Which is better conditioning wise-riding outdoors or indoors during winter

[dekindy]

I have just started riding in the winter and at night. My times in the winter are down 20% from the summer. I am not sure why. Heavier, colder air? Stiffer wind? I am only riding a couple times a week, sometimes only once, and shorter distances, so that could be it. But was getting in pretty good shape before the short days and cold weather set in and would not have expected that dramatic a dropoff.

I like the winter riding so far and riding at night, but would I be better off from a conditioning perspective to train harder indoors instead of outdoors during the winter?

Live in Indiana.

[coylifut]

riding indoors may make you crazy and quit cycling all together. keep riding outside.

I have just started riding in the winter and at night. My times in the winter are down 20% from the summer. I am not sure why. Heavier, colder air. I am only riding a couple times a week, sometimes only once, and shorter distances, but was getting in pretty good shape before the short days and cold weather set in.

I like the winter riding so far and riding at night, but would I be better off from a conditioning perspective to train harder indoors instead of outdoors during the winter?

Live in Indiana.

[onekgguy]

I think you'll find that you can achieve better conditioning indoors rather than in the frigid outdoors...at least that's my experience. You're not going to get the leg turnover outdoors with muscles which are tighter than normal in the cold air. But, with all that being said I still prefer getting outdoors when I can and only ride my indoor trainer if the weather forces me indoors for too long a time.

Kevin

[Peter P.]

You'll definitely gain more conditioning training indoors than outdoors. In fact, I believe this is true YEAR 'ROUND. Because of the controlled environment (no hills, stop lights, or opportunity for coasting), you can maintain a steadier, higher level of effort. I believe it to be the great "secret" that few take advantage of. Once or twice a week on an indoor trainer is all you need.

Your slower speeds outdoors are due to the extra clothing and the commensurate higher wind drag they create, as well as the lower temps. You're still raising your heart rate to the same level and your legs are still applying the same forces, so it's not like you're losing anything, it's just you're using speed as your benchmark and that can be misleading with summer vs. winter.

Caveat: too much indoor training CAN lead to mental, as well as physical burnout/overtraining.

[dekindy]

I am going to pass this on to my training buddy who refuses to ride at night or in the cold. He is planning to ride the trainer all winter. I am not worried about burnout. He is already a stronger rider than me and I don't want to get further behind! :D

Thanks for the comments, they all make sense.

[A.L.Breguet]

I have just started riding in the winter and at night. My times in the winter are down 20% from the summer. I am not sure why. Heavier, colder air? Stiffer wind? I am only riding a couple times a week, sometimes only once, and shorter distances, so that could be it. But was getting in pretty good shape before the short days and cold weather set in and would not have expected that dramatic a dropoff.

I like the winter riding so far and riding at night, but would I be better off from a conditioning perspective to train harder indoors instead of outdoors during the winter?

Live in Indiana.
It depends on your goals, and also temperament. Do you ride purely for the enjoyment of the bike, or do you train with competition in mind? Are you seeking ultimate fitness or ultimate enjoyment? The two are not always compatible.

[stevep]

get your friend to ride indoors 6 times a week.
you will kick his aass in the spring and maybe you will be able to buy his bike from him for $150. ( added benefit )
perfect solution

[dauwhe]

For me the whole point of riding is being outdoors, moving through the landscape, experiencing the weather and the scenery. If a genie in a bottle told me I could become as fast as a Cat. I racer by riding indoors all winter, I'd refuse. It wouldn't be worth it. I had some wonderful adventures last winter, watching snow build up on my fenders, feeling like I was totally nuts to be out at all. And there's a real feeling of accomplishment from going on a long ride in cold weather (there was one 80+ mile ride where it was never above freezing). Of course, I only did that because the backcountry skiing was pretty bad last year :)

Dave

[Tom]

Depending on your strengths, one is harder than the other. Outdoors I go slower, push harder, use more strength. Indoors I complement that with high cadence steady efforts.

I love riding outdoors any time, but the winter is wonderful. It's like stealing. I feel like I shouldn't be able to be out there having that much fun. If you have the mental strength to put yourself somewhere else where you don't think at all and completely disassociate from your circumstances, only train indoors. Just close your eyes and think of England, I guess.

[Elefantino]

I'll tell you what's not going to help your conditioning: Waking up at 6:45, going outside, seeing the drizzle and feeling the cold, calling your riding buddy and agreeing to bag it, then going back to sleep.

What can I say. I'm a Floridian and a wimp, although those two are not one in the same.

:fight:

However, today is Christmas Decoration Up Day, so there is some small fitness benefit for the placing of nutcrackers.

[onekgguy]

I love riding outdoors any time, but the winter is wonderful. It's like stealing. I feel like I shouldn't be able to be out there having that much fun.

Tom...well said...i forgot about that aspect of winter riding.

Kevin

[Andreas]

For me the whole point of riding is being outdoors, moving through the landscape, experiencing the weather and the scenery. If a genie in a bottle told me I could become as fast as a Cat. I racer by riding indoors all winter, I'd refuse. It wouldn't be worth it. I had some wonderful adventures last winter, watching snow build up on my fenders, feeling like I was totally nuts to be out at all. And there's a real feeling of accomplishment from going on a long ride in cold weather (there was one 80+ mile ride where it was never above freezing). Of course, I only did that because the backcountry skiing was pretty bad last year :)

Dave

What Dave said.

