Originally Posted by
Danhedonia
genejockey - that's exactly my experience. I ride at least 60 minutes a day indoors; those who think "it's boring" are either very unusual people are have little to no experience with current training platforms. Having a random guy from Slovakia chase me through the 3rd stage of the 2014 TdF is not boring.
But the structured workouts - which are meant to legitimize smart trainers, and are effective - become "spin class like" to me. That whole bit of giving your ass a rest - doesn't work if you're on erg mode. I had a hardcore sprint section in Zwift yesterday, and coasted once past the finish line. Started to spin it out and - boom! - on screen message says "let's take this down a bit" and I almost broke the chain!
Everyone has a personal level of interest in data; my general observation is that many software programs are creating a very specific
type of cycling skill.
chaadster - I like the driving range / batting cage analogy (for me it's a climbing gym). But the climbing gym had a bad side to it, which was creating kids who could boulder tough problems but got outside and had no idea what to do on multi-pitch routes.
Trainers seem to me to build crit racers: hour-long sessions, total emphasis on power and managing sustained power bursts. Rouvy is really the only software I've found so far that works better with what I'd call 'more traditional' style, like coasting, taking moments to stand on the pedals, etc.
I certainly agree that stationary riding can be used by crit racers for training, but I would not say stationary training “builds” crit racers; it all depends on how one uses the tool, and stationary riding can definitely build great, all-round cyclists if that’s how a training regimen is built. See Carmichael’s Time Crunched Cyclist, for examples of how training is used to target different events/outcomes...and he started coaching way before smart trainers, so I want to point out that structured workouts were in no way created to legitimize smart trainers; that’s putting the horse before the cart for sure.
Another small point is that depending on the stationary bike used, one can certainly coast, and unless you bolted a track bike to your trainer, you can coast on one of those as well. Spin bikes don’t coast, but that’s a very different thing from what we’re talking about with Zwift, Rouvy, or smart trainers. There is no reason one cannot do mixed riding (i.e. coasting, standing) on a trainer.
Lastly, I do agree that there are “bad sides” to training for sports which are then rarely done; there is no substitute for experience. In the same way an exclusively indoor wall climber might be great at tough problems but not have the technical experience for making a multi-pitch climb, someone who trains exclusively stationary won’t have the experience at close quarter group riding, rotating a paceline, or picking smooth lines, though they may have the strength to ride A group. That’s a failure of the rider, though, to use training tools properly, not a problem of the training tool.