Although I’ve always preferred to ride outside, the realities of work and family have long necessitated a mix of both indoor and outdoor training. I’ve never been afraid of riding in the cold and wet but there’s only so many daylight hours in the winter. Fitting in training with the rest of my responsibilities sometimes means late night is the best time for me to ride.
What has changed over the years, I’ve been training indoors longer than I care to admit, is what indoor cycling looks like. Years ago it was always with rollers and I remember when I first transitioned to one of the best smart trainers. Even as that transition happened, what didn’t change was the solitude of indoor training.
When I was younger I would do things like watch a timer or some visual representation of the intervals while listening to music. When the intensity, and motivation, is high I still sometimes do that. Most of the time though, it’s not enough. I’ve been training long enough that I often can’t access the kind of motivation that comes from doing something new on your own. As fall sets in, I’ve been in the same spot many times before. My fitness is changing in the same way it did last year, and the years before it.
I do four, sometimes five, indoor training rides a week. While I might be able to find enough internal motivation for a few of those, I’ve had to look for something more to fuel the rest. For me, that means community and connection. Just like when I ride outside, I like to talk to people and connect with community. When I can do that, the distances and intervals seem to melt away.
Although I’m certainly not alone in this feeling, not everyone understands that indoor cycling offers the same connection possibilities. Zwift in particular is fundamentally built on a foundation of community and yet, even 10 years on, many people continue to associate indoor cycling with solitude. Last weekend, as I dodged an early season storm, I found myself discussing this fact with others in the Zwift group ride I was participating in. The ridiculousness of that situation seemed like a perfect opportunity to highlight how communal indoor riding can be.
Finding a Zwift group ride and what is available
As I mentioned above, I discussed this topic with a group of people I was riding with on Zwift. It begs the question, how did I find that group and which groups are…
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