Indoor Cycling Is Boring (And That’s The Way I Like It)

As indoor cycling becomes more ‘fun’, Ashley Quinlan, our Senior Technical Editor, wants it to stay boring.

The popularity of Zwift’s virtual worlds suggests he is in the minority. And it may well be, as Simon von Bromley argues, that gamification is the future of indoor cycling.

It is good that indoor cycling no longer means slogging away on the rollers with only a thudding techno beat to distract you from supra-threshold purgatory.

But what’s fun is not always good for fitness.

In this video, he explains why he hope training-focused alternatives remain to increasingly gamified, ‘realistic’ indoor cycling.

#IndoorCycling #Zwift #trainerroad

Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:36 The gamification of indoor cycling is futile
01:50 Back from reality
03:18 Real riding can be boring too
04:47 More tuned in
05:49 Less paraphernalia, fewer excuses
06:47 Be careful what you wish for

The Best Zwift Setup on Any Budget
→ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DExvQX3FUOM&t=469s

Best Smart Trainers 2023 | 10-Way Mega-Test
→https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHWrZm3H6Fo&t=913s

Top 5 Indoor Cycling Tips | How To Get The Most Out Of A Smart Trainer
→https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqpNkfDOtI8&t=58s

How To Make Indoor Training More Fun!
→https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TB8ijEOKULM&t=151s

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As indoor cycling becomes more fun I and one or two others on the bike radar team want it to stay boring the popularity of zwift’s virtual world suggest we’re in the minority though and in general it’s good that indoor cycling no longer means slugging away on the rollers with only a

Thudding techno beat to distract you but what’s fun is not always good for Fitness in this video I’ll explain why some of us mainly my extremely fit colleague Jack Evans and myself hope that training focused Alternatives remain in a world of increasingly gamified realistic indoor Cycling the attempts of clever software designers to make indoor cycling apps more engaging and lifelike are wasted on us and that’s not for any lack of trying on our part we’ve done Swift racing explored rgt cyclings Virtual Worlds and groveled through simulations of World Tour races on Wahoo system but when I

Jump on my smile trainer I’m not looking to replicate the reality of riding on the road or Trail I’m making the choice to avoid the real world variables that make producing the power I need to harder I don’t want to steer past other virtual cyclists or ride through poorly

Detailed Virtual Worlds I just want to train in a structured and effective way so after no shortage of experimentation I’ve settled on the exceedingly Spartan trainer Road where gimmicks such as Virtual Worlds Tron bikes powerups and special jerseys are cast aside structured workouts and adaptive training plans are all trainer Road does

If using trainer resembles any reality it’s something akin to the gray grainy footage from an old East Jour propaganda film showing young hopeful spinning on rollers staring at the gymnasium wall because we think the platform is potentially far more effective for training than its competitors we can

Abide its lack of stimulation the ends justify the Means for some of us many features designed to make apps more lifelike undermine the benefits of indoor cycling now you may be better disciplined than than us but when we ride up behind another cyclist on the open road or tackle a climb the urge to increase our effort is always there when base

Training surges above zone two of your training zones are really what you’re trying to avoid so reigning in our competitiveness and avoiding undulating terrain on outdoor aerobic development rides is one option but turning to the controlled environment of the pain cave is another so the presence of other

Riders avatars and climbs on the liks of zwift are exactly what we’re trying to avoid while working on our recycling inur you can of course do structured workouts on Swift but the banners above the Avatar suggest that many more swifters are doing unstructured free rides or what you could call riding around

Aimlessly without achieving any physiological goals such as improving V2 Max whereas on programs like trainer road we can tap away at the prescribed power output turning our heartbeat up with only the drip of our own sweat and suitably energetic playlist without the temptation to chase after other avatars

Jack and I don’t spend too long in in the dreaded physiological Gray Zone of Zone 3 this moderate intensity level is fatiguing relative to its Fitness benefits so excessive Tempo riding is a common cause of indoor training burnouts and possibly overtraining would you be interested in a video about training

Principles zones and the like let us know in the comments in Jenny Graham’s account of her record breaking round the world ride coffee first then the world she describes it taking on the air Highway nicknamed the 90 M straight for good reason the road runs for 145. 6 km in a

Straight line between western and southern Australia across the treeless nullabor plane now that sounds pretty dull doesn’t it well in preparation graah rode on a turbo train and with a map of the nullor hanging in front of her to visualize ticking off the kilometers she GED herself up for the

Mind-numbing crossing by telling herself nothing will ever be as monotonous as riding a station re bike while staring at a brick wall now this is an an extreme example but those of us not planning to circumnavigate the globe by a bike in 124 days can still learn from

It any sustained effort on the bike can become boring the mind can wander during time trials and a axes alike but to develop a mental strategy nothing beats doing the real thing and we find relatively monotonous indoor cycling good preparation for the duller moments of a long ride in this scenario the time

Oned tactic of dividing the daunting remaining distance or time into chunks can make it more manageable Jack and I use the same strategy to break down the prolonged block of endurance riding on our smart trainers now we enjoy solo riding if you don’t know unsociable indoor cycling apps more closely

Replicate the loneliness of the longdistance cyclist and can help you Al Climatize at the more explosive end of the spot Hill Climb Racing demands intense concentration to remain steady power when the lungs and legs are stinging my extremely fit colleague Jack knows a lot more about this than I do he says say his minimalist approach to indoor cycling has helped him hone this

Focus and tune into how hard an effort feels in training looking out for hazards and taking in surroundings on the road distracts you from your efforts this is true to a lesser extent in a virtual cycling world where all extra stimulus can be distracting this is good

When you want to pass time quicker but it’s less advantageous if you should be paying attention to your power heart rate and rate of perceived exertion for Jack and myself especially doing high-intensity interval workouts on a paired back indoor training platform has improved pacing we think we have a

Better idea of what say 450 Watts feels like because don’t forget in the oxygen starve tunnel vision of a hill climb you can’t always read your power meter Well Jack knows what that kind of power feels like I make do with far less if you want

To check out some of our Hill Climb videos though click on the playlist above getting layered up for cycling in the winter takes longer and there’s a mental barrier to heading out in the cold wet and dark I’m sure many of you have had that too jumping on the turbo

Troner can require a lot less motivation as long as your setup is simple it can be a pava to connect an electronic shops worth of devices to a Smart trainer all you really need for indoor training is a phone and a heart rate monitor while the

Trainer can take care of the power if you have one it’s not worth projecting trainer roads interval blocks onto a laptop or TV screen and we don’t need a keyboard headset or handlebar mounted controller to speak to strangers sweating in solidarity in different time zones we also don’t need to mess around

With a rise of block steering or rocking devices to mimic real riding we can just go outside for that don’t get me wrong some turbo training accessories such as a trainer table are practically useful but it’s fair to say a lot of them probably reduce the convenience of

Indoor cycling rather than add to It do we really need the added complexity of gamifying indoor cycling Jack and I don’t think so and we think many of you will agree the possibility to do sustained uninterrupted effort can be lost as fun features become unwanted distractions we know our opinion isn’t universally popular though our colleague

Simon Von Bramley disagrees and wonders how many of us would really choose boredom over fun well we would boring indoor training makes us fitter faster and cycling in the real world a lot more fun in the long run that’s what we think anyway and now I want you to let us know

What you think make yourself heard in the comments and if for some reason you want to make your indoor sessions more fun and fair enough check out this video