I don't go on the exercise bike much as I prefer real cycling. But when I do I want to get it over with asap while at the same time getting a good workout. So I set it up at a nice round, matching number: 10km in 10 mins. I'm absolutely exhausted for about 5 minutes after I finish with the legs feeling like jelly but I'm ok in about 10 minutes. I would describe myself as at an average fitness level.

My aim is to improve my general road cycling ability. Is it better to do longer and less intensive workouts or is the above method better?

imho - 60 kph (10 kph in 10 min) is pretty optimistic - i'd check the bike's calibration ?

Unless he was going on an "-8% downhill" at 40mph for 10km.

Exercise bike folks. No wind and questionable rolling resistance. I'd say 60kph is feasible.

What kind of exercise bike?

Not that it matters really, I've never seen an exercise bike that even approaches reality in its reported numbers. Hell, mine says I can average 25mph, up mountains. Reality doesn't agree.

The atmosphere on Mars is quite thin. Might be you dialed up the Mars setting.

What team do you race for?

I don't know how to check if the calibration is accurate but all the settings work fine. It's a body sculpture machine. I did mention I'm absolutely knackered afterwards and it does feel I've done 10km! I don't race for any team, I'm not that good!

"Exercise bike folks. No wind and questionable rolling resistance. I'd say 60kph is feasible" Thats what I was thinking. Then 60kph = 37mph so it does seem a bit optimistic come to think of it!

If you had fun then it was a good time. I always try to have a good time on my bike.

Have you posted it on Strava? You can be KOM for your living room

Don't stop now. Go for the full hour, you may have something there.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hour_record

Um ... no.

Are you aiming for a realistic sort of number ... or fantasy?

Yep. I've never had a good time on an exercise bike, so more power to the OP.

I teach a spin class on Keiser bikes with computers that are calibrated on a regular basis. One of my classes has the students ride as fast as they can for 5 minutes and track the distance to calculate their speed. I can ride 3-3.2 miles in that time, which is 36+ mph. The resistance is very low and the bikes have a big flywheel that carries the pedal momentum. Most students in the class who aren't cyclists can easily do over 25 mph in 5 minutes.

You say you want to improve "general road cycling ability". Are you talking about endurance and/or speed?

The notion of "speed" on an exercise bike is bizarre. I can understand evaluating speed on the expensive trainers which provide a complete simulation of grade and load taking into account grade, wind velocity, wind resistance (drag), etc., but these don't seem to be found in spin rooms and you would have to be a dedicated amateur living in a sketchy climate (most of the US?) to own one.

I'm assuming the OP is talking about riding an exercise bike at the gym. The numbers he got were not out of place for a bike like that.

He's actually not asking about the bike, he's asking about his workout: "My aim is to improve my general road cycling ability. Is it better to do longer and less intensive workouts or is the above method better?"

60 km/h ,... either you are a stronger cyclist than any of us and should consider going pro, or something is not right here.

About the original question, I am not sure what your goal is and i am not a professional trainer. However, if your goal is to become a stronger cyclist and improve overall fitness, I feel like 10 minutes is a ridiculously short time to do any sort of exercise. I also wonder if you go all out withut any sort of warming up. Not sure if that is a good thing. My warmups take 15 minutes...

If you want to become a better cyclist, get rollers and vary your indoor exercizes imho. Personally an hour is the absolute minimum for me. If you enjoy short bursts of high energy training and feel like you benefit from it, then do interval training. Read up on how to do it in a responsible way or get tips from someone knowledgeable.

I can spin my wheels with my bike on the stand at 40+ mph. Why couldn't I keep a flywheel on an exercise bike with the resistance crazy low at 40? Gearing?

If you could do 36 mph on a level road for ten minutes, I'd be impressed. On an exercise bike, it's just a number on a chart with no scale.

Where does and exercise bike go ? No where.

Sounds dangerous, all those non-cyclists stuffed into a little room and screaming around the place at "36+ mph".

Plus, doesn't that leave marks on the floor? I mean without wheels and all dragging those things around so much seems like it'd scrap the hell out of the floor.

Well, in theory such a calculation shouldn't require such an expensive trainer.

I mean, the computer can calculate power (in several ways, but ultimately all based on how fast something is spinning vs. the resistance seen) and then use that look up a speed on a chart or with a formula that gives the speed of a cyclist of a given weight in a given position (probably down in the drops on a race bike) on level ground at close to sea level with that power production.

To make it even fancier, you could have the computer ask your weight first so to be more accurate.

There's no reason this has to be expensive -- the only expensive part would be that the power reading would need to be accurate, and so depending on how it's done it may require periodic recalibration.

All this said ... I don't know how many exercise bikes do this. Certainly, for the ones I've used they tend to give me a speed rating that's significantly higher than I get on a real bike. Even with the expensive ones.

I wish I was as fast as the exercise bike at work says I am!

Let's just say that back when Indurain and Rominger were riding and the bikes used for trying to break the hour record were in hte 3rd or 4th stage of major modifications the record for the hour was about 35 miles. About that time I once on a flat well paved street came off the wheel of another rider and busted a gut to get up to that speed. Actually made it up to a max of 35.5 MHP and held it for all of 5 seconds. I could have held it for 10-15,. but I would have puked for sure.