Is the bike trainer ever really better than riding outdoors? What if we told you… yes, it can be? Keep reading to learn the six biggest benefits of getting friendly with your indoor cycling setup this year.
Cyclists treat using the indoor trainer during the winter like a prison sentence. It’s a necessary evil for when the weather is chilly (or apocalyptic), or when the daylight is gone during non-work hours. In fact, I think I can speak for my fellow riders when I say: we outright romanticize the open road, the wind in our hair/helmet, and the “freedom” of cycling outdoors.
But it’s time to be honest with ourselves! For people trying to stay in shape year-round, the beauty of cycling doesn’t always match up to the efficiency of indoor training. And there are a lot of reasons to make trainer riding a big part of your cycling life. Even in the summer months!
So am I saying that the pain cave not just… well, pain? Let’s take a look at six major reasons winter “trainer season” isn’t just a substitute for riding outdoors, but can actually be superior to outdoor training. Who knows! Maybe this will even convince you that the months you spend spinning your (figurative) wheels indoors can fill you with appreciation rather than annoyance.
Ready to dive in? Here’s my case for why the trainer life isn’t so bad after all:
Photo from Unsplash.
6 surprising reasons why smart trainers are better for fitness than outdoor rides:
1. No more so-called “junk miles.”
If you’re not that into training or developing a training plan, you might not care about “junk miles.” But what are they? And how do they interfere with your fitness goals?
Think about some of the inefficiencies that come with riding your bike outdoors. For example, on a two-hour outdoor ride, how much time are you actually pedaling? Between coasting down hills, waiting at stoplights, soft-pedaling in a draft, or navigating around road furniture or junctions between routes, a significant portion of your ride time will be inefficient.
On the trainer, it’s different. There is no coasting if you’re going for steady power output. Really, there’s no hiding from getting your legs in shape! A 60-minute trainer session is 60 minutes of tension on the chain. You’ll get a dense, concentrated workload over that period.
How does this translate to progress and fitness? If you can achieve in one hour indoors what takes two to do outdoors, what does that do to your fitness? For the average amateur rider, it can sometimes be difficult to fit long periods of cycling into your routine.
That’s why, if time is a commodity for you but you still want to make fitness gains on the bike, the trainer can win out over outdoor riding.
2. Precision training is possible.
When we think about planning a ride, the outdoor terrain is what it is! If you want to do 4 x 10-minute intervals, it may be difficult to find a stretch of road where you can do these uninterrupted. You’re bound to run into a turn or obstacle eventually, which puts a little dent into making a training plan go smoothly.
It may sound boring, but indoor training is different. You can get a lot more precision in your workout plans because you control the variables, rather than working around the variables of the outdoors.
Smart trainers make this kind of training very simple to plan. With your trainer in ERG mode, which automatically adjusts the resistance to keep your power output constant regardless of your pedaling cadence, you don’t just try to keep consistent power: the trainer will actually force you to keep putting that power out! When you remove terrain management and focus purely on how you want to challenge your body, it simplifies and quantizes how you think about building your fitness.
Read more: Learn more about how to plan your perfect winter workouts on the trainer.
Photo from Unsplash.
3. Safety is almost guaranteed during a trainer ride.
This is one point that many cyclists would prefer not to focus on, but it has to be said: riding outdoors can be dangerous.
Whether you’re in a bike lane, on a multi-use path, or just cruising down a residential street, you might face some threats during your typical outdoor ride. Distracted drivers, aggressive dogs, potholes, and debris can all get in your way, and when they cause a crash, they can really mess you up.
Spending the prime months of the year for outdoor riding rehabilitating from a crash really kills the fun of cycling.
Thankfully, on the indoor trainer, you don’t have to contend with these risks at all. Your biggest dangers are overexerting yourself, dehydration, or maybe slipping in a puddle of your own sweat.
How does this sense of safety affect your ability to train effectively? There’s no need to worry about veering off the road when pedaling hard or slowing down for cars to pass safely. When you can go harder because the environment is safer to do so, that hard training leads to long-term improvements.
