Two goals.

1) Lose Weight
2) Get fitter.

Goal one I've been accomplishing without Cycling but Cycling is making it even easier by not just restricting intake, but increase calorie expenditure.

Two is perhaps subjective and hard to quantify. But I really enjoy riding my bike. And I go faster and further as I progress, and I want to keep up with that.

I use the trainer indoors when I can't comfortably ride outdoors. I don't necessarily train for anything specific but I also don't train without a plan. I tend to follow TrainerRoads Aerobic Base plans right now.

I think of training as simply trying to become a better cyclist. There are a million different ways to define "better," be it going faster, longer, for more elevation, etc. There are a billion different ways to go about becoming each different definition of better.

I'm like a lot of you. I'm somewhere in between following a strict plan and just riding along purely for fun. Having every day specifically planned out would take a lot of the fun out of riding, but so would riding along aimlessly with no end goal in mind. It's like anything else in life- there has to be a balance.

I agree. Training without a purpose seems pointless but training like it's my job seems arduous. I have to admit though; and it's silly, but I find myself questioning whether some of the self-described avid cyclists I know really are as they describe when they ride infrequently, irregularly, and without a plan. I mean in my head I know that if they are enjoying it, then that's all that matters! But given how much in my short time I've advanced, I just can't imagine riding 'now and then'. I'd be so out of shape for every ride!

Many people I know that find out how many miles I ride a year, think I'm obsessed. Everybody had a limit to how much time they are willing to put into an activity.

I train to impress people on group rides and to receive enjoyment by dropping people on charity rides. Especially when I'm on my 22 year old bike with downtube shifters.

Yesss!

Currently, my training goal is to not get the red lantern in the Gran Fondo New York. Due to age and lack of credentials, I'll have to start in back, but hopefully I'll stay of sight of it after the first few miles.

I LOVE it during a triathlon when I pass people whose wheels cost more than my bike.

Yes.

I LOVE passing triguys with their nose on the stem while I'm sitting tall. :-)

A well designed training Program is executed in phases building endurance, strength and speed as the year progresses with a specific series of measurable goals in mind.

It's winter so I'm in the Base Miles phase riding fixed gear on the road as conditions permit and going out on the road bike(s) into the hills on routes that will ridden at pace later in the season. Every turn of the crank counts, just plootering down to the farmer's market can be useful recovery from an intense effort and to keep riding a bike simple useful fun.

Join a club, get a coach and workup a Program that focuses on your specific goals: repeat for several decades.
If that doesn't sound like fun just go out and make your own fun riding your bicycle about.

PS: Poll inappropriate for my program.

-Bandera

I'm a big fan of active recovery. When I first heard the term I thought that sounded miserable. But with one or two, maybe even 3 recovery days a week (usually just one or two); I'd be sore that day, and still a little sore the next day. But, on a recovery day now, I hop up on my bike (on the trainer often in this weather), still sore! And spin lightly for a few minutes, gradually up the resistance, then gradually back down (using something like TrainerRoads Volunteer or Taku) for 30-60 minutes, and I feel great! I really do think it helps our muscles to take a break.

Yesterday was the first exception in a good while. Sunday I was feeling ill, rode anyway. Sunday night feeling worse, woke up Monday feeling pretty rough. Swollen lymph nodes, scratchy throat, sinus congestion. So I decided to take a day off, lest I risk exacerbating things (exercising does limit the immune system; even if it has positive longer-term benefits on the immune system. Though I have heard former pro athletes, including pro cyclists, say they got sick less since retiring. From getting the flu, colds, etc., several times a year to not getting them at all. This is the first time I've been sick in years.). But today I'll be back on it, probably for a moderate 60 minutes or so, and picking it up with something more aggressive tomorrow.

BUT; my muscles felt worse yesterday and today than they do on days when I do 'active recovery', and subsequent days. Simply not using them has made them pretty stuff. Even to the point of burning a bit when I stretch.

Yep. I ride a road bike, a 5-year-old, entry-level carbon Synapse. Some dude got so mad when I passed him during a race last year that he started swearing.

You will be getting a letter from my attorney for negligent poll development.

You'd pass a lot more if you got lower.

Too easy and no schadenfreude. Before all you triguys get your panties in a bunch you would all destroy me swimming or running.

Well, that certainly is an interesting choice. I guess I would rather have the free speed, especially if I'm already giving up time on the swim and run. But to each his own.

no trainer, just riding more to get a bit faster

and and getting ready for the 2015 version of this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl62Bj_rToM

I think of training as preparing to perform at a certain level at a specific time.

My "training" is what I do to mitigate fitness losses over the winter. This year involved a foray into cross, but now there's no riding in the woods, as there is a 3' base of snow on the ground in RI.

I'm "training" for the ability to go into the new season with some level of strength and to prepare me for the big uptick in mileage.