Indoor riding much different from outdoor?
 

I was browsing thru some of the bikejournals that are viewable on another site. I noticed one rider's outdoor speeds were 11,12,13 mph, maybe a couple of near 15's.

I looked further back and noticed that in Jan, Feb, and March, every ride but 3 or 4 were indoors. Averaged about 900 miles for each of the three months.

But rides were :
45 miles @ 30.12 average "miles per hour"!
35 miles @ 27.16 mph
45 miles @ 27.33
30 miles at 26.22:eek:

Now I've ridden with some serious cyclists that have smoked my azz, but I don't think even they could carry the speeds this lady claims!:rolleyes:

Maybe I'm missing something and it's possible to carry speeds indoors, that double outdoor speeds for long periods of time? Or is this BS?

I could be wrong, somebody enlighten me!:D

her computer or trainer could be calibrated wrong.

That's what I was thinking! But I was also wondering if the tension on a trainer is loose/easy, would that allow you to carry these speeds?

think about it. when riding indoors, there is NO wind resistance. and very little if any rolling resistance. one does not encounter the effects of slightly rolling terrain, or really any terrain at all for that matter. judging fitness by looking at indoor riding speed is totally worthless.

no resistance from the trainer, it's easy to spin a big gear when there's no wind to push against

yeah...but indoors there are no downhills and no opportunities for coasting - when on an indoor trainer I spin and pedal for the full hour, adjusting my effort my gearing. Outdoors I may pull hard up a hill and then coast for 45 seconds down the back of it - they are just different.

Plus don't forget slow downs for traffic and the like.

She should sign up for the Tour de Indoor.

My best guess would be that it's very hilly where she lives, thus the very low speeds outdoors and her indoor trainer is displaying km/hr instead of mi/hr.

Indoors sucks. That's the difference.

:roflmao:
Hell yeah it does.

My "avg Speed" declines indoors. I ride monster resistance and do intervals. Darn. I must suck.

One thing I found is with indoor trainer, aerobic capacity goes down. Wierd I know. After I went from indoor ridding during winter to outdoor, for same or less perceived intensity my HR was 10-20 bpms higher.

Could be an issue of resistance too. If the resistance is set really light and isn't progressive as you speed up (like a cheapie mag trainer) you can go pretty fast. Averaging 30mph on a Fluid2 or some other progressive fluid trainer that's properly set up will smoke you. My fiancee uses my Fluid2 a lot, and her indoor speeds are very similar to outdoors in the flats. Me? My speed sensor is in front. :(

I totally agree with the HR issue on a trainer. I think there's got to be an environmental reason for it, i.e. you're not using any energy or brain power watching the road, steering, braking, etc., not to mention the inherent wind resistance on an outdoor ride. I don't think it's really an issue of aerobic capacity, but that's a total guess.

DrPete