Andreas

[jmc22]

There is an old saying out there....Spring Hero's are Summer Zero's.... For what my 2¢ is worth... your winter training months should be devoted to building a base level for the upcomming year, keeping most of your fitness (say around 80-90%) from the previous year or to improve your spin..anyone that starts to train really hard now will be fried come summer....my recommendations is to just put in the hours on a trainer or on the road, don't worry about speed, distance, climbing or "how much slower you are in the winter months"..by building a base now you will steadly start improving all spirng and summer...a great thing to do in the winter months is to build up a fix gear bike and ride it outdoors...not only will it give you a great workout but it will also improve your ability to turn the peddles over smoothly and efficentiently. :fight:

[Fat Robert]

There is an old saying out there....Spring Heroes are Summer Zeros


anyone that starts to train really hard now will be fried come summer:

i'm training hard right now because the races that matter to me are in the spring...its all about when you want to be in form

hard work in the winter with planned rest can work, if there is enough recovery and variety in the training -- i did LT through last winter and was fine through the end of April, backed off in May, then ramped back up for August, and that was it -- but that's what I planned for.

hard work over the winter without sensible planning or adequate rest will absolutely burn you out...also, if one does LT/VO2 in the winter and also tries to do long rides as well, forget it....

if you're not racing, i would question whether you'd want to ride a trainer to begin with. if you're not obsessed with maintaining specialized (in this case, ride a bike) fitness, then find an endurance activity or recreational sport that you like to do in the winter, and just do that...its about having fun

[Ray]

For me the whole point of riding is being outdoors, moving through the landscape, experiencing the weather and the scenery. If a genie in a bottle told me I could become as fast as a Cat. I racer by riding indoors all winter, I'd refuse. It wouldn't be worth it. I had some wonderful adventures last winter, watching snow build up on my fenders, feeling like I was totally nuts to be out at all. And there's a real feeling of accomplishment from going on a long ride in cold weather (there was one 80+ mile ride where it was never above freezing). Of course, I only did that because the backcountry skiing was pretty bad last year :)

Dave
+3

I actually have a rule that I won't ride a bicycle indoors. That's not what they were made for dammit! That eliminates any guilt I might have felt in previous years from not doing it when I said I would. Now I say I won't and I have developed the fortitude to stick with it!

The weather is OK enough around here to ride some outdoors during the winter. Enough that I won't forget how or go totally to seed. And winter is for playing basketball and doing yoga and/or pilates in really warm rooms. And lifting weights if you don't hate that also. And sitting in hot tubs and saunas. And skiing if you have that nearby.

-Ray

[Kevan]

outdoors. Always.

To think that a 45 minute spin class is going to keep a cyclist in condition is to me laughable.

[djg]

I have rollers (which I use) and a trainer (which I hardly use) and don't mind the occasional spin class, but I wouldn't use any of them as a replacement for riding, so much as a patch when weather or timing keep me off the road. Apart from the fact that it's just not riding, the basic limitation to indoor training, for me, is that I just cannot stand to do it for all that long. I'm happy enough to hit the rollers for 45 minutes to an hour. But I'm not spending 2-3 hours on them (or the trainer)--I'll lose it.

BTW: for rollers or trainer: make sure you've got a decent fan on you--overheating might feel like work, but it's not really doing much for your fitness (and can harm it).

[BoulderGeek]

This thread got me on rollers for the first time in about three years.

I had never run my Nove on them, and it was 10F-25F outside, yesterday.

So, I had a nice hour of trying to recapture the smoothness of youth, when as a lad in Pennsylvania, one had to ride rollers because it rained all the freaking time.

I've had the same pair of rollers,with the original belt, for 25 years now.

[Frustration]

I guess it depends on the rider...

If you can stomach indoor training, it's very effective as it's controlled, no stops etc... With some of the better trainers available, you can really give yourself a hell of a nice ride. (not everything is a spin class...)

And if it's too cold to ride outside, indoors is better than nothing...


All said, I like going "out" for a ride, but there's a lot to be said for good indoor training.

[bcm119]

outdoors. Always.

To think that a 45 minute spin class is going to keep a cyclist in condition is to me laughable.
I tend to agree about spin classes... especially if you do all the goofy drills and bopping around. But a trainer is a different story, I think an hour on the trainer with a 40-minute tempo session is a very effective workout, especially if you can set it up somewhere cold/breezy so you don't get overheated.

[jmc22]

i'm training hard right now because the races that matter to me are in the spring...its all about when you want to be in form

hard work in the winter with planned rest can work, if there is enough recovery and variety in the training -- i did LT through last winter and was fine through the end of April, backed off in May, then ramped back up for August, and that was it -- but that's what I planned for.



Like I said....if you train too hard in the winter, you will be burned out by Summer, unless of course you cut back and don’t ride...I think most ppl would agree that they ride in the winter to build a base so that come late spring, they are turning over the big gears...

