My 4 Keys to Making Indoor Riding More Enjoyable

Even though we are entering peak outdoor riding season for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, there are increasing numbers of us still staying on the trainer year round. Some of that may be chalked up to road safety, as we see incidents daily between cyclists and drivers. But some of that is also by choice, whether due to thinking that training will be better, or other circumstances.

For me, still only being in the Pacific Northwest for just under a year, there’s three key factors driving that decision. First, it’s a time mechanism. I often am trying to figure out how to make a ride work between work obligations, family obligations, driving between those said obligations, or other hobbies or interests. It’s easy to hop on the trainer for a session; it’s hard to gear up and get out the door in an equivalent amount of time. Second, the terrain here is somehow even more challenging than that in southwestern New Hampshire — it’s a 10%+ grade to get back to my house in any direction I head in. And lastly, I just don’t know the roads well enough to be able to sneak out yet; I need a whole series of weekend mornings to be able to start figuring it out.

So it’s to the newish garage-based trainer cave with me. Some things have changed from my old basement set-up from New Hampshire; namely, I don’t need a window-based air conditioning unit to help bring temperature down from there, and there’s a different bike hooked up to the Wahoo KICKR Core that I know and love. But for the most part, it’s the same environment that I’ve used to log about 30,000 miles on over the last few years.

Long way of saying: I’ve gotten pretty good at figuring out what really makes a difference in your riding experience inside. These are my top four most important elements to having an enjoyable indoor ride.

The Right Indoor Cycling Platform

The various virtual indoor platforms: Zwift, TrainingPeaks Virtual, Rouvy, et al have been the biggest revolution in my time in the sport. They unlocked the power of the smart trainers and turned them into tools that nearly every athlete could piece together. Before that, indoor training was either incredibly boring or incredibly expensive. No more.

For my money, there are two indoor platforms that stand above the rest, and for different reasons. If you are someone who is motivated by either full-on gamification or by virtual racing, Zwift is your preferred platform. There are so many badges, levels, and points to earn that I, nearly a decade long subscriber to Zwift, are nowhere near close to having earned all of them. Want to go racing? There’s at least four races an hour, and usually more. It’s an entire world in and of itself.

If that’s not really your jam, and you have any touchpoint to TrainingPeaks, then TrainingPeaks Virtual should be your indoor platform. You can upload real world routes. The individual rider physics, including wind, are more akin to riding outside than anywhere else. ERG mode on TPV is more controllable, with less soul-sucking cadence death spirals popping up, than on other platforms. And, best of all, it’s already included in a subscription to TrainingPeaks Premium.

Creating Your Own Wind: Fans

When you’re riding indoors, you generate a lot of heat. In my old basement riding area, I could single-handedly change the temperature of the entire room by 5-6 degrees by the time I was done with an hour long race on Zwift. It’s enough to result in plenty of puddles at the bottom of a bike without some good towels (and more on those in a minute).

Air movement is critical. And to channel my inner Jeremy Clarkson for a minute, there’s two elements to be on the watch for: speed and power. I like to opt for a sizable floor box fan that has a couple of options for speed. It’s not anything special, but it gets the job done for all but the hardest of rides. I’ll set it to a lower setting if I’m doing any type of heat acclimation work, but otherwise, it’s on full tilt. On the worst of rides, I might have a second one going from a side angle just to increase total air movement; my normal one is placed behind me as it gives me the most feel of getting wind.

I go relatively inexpensive on my fans because, well, I like to spend more money on…

Some High Quality Towels

As much as I love re-using old race shirts or Gatorade Endurance towels, there’s some things in life worth spending a little extra on. Towels are one of them.

There’s two things you’re trying to do with your indoor towel: you’re preventing sweat from corroding out key pieces of your bike, and you’re trying to just get some sweat off of your brow. Absorbency is key. And although a basic towel from Fred Meyer or Target might get the job done, something that is purpose built can help protect both you and your equipment, and equally important, cut down on some of the stink.

I’ve grown to really like these microfiber options from Acteon that are anti-microbial, fast absorbing, and thankfully for me, come in multipacks so I can burn use a couple of them at a time. I’ve usually got one of these covering most of my bike, and then a second one over the handlebars that I can quickly wipe my forehead with, and also acts as a convenient hammock for my phone to use my power-ups mid race (or take a phone call from Kevin or Eric, who I swear both have a bat-signal to almost always call me while I’m on a ride).

Last, But Not Least: The Saddle

Yes, I know: rich coming from a guy who managed to put a stress fracture in his pelvis from ignoring pain while riding inside.

But, take it from the guy who put a stress fracture in his pelvis that turned into a full fracture of his pelvis because he was also stupid enough to run on it during an IRONMAN marathon: if you’re having saddle problems I feel bad for you son, you’ve got 99 problems and buying a new saddle is one.

I’ll be about as emphatic as I can be: anything that is recurring saddle pain is something that needs to be addressed, and it’s usually going to be a combination of both bike fit and saddle selection. Don’t try to power through it, don’t try to ignore it, suck it up and invest in it. Because the couple hundred bucks on bike equipment is a lot cheaper than the MRI, multiple doctor’s visits, and physical therapy.

My current weapons of choice include the Fizik Tempo Argo R3 and ISM PN1.1, though I’d love to try a Wove Mags for my endurance road / gravel riding.