Do most triathletes cycle more on the roads or the trainer? (Page 2)

I look at the trainer and know, it must be icy outside.  Otherwise, I prefer to be on the roads. 

My wife likes the trainer for a number of reasons:

1.  It gets dark at 5:00 PM in Iowa from late October to Mid March. 

2.  There are no icy roads to slip on and die.

3.  If the kids are being naughty she can send them downstairs to watch me ride.  They then take over the TV and I'm stuck watching Finding Nemo for the millionth time.

4.  I can be home to put kids to bed then do my workout.

5.  Yes, it is safer, dang it.

I like the trainer for a couple of reasons too:

1.  I can sweat off a couple of extra beers a heck of a lot faster.

2.  No wind other than the fan blowing on me full speed.

3.  Roll out of bed, get on the trainer.  If I need to go to the bathroom, it's right there and I'm not crapping in a muddy corn field 30 miles from home.

4.  Never run out of water.

5.  Ok, it's safer than dealing with "Angry and I hate Bikers guy".

I just love the outdoors though so I fight it as long as possible.

For these same reasons (and the fact that there are no dogs with detestable owners chasing me in my house) I would MUCH rather ride on the trainer than ride outside.  I prefer to get up early and ride while it is still dark, which allows me to maximize the daylight hours that I am able to spend with my family.  Put on a couple of movies -- it can be much less "boring" than riding solo in the heat and humidity.

I use the trainer once a week, even in good weather.  I have a plan so I am not just riding.  Even with the plan I have never said the time flies by   I still find it incredibly boring even with all the intervals, up down, etc.   I have to say that I always get a solid workout though.  Anything more than 90 minutes though and I don't know if I could take it.

I forgot who mentioned it but my century rides don't include lunch and talking with the team.  Pretty much riding the entire time except for bathroom.  I usually ride with a group that really taxes me.  Sometimes I stay up, sometimes I don't.  But I always get a good workout on my weekend rides too.

enjoy,

Duane

I much prefer riding outside, especially here in FL where I can train outside all year.

The two things that drive me inside are thunderstorms and more often, darkness.  My work schdeule is such that it's hard to get in a ride outside during the week, especially during the winter months.  It's hard enough dealing with all the bad drivers during the daylight; I don't want to tempt fate riding in the dark.

I bought a copy of Chris Carmichael's Time Trialing DVD last year, it's basically a hard interval workout, all done on trainers.  Pretty intense stuff.

Mark

Just as a side note to this thread since many of us seem to use the trainer a lot.

Has anyone had to replace a planned 5+ hr ride with a trainer ride? and if so how long did you ride for and did you break it up such as working at different zones/high cad/low cad etc?

I like my trainer and open road rides.  The best part of the trainer for me is it's time to ride and I am riding in 5 minutes.  I am not packing the truck, driving to a location, unpacking the truck.  I am not getting buzzed by trucks or dodging deer or ducks or chipmuncks.

I also like being able to maintain (try to) a set cadeance and shift up or down every 10 minutes or so.  One of favorites is 20'(5') moving up a gear every time

However nothing beats the road for those hills, IMHO

Joe

I bought a bike so I could enjoy riding it outdoors.  I will agree that riding a trainer is very effective way to improve performance, but that's not the reason I ride.  Improved performance is just a result of me loving to ride my bike.

If you gave me the option of being able to ride outdoors but never race...or having to ride the trainer for all training rides, and being a beast during races...I'd choose the former.

I do at least 1 trainer ride a week even in good weather. It's just much more time efficient and effective in increasing performance.  I only have 3 bike workouts per week this year as I've been focusing on run for this year.  I have 1 weekday ride per week and it's always a firedrill getting there.  You have to get your drinks/nutrition ready, pack the cooler with post-ride recovery drink/water, get the bike and brick run gear loaded, and then drive to the start location.  That's about 45 minutes total (getting ready and drive) one way and probably 30 minutes driving back/unpacking/clean-up.  That's an extra 1:15 per workout that I can use for something else (sometimes, it's even recovery so you have time to just relax).

My weekday rides end in about 5 weeks (not enough daylight after work) so I will be switching over to 2 trainer rides per week at that time and part of me is looking forward to it as I know I can really focus on increasing my FTP and also getting a bit of time back (another hour or so).  I plan on continuing my Saturday long rides outdoors though (unless the weather won't permit it). 

Um, I'll concede the latter point might be true (although try 2 x 20 minutes at 270....  vomit inducing, but not boring).  The former point is definitely not true.  My best cycling performances come after a long winter of Jorge-like intervals on the computrainer.

I do both.  Ride indoors during the week, outdoors on weekends.   Works fantastically for me.  And yes, I love riding my bike outdoors, but sometimes circumstances do not allow for that.  I guess I could ride outdoors once a week and sit on my a** the rest of the week.....

I ride mostly on the trainer.  I can do it in the shade, have fans and dorm fridge set up and porcelein plumbing is just down the hall.   The only draw back is if I feel like stopping I can stop any time.  Riding out side even if I feel like stopping early there is always the ride back the way I came.

Although I far prefer being outside and on the bike, I find some major benefits to the trainer -- and the convenience of just getting on it and going is one.  It's also very convenient to be able to determine what type of workout I want to do and make it happen rather than riding to the right area, etc.

That said, my limit is 90 minutes on it, so all my trainer workouts are short, goal-specific ones.

I do, however, enjoy breaking up the workouts with a "Dri-Tri", using a circuit combination of UBE, Cycle Trainer, and Treadmill.