Indoor Cycling Question
- Thread starter Vickeree
- Start date
I find my indoor training is much different than my outdoor training.
Indoor I hold my cadence and power at constant levels. Both are higher with tighter ranges than I do outdoors.
I guess the difference similar to the difference between time trialing and working at the front of a group.
Indoor I hold my cadence and power at constant levels. Both are higher with tighter ranges than I do outdoors.
I guess the difference similar to the difference between time trialing and working at the front of a group.
That's a question that I would like to ask as well it becomes increasingly difficult for me to actually simulate conditions outside when I'm biking inside. And that's exactly what I'm trying to do I want to make sure that I'm simulating the condition to the max degree.
I use Trainerroad in conjunction with Cyclo90 and Sufferfest videos. This then gives me a required power output. (The videos have matching power profiles on Trainerroad). The videos give me the required cadence. I change gear so that I can maintain the required cadence and power. (Power meter not required. Trainerroad has virtual power using power profiles for your trainer e.g. 34.5km/h on my trainer = 300W
I would politely suggest that holdling constant power and cadence is incredibly boring and won't give you as good a workout as say doing intervals.
Attached is a recent indoor ride from Trainerroad where I did a Sufferfest video. The blue solid graph is the power profile. The yellow line is what I actually did, red line is my heart rate and the white line is my cadence. I'm using a Cycleops Fluid 2. This is a nice trainer that's very smooth.
I would politely suggest that holdling constant power and cadence is incredibly boring and won't give you as good a workout as say doing intervals.
Attached is a recent indoor ride from Trainerroad where I did a Sufferfest video. The blue solid graph is the power profile. The yellow line is what I actually did, red line is my heart rate and the white line is my cadence. I'm using a Cycleops Fluid 2. This is a nice trainer that's very smooth.
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I absolutely hate indoor cycling compared to being outside on a real bike. I tend to avoid indoor cycling at all costs and prefer spending my time inside lifting weights or even running on the treadmill. I know some people that love indoor cycling more than outdoor cycling, but most of my friends are like me and can't stand it for too long.
I do a fair amount of indoor riding. What I do is dependent upon what I'm trying to achieve. Sometimes it's straight SS and I mix it up by changing cadence/gearing just to keep it interesting. Sometimes in a SS workout I'll incorporate 40 second or 2-3 minute intervals and the "recovery" phases between "on" portions are kept at L3/SS. Sometimes just do some classic L5 or L6 intervals and mix up the cadence with gearing changes so you keep hitting your wattage targets.
About the only guideline I have WRT cadence, is that the shorter the interval the higher the cadence.
About the only guideline I have WRT cadence, is that the shorter the interval the higher the cadence.
I do not like indoor cycling that much, but now since I broke my leg and spent 2 years almost immobile, I use it quite often. My bike is however, quite old version, so I have only one option. I can set my peddling resistance by turning the gear box head to the left if I want to loose it or to the right if I want to tighten it, making the resistance bigger thus harder. It is hard for me to explain the mechanism,but this is what I do.
Indoor cycling sounds like a bad joke. I can't believe anyone that knows anything about cycling would take it seriously.
You mean like several world champions and world record holders I've worked with that do quite a bit of indoor cycle training?
Lots of 2x 20s in sweet spot as defined by my power meter for one hour, some shorter interval work to break it up. For indoors, I like to keep my workouts to about an hour. How you maximize that hour is the key. I have a fluid trainer and a power meter to track performance. Others use videos and gear combos.
I also just bought a cyclocross bike to participate in some outside group (weather permitting) rides where they mix up terrain with gravel, double track, and some milder single track. It lets me get the longer time in the saddle while the bulk of the training moves indoors. The new cyclocross bikes can handle almost anything short of really technical stuff. It's not as cold as riding on the road into the wind. I like rolling out the door on my bike rather than driving to a trail to go mt. biking, again time management. I also have no power meter, speedo, or STrava on my cyclocross bike, and I've vowed to keep it that way. It's about having fun and logging miles. These bikes are relatively simple cheap and reliable for winter training purposes.