I ride the trainer in the winter time so that I have a good base level on tap come spring time to ride outdoors...where riding outdoors here in Colorado everything west of my house goes straight uphill.. I find that a good steady base level developed in the winter allows me to climb better without straining or injury later in the year…

I would also agree that rollers are a good training tool as well as keeping cool…my set-up is in the basement with an open window, fan and the all important TV and DVD player of the classic road races and ski flick…..I can’t wait till the new Red Zinger - Coors Classic DVD hits the streets .. http://www.velogear.com/products.asp?dept=55

[ThasFACE]

To think that a 45 minute spin class is going to keep a cyclist in condition is to me laughable.

Sure, but there's something to be said for the eye candy.

[Simon Q]

For me an hour on the trainer is a much better and more controlled workout that an hour on the road. I pop a cycling DVD on and it goes quite quickly. It goes without saying that I prefer the road but I with a young family I have limited training time so I do a trainer workout once a week even during summer (including a test every four weeks).

[Ti Designs]

Y'all have the wrong idea about riding indoors - there's no trainer or rollers needed, just RIDE INDOORS. It's tricky for sure, there are dangers you don't see when you're on the road. My cat is much worse than any pedestrian, but the sofa is softer than most cars, so it all works out.

Here's an idea for those of us who live near Boston. I say Climb takes advantage of the bargain real estate prices in Concord and builds a velodrome...

[Ray]

Y'all have the wrong idea about riding indoors - there's no trainer or rollers needed, just RIDE INDOORS. It's tricky for sure, there are dangers you don't see when you're on the road. My cat is much worse than any pedestrian, but the sofa is softer than most cars, so it all works out.

Here's an idea for those of us who live near Boston. I say Climb takes advantage of the bargain real estate prices in Concord and builds a velodrome...
You know how they open up the malls a couple hours early for the old folks to walk? Maybe another hour earlier for us to ride. If they just wouldn't buff the floors so much, that could be a minor kick. Well, for the first lap or two. Better than rollers or a trainer anyway.

-Ray

[stevep]

rollers, trainers, etc.
in the end...better than nothing.
no more, no less

[Mud]

At this point in our lives training is a little too strong to describe what we do. We do not ride at night anymore but last summer I bought two Computrainers. Before you judge the cost let us put things in perspective. A new Computrainer is about $1200, not a great sum of money on this forum where many times $1200 seems like latte money.

The trainer has the pacer to ride against and your favorite courses can be built or downloaded from a Garmin GPS, another "toy" that is popular on this forum.

I bought 2 Bianchi San Jose SS cross bikes and put them on the trainers for this season. Since I can choose courses by maximum grade I can select those that we can ride with a SS without spending the whole time standing. The SS really helps me developing a smoother spin.

We try to ride 4 days a week during the winter. The obvious choice is two days on the trainer and two outdoors on the weekend but the weather does not always cooperate on the weekend. During the week we get 40-60 minutes of intense exercise that is measurable. While it may not seem like much most Drs will tell you that it is all you need to stay fit. Since we are forced to pedal all the time trainer miles are probably equivalent to twice the outdoor miles.

On weekends, if we use the trainers, we ride courses that are 60-80 minutes. It is hard work and we would much prefer to be outside. But you can't beat the results since there is no fitness drop-off that usually happens in any sport when you let it go for any length of time.

So this does not get out of perspective, I am more or less retired. I went on Medicare Dec 1 and work PT in a bike shop because I need the money. No vacations, no new cars, but we each have a Serotta and a Computrainer.

I ride with just a HRM, no speed, no cadence, no cares and with my wife burn up the roads at 13-14mph. We bit the bullet for two fo the finest bikes in the world, it would be a shame not to be able to do justice to them when we ride.

[ergott]

Time is real issue for me. I only have the mornings before work. Since I don't have that much time, I'd rather be on the trainer/rollers. Suiting up for a very cold outdoor ride just isn't going to happen for me. After work is out. Gotta build more wheels and try and get my house suitable to move into (new kitchen/electrical).

[Bittersweet]

40F is my normal cutoff for outdoor road biking and 30F for mtb. Arbitrary cutoffs certainly but I find below that you're dressed up like Bibendum and it is more about surviving than riding. Before everyone chimes in that they ride when it is way colder, I'll mention I grew up in NH and live in W. MA so I know a lot colder temperatures but find that besides bragging rights I just don't find it that fun to ride a road bike when it is 20F. I've had some bad frostbite from the Duegi 101s and Alfredo Bindas and I don't need to do that too often to say I'm a hard man. We also usually have snow when it consistently gets below that and I nordic ski all winter.

I also find that riding rollers makes me really hot and uncomfortable adding to the mental instability it causes. I've found that if it is less than 40F outside that I can ride my rollers comfortably in my garage with shorts and a short sleeve shirt once you get warmed up. Again, about 40F seems to be the cutoff for comfort riding the rollers. If you have a garage or similar outdoor air temperature space (meat locker in FL) give roller riding there a shot.

Back to the thread I find outdoors for mental sanity but indoors in the real cold weather maintains/builds a better base.