breakaway, going off the front, or tackling a long climb.
After all, 50,000,000 Elvis Fans Can’t Be Wrong, right?
1 Like
Sounds like you are lucky enough to be able to start your ride from home. For those of us that have a 30 minute drive to get to safe roads and obviously 30 minutes back have some different calculus. It would take me 50% to 75% more time to get the same volume outside and i definitely wouldn’t be able to do it before my son wakes up.
3 Likes
Yep. Also, im in a wet area. That means wear and tear on the bike, cleaning every ride, etc.
2 Likes
On the flip side, riding outside can be just as effective, or more if you consider specificity and skills.
Regardless, assume inside and outside can develop equal fitness and not debate that point.
I tried embracing training indoors for 2 years, and with time, it made me want to stop riding my bike. Absolute truth. After staring at a screen at work, last thing I want to do is stay inside and stare at another screen or garage door. I never hated riding the trainer until I left the fun classes at the gym, bought a trainer, embraced riding indoors ‘because its more efficient and science based plans’ and avoided training outside. Over time I started to hate the trainer and my bike. My wife noticed the mood change first and told me to get off my ass and ride outside. Now I do 99% of my riding outside and only use the trainer when necessary, and am back to loving cycling. Over 35 years living the Mediterranean climate dream in California and love it.
Two sides to every story. There is a Road in TrainerRoad.
2 Likes
@Rider51 Welcome to the forum!
@QuittingBikes and @splash are right about Cooling and entertainment helping indoor training much more enjoyable, but I want to echo the sentiment here that you can get faster riding outside, too.
While riding outside is a great approach for you, the key to getting faster is structured training, which can be done inside and outside!
Plenty of TrainerRoad athletes utilize outside workouts, and now that every workout has a 1:1 outside equivalent, you’ll be sure have the same access to effective, structured training when you’re outside.
@toribath is spot on that ‘You can absolutely get comparable results riding outside, but how achievable that is in practice will depend on where you are.’
It sounds like you ride outside a lot, so probably have a good training setting, but incorporating structured intervals outside can be tricky if you’re new to it. We have LOTS of resources to help, and Im available via DM once you get going to take a look at your outside workouts to do a ‘compliance check’ of sorts and provide any relevant feedback or tips to help you get the most from your outside training.
This resource is a good place to start: ‘Blog: Take Your Training Outside: TrainerRoad Outside Workouts’, but there are some great podcast discussions on inside v. outside, head unit setup best practices, and more here: TrainerRoad Blog Archives: Outside.
Some ‘getting started’ tips for selecting interval spots:
Planning outside workouts and incorporating intervals with your terrain, without interruptions, is definitely a skill. As part of practicing this skill, it’s good to familiarize yourself with efforts in how they correlate with the terrain.
For example: finding a gradual long climb is great when it’s not so steep that you cant rest if you’re still climbing. I think a lot of athletes don’t realize you can still rest while climbing, as long as it’s not too steep and as long as you can keep yourself in check and ride chill! Roads like this are amazing for doing all sorts of efforts from VO2 max to Threshold and everything in between.
Finally, you should feel okay about taking a little extra time to get to/from your workout spot or in taking an extra bit of rest if you’re doing hill repeats and need to get back to the base of the climb. As long as you’re meeting the comprehensive goals of the work intervals assigned, don’t stress too much about making those outside workouts perfect outside of the intervals assigned.
Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you need more feedback about those outside workouts once you’re ready to get rolling, or once you’ve gotten a handful of them in and have any lingering questions. We’re here to help!
1 Like
I’ve flipped flopped back and forth on this. I used to live in CA where you could ride outdoors all year and the most you might need is tights and a medium weight jacket. I hated the trainer. Then we lived in Washington state and I had to embrace winter indoor training. Then we were in New Mexico were I could ride outside 360 days per year and I mostly did. (The other 5 days it might rain.) Then we moved to Tennessee where my terrain was challenging (30 minutes of riding just to get out of town for a ride) and where the humidity could be horrible at times of the year and where it could be cold or raining in the winter.
Cooling secret - that house in Knoxville came with a dedicated room in the finished basement with its own AC unit. Once I could go ride downstairs with the AC blasting at 60F, it was heaven. I really got to enjoy an hour or two of trainer time with Netflix/youtube/movie whatever and some zone 2, some tempo, whatever.
A dedicated room with cooling is a godsend. I now roll my eyes at people that talk about the puddle of sweat underneath them after a session like it’s a good thing. That isn’t quality. That is an extra high RPE because your temperature is too high.
3 Likes
There’s a time and place for both indoor and outdoor riding. I’m lucky enough to have long stretches of road with no stops and little traffic and some 2-5min hills where I can train really effectively outside. While the weather has been good here I’ve done most of my training outdoor. But we’re also near the end of summer, in about two months it will be nearly dark by the time I get home. It won’t be long untill I’ll do most of my training indoor again and I’m fine with that. TrainerRoad workouts combined with riding on Zwift (let the TR phone app control my kickr and just let Zwift read the numbers I generate) works just as well for me.
1 Like
Yes: indoor - training, outdoor - racing 
I understand there are zealots of every kind here, and room for us all. I just don’t understand why people want to discourage indoor training, or challenge people who are encouraging indoor training. Here of all places. 
I get that TR wants to keep people in structured training in season - fine, and most customers stop using their trainers in the good weather so absolutely. Outdoor structured training when it work for you. But it’s surely crazy to discourage people from indoor training altogether.
1 Like
Indeed. I’m trying to see if I can sneak an outdoor workout into one of my commutes. Not sure if that makes me less Sith or more…
1 Like
I just don’t understand why people want to discourage outdoor training, or challenge people who are encouraging outdoor training. 
3 Likes
I find it is the other way here… I got heat on anther thread for suggesting a mountain biker needs to ride outside to get better at… mountain biking.
I think we all just do what we can. If time and location dictate you ride inside that’s what you have to do. If you can ride outside… that’s awesome! In regards to riding on the trainer, maybe it is something you need to work up to. Start with 20-30 min rides. Add a few minutes every week til you get to your goal time.
2 Likes