Two or three hard brief planned sessions per week indoors and once a week longer outdoors is a good formula for me. Riding indoors lets you plan very specific workouts. No traffic, no need to even focus on the road, just work. A weekly fun ride keeps the head clear.
As always, your experience may vary.
I also just bought a cyclocross bike to participate in some outside group (weather permitting) rides where they mix up terrain with gravel, double track, and some milder single track. It lets me get the longer time in the saddle while the bulk of the training moves indoors. The new cyclocross bikes can handle almost anything short of really technical stuff. It's not as cold as riding on the road into the wind. I like rolling out the door on my bike rather than driving to a trail to go mt. biking, again time management. I also have no power meter, speedo, or STrava on my cyclocross bike, and I've vowed to keep it that way. It's about having fun and logging miles. These bikes are relatively simple cheap and reliable for winter training purposes.
Two or three hard brief planned sessions per week indoors and once a week longer outdoors is a good formula for me. Riding indoors lets you plan very specific workouts. No traffic, no need to even focus on the road, just work. A weekly fun ride keeps the head clear.
As always, your experience may vary.
I have a Kirk Kinetic. I put the bike in a gear I want to ride in. I tighten the roller until the power I want to ride at happens at the cadence I want to ride at. Then I ride. 54/18, FTP, and 90-95 rpms seems to be what I am set at now. No need to change gears for my workouts.
I do 2 30 minute rides a day this time of year. The goal is to get my heart rate up. I do two different workouts. Depending on how I feel.
30 minutes of intervals - 30 sec at 75-80% FTP then 30 sec at 125% FTP, gets my heart rate up for the last 15 minutes. My average power is 100-105%FTP. I find these hard to recover from.
I mostly do 40 minutes starting out at 80% FTP and increasing to 100-120%FTP. 30 seconds on the tops; 90 seconds sitting up. My average power is 95-100% FTP. I find these easy to recover from.
Music and having to watch the time helps the time go by.
I do 2 30 minute rides a day this time of year. The goal is to get my heart rate up. I do two different workouts. Depending on how I feel.
30 minutes of intervals - 30 sec at 75-80% FTP then 30 sec at 125% FTP, gets my heart rate up for the last 15 minutes. My average power is 100-105%FTP. I find these hard to recover from.
I mostly do 40 minutes starting out at 80% FTP and increasing to 100-120%FTP. 30 seconds on the tops; 90 seconds sitting up. My average power is 95-100% FTP. I find these easy to recover from.
Music and having to watch the time helps the time go by.
Everybody has a different way. It depends upon the indoor bike. Just do what you want according to what feels right. I mean you can blow out a muscle indoors faster than outside because you are thinking you can do the same. Unless you have your bike on an indoor trainer these spin bikes and all of this are just different. They seem easy but the tension of them is very different than just riding a bike. The ones with a computer maybe you can match them up somewhat but they are still different. You can even feel the difference.
Yeah, I'm going to have to retract my statement. You would be correct. Also, for health and rehabilitation reasons I have been stuck with indoor cycling as well lately.
Well indoors is not for everyone, but equally it's not for nobody either. All the best with your rehab. Most of us have been there at some stage.
Numerous advantages to indoor training. Better if you're time crunched, better if weather is bad, can conduct intervals better, and compare training efforts better. I know some studs who spends the majority of time indoors for these reasons. I couldn't do that...but I see why they do.
I never used to take stationary cycling seriously, but I have been using a stationary cycle for about an hour a day since January and it has been good. I still get outdoors when possible as well, but I use the indoor equipment for health and recovery reasons.
I do lots of riding on a trainer. I have an advantage in that I have a CompuTrainer and I can program a ride of any constant or variable intensity (power), but I also use a standard trainer for race warmups and I prefer it for L7 sets. I assume you have a power meter since this is posted in the Power Training forum. If you do have a power meter, cadence isn't that important. But, if you use a heart rate monitor to manage intensity then cadence is crucial because cadence alone will affect your heart rate. Even if you ride at the same cadence as your outdoor workouts, it is difficult to manage intensity. But, if you ride at different cadences, you have no chance.
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