Murrays

So my buddy tells me the other day that he's got 900 miles in this year which, this year in Wisconsin, would be pretty dang impressive. Turns out, all but a couple hundred were on his trainer.

So do indoor miles count towards your annual total?

-murray

Machka 

I keep track of indoor "miles", and I keep track of "outdoor" miles ... in two separate lists.

Anything I report here, or on bikejournal, or on Big Dogs, are outdoor miles ... well, actually kilometers.

The indoor information is for my own personal use, and I keep track of it in much the same way as I keep track of the distances I walk each week, or my rowing. Indoor cycling burns calories, so does walking and rowing, so it is all exercise and worth counting, but not in the same total as outdoor cycling.

LowCel 

They count towards making me stronger, that's all that I am worried about.

Murrays

Yeah, that was pretty much my point. I wouldn't tell someone I "rode 900 miles" when 700 of them were inside, I'd tell them I rode my trainer 700 miles (or, more accurately, x hours).

Just wondering what others think.

-murray

arterture

As long as my odometer is tracking miles it doesn't really matter to me where they are coming from.

patentcad

What a pathetic Lake Effect Snow Belt excuse.

But if it keeps you from committing suicide, use it.

EventServices

Indoors, I count time-in-saddle, not miles.

Machka 

Right ... for example, I'll go to the gym and spend 40 minutes on the stat bike and 20 minutes on the rowing machine, and that's my indoor workout. I've got an idea of approximately how much virtual distance I've covered on each piece of equipment, but that's not the important thing, the important thing is that I've done a 60 minute workout ... which will hopefully make me stronger for the coming season.

arterture

Well, I live in a pretty flat area, so my rollers tend to have more resistance than when I'm on the road anyway.

So yeah, I count my lake effect miles.

patentcad

I have great empathy for any cyclist living in a place like Buffalo that has a real winter. We have a relatively wimpy ass Hudson Valley winter and it still sucks. Fortunately I manage to cycle outdoors through it. If it were slightly colder and snowier I doubt that would be possible.

arterture

Yeah it's definitely a long winter in Buffalo. We tend to see the first bits of snow towards mid to late October. Thankfully we are starting to see signs of springs as of late.

timmhaan

i would just be an obese SUV driving sedentary slob if i had to live in a place with lake effect snow.

Dubbayoo

The calories count...the miles should too.

Treefox

Thing is, depending on the resistance, the effort that went into those indoor miles may be completely different from any other mile.

I count time.

(then again, with the turbo trainer on the back wheel and the speedo sensor on the front, I couldn't count mileage anyway)

Machka 

So then I should start including my indoor rowing miles into my cycling totals too? After all, I'm burning calories, and my legs are moving .......

LanceFanBoy

amen to that!

wfrogge

miles dont count... hours do.

Murrays

As much as I'd like to get outside more in the winter here in Wisconsin, the down time does wonders for my desire to ride. Yesterday I was thrilled to leave home for a 46 mile ride when it was 38 degrees and windy. In October or November, not a chance.

-murray

Murrays

Thunder stolen, I was going to ask if playing basketball counts. A solid two hours of BBall can be a heck of a lot harder than cycling so I should be able to count it as at least 40 miles

-murray

redirekib

I'm about 70 mi east of Buffalo. I've noticed that the shoulders of the main roads are getting fairly clean but the backroads of my loops are still covered with a dangerous amount sand. I got out last week and will probably do so this week. It's going to take some good rains to clean up most of my routes.

YTD road miles - 32
trainer hrs - 0
skiing vertical - too much to count
X-C miles - 0 - never enough coverage

SushiJoe

Yes. Indoor miles count. I wouldn't care what anyone else told me.

Youngin

You row? Did you go to any regattas last season?

Machka 

Certainly they count ... under the general heading of "Exercise I Have Done This Week".

Murrays

That's fine for your own benefit, but do you tell someone your annual total miles with or without trainer miles?

Bottom line, 900 outdoor miles in Wisconsin this year would be very impressive. If most of it's inside, it tells me you're pretty good at subjecting yourself to mind numbing activities

Honestly, I could never subject myself to riding a trainer that much.

-murray

Dubbayoo

You're Canadian...nothing you do counts.