Trainer time does not equal road time - short whine

[roadie gal]

Between having the blood clot and not being allowed to ride outside alone and our ENDLESS winter, I was on the bike on the trainer for about 9 months. I went out for my first hilly ride yesterday. Well... no matter how hard you push it, trainer time is not the same as road time. I was wiped out by hills that I usually make it up much more easily. feh

But at least I'm finally outside!

[Geonz]

Welcome back!!!!

Trainer time is better than *no* time... I guess ;)

[zoom-zoom]

IME the big thing that separates trainer from road (aside from boredom) is the lack of wind. No true hills is a biggie, too. All this past Winter I did 50 or more miles/week on the trainer, thinking that would keep me sorta bike fit...but it didn't. At least not as much as I had hoped. It didn't help that we had the neverending Winter and I wasn't really able to get out on my bike much until April. I had about 6 months of indoors-only and it was miserable.

On the bright side, my fitness came back pretty fast once I was able to get outdoors more. And now I have a cyclocross bike so that I can get outdoors for rides with studded tires when there's snow and ice.

[Veronica]

Imagine where you would be if you hadn't put in the trainer time. :D

3 cheers for summer!

Veronica

[Velocivixen]

This reminds me lf people who train for a 5K on a treadmill then are surprised about how "hard" it is to run outside. At least you were able to do something.

[KathiCville]

Similar experience here. I put in about 40 miles a week at the gym all winter long, half of it in intervals, but still had catching up to do when I got back out on the roads. But I take comfort in figuring that I would have been that much worse off if I hadn't put in the time on the trainer. (Gotta find a silver lining in there somewhere, right? :))

Looking back, I wish I had devoted more time to building core strength.

[Catrin]

I know someone who thinks my riding outdoors for 2-3 hours is much easier than a 45 minute spin class. I am never quite sure how to react to it....so I stay pretty quiet on it. My first reaction was to want to laugh but that probably wouldn't have been taken well - she does have a bike and likes to do one triathlon a year but prefers to do most of her training indoors. Whatever works for her - exercise is good no matter how we get it!

[zoom-zoom]

I know someone who thinks my riding outdoors for 2-3 hours is much easier than a 45 minute spin class.

I'm inclined to agree with her. Spin classes are hard, riding indoors is REALLY hard (mentally, which is sometimes a bigger deal than the physical component). I've always felt like 1 hour indoors = 3 hours outdoors in terms of perception of time. I have friends who do crazy stunts like indoor centuries. No flippin' way would I do that unless big money were involved.

[Veronica]

I think it depends on the type of inside riding you're doing as well. My hour video Dropping the Hammer is much harder and more intense than the mosey ride I did up Mt Diablo yesterday - even though I climbed 3500 feet in ten miles.

Veronica

[Catrin]

I'm inclined to agree with her. Spin classes are hard, riding indoors is REALLY hard (mentally, which is sometimes a bigger deal than the physical component). I've always felt like 1 hour indoors = 3 hours outdoors in terms of perception of time. I have friends who do crazy stunts like indoor centuries. No flippin' way would I do that unless big money were involved.

I've been in that class for much of the last 2 years so I know the class she is talking about. It really is a great class with great music - and yeah, it is quite difficult. She says she won't ride outside because spinning class gives her what she needs - which is fine. We are all different and there are different solution to our goals. She thinks I ride far too much, but she doesn't say too much about it :)

I agree that there is a much larger mental component in riding indoors, and certainly can't imagine doing a century inside unless there is a lot of money behind it...

[Owlie]

Even with TV, I find trainer workouts harder than outdoors. A lot of it is mental (I hate gyms, and this is the same kind of thing).

[roadie gal]

Imagine where you would be if you hadn't put in the trainer time. :D

3 cheers for summer!

Veronica

That is SO true. At least I made it up the hill... even if I was going about 4.5 mph at one point.