4. Being “bored” is actually good for you sometimes.
It’s so boring is probably the most common complain levied against indoor riding compared to outdoor riding.
But here’s the thing: exactly. That is literally the point.
Riding outside is fun, and it stimulates your mind. The scenery distracts you when you start to feel tired, and seeing the sights keeps you going. What happens when you ride indoors instead? It strips away all these distractions and leaves you alone with your breathing, your burning legs, and your thoughts.
In our current day, it’s hard to be alone with ourselves, but it’s almost an acquired skill… one that’s worth developing to have your own kind of mental fortitude. Indoor riding without any kind of entertainment requires a different kind of mental discipline to push 100%. When there’s no summit to conquer and no group ride to keep up with, what are you riding for?
Read more: Which unexpected mental and physical skills will cycling help you build over time?
If you can suffer through a ride while staring at the wall, you’re pretty mentally tough, and you’re going to enjoy it even more when you get back out for an outdoors ride.
(Is the stoic cyclist life not for you? Admittedly, same. Check out the next point for an alternative.)
5. Multitasking on the trainer is totally possible.
It’s easy enough to put into words: you can watch an entire movie while riding indoors, and by the time your ride is over, you’ve had a great block of training AND seen a movie you might not have seen before.
If you have a lot of free time, you might scoff at this. But if you’re busy at work or a parent, multitasking becomes a superpower, and getting to enjoy a ride and something else at the same time is fantastic. You can listen to a podcast, watch a race replay (kind of immersive!), or even answer a few emails during a Zone 2 endurance ride.
By multitasking on the trainer, you collapse two activities, leisure time and fitness time, into a single block. You cannot safely watch Netflix while descending a mountain pass. (Not that you would want to, but maybe you do during a trainer ride, and you’ll get in shape while doing it.)
There are also interactive forms of entertainment for trainer enthusiasts. Platforms like Zwift or MyWhoosh have done a lot to gamify the indoor cycling experience. It feels less like doing some boring intervals if you’re earning badges, unlocking digital goodies, or even jumping into a group ride or race at 5:00 AM on a Tuesday. These aspects not only make riding the trainer more fun, but also something where you can connect socially or competitively with other people.
Photo from Unsplash.
6. Weather is no worry.
You might have thought we were going to exclude this one, but no way! It’s one of the best parts of riding indoors.
Every outdoors ride is at the mercy of the weather forecast. Wind, rain, heat, or cold can either cancel a ride or worse, turn it from enjoyable to a slog.
What about on your trusty trainer? You can turn the air conditioning up or the heater on. With a good quality fan, you can emulate the feeling of a nice breeze passing over you. In your garage, basement, or wherever you set your trainer up, it can always 68 degrees and “sunny!”
And don’t even get me started on headwinds, unless you want that.
If you aren’t convinced, think about it from a consistency standpoint. Indoors, you don’t need to miss a workout on the bike just because it’s raining. Consistency is always important for performance, and the weatherproof nature of training indoors guarantees that consistency in a way nature prevents outdoors.
Read more: Boost your fitness and inspire yourself with these cross-training ideas.
So… what’s the catch?
You might have read this list and thought: wow, that is a really joyless existence!
Cycling isn’t all about getting those training gains or being the fastest at the group ride. Nobody is arguing that the trainer has the soul of climbing up a gorgeous mountain at sunrise or something like that. It definitely doesn’t.
But if you’re keeping in shape over the winter, or even over the hottest part of the summer, training doesn’t have to be about soul. It’s about useful time on the bike that’s also hopefully enjoyable.
If you want an adventure, get outside! The open road will always be there waiting for you. But if you want a controlled, efficient tool to make you faster, stronger, and safer on the bike?
Put that trusty bike into the trainer, turn on the fan, and embrace the spin life!
Image from Unsplash.
What’s your favorite thing about “trainer season?” Let us know in the comments or on social media! ★
Leave a Reply