I know that doing Tabata drills on the spin bike did do me much good, over the one wintyer I actually used the bike. Come that spring, the hills were much easier, and I wasn't even breathing hard on hills that used to kill me; and was avg. 1 MPH faster. The nice thing is: Tabata drills are over real fast; the bad thing is: They kill you if you're doing them properly [Unlike a Youtube vid I watched once- where the instructor was demonstrating Tabata drills, and was able to talk through the whole thing! If you can still talk normally after the 2nd or 3rd set...you're not really doing Tabata!)