Road Cycling

[Shadowness]

Is this another GCN clickbait video? Or actually worth watching?

Either way it'll kill some time on Zwift later!

 

[grudas]

Here it is - food for thought

reaffirms my view of less is more.

very rarely do I go more than a jersey, don't even have long bibs either, just shorts.

I commuted like that for years and got away with it, legs can get cold but core etc seems to be comfortable. Even 5c and below I end up unzipping my jersey.

 

[Shadowness]

just shorts.

You obviously dont ride in Winter then! Sorry but there is no chance in hell you can ride in shorts in 0C. I run very hot, and have a rep for being the first person in shorts in late winter/spring, but there is no chance I would ride in shorts in this weather. I can't imagine it's great for your joints too.

(above is assuming you're arent just commuting for 5 mins or so, and are going on longer rides, hours long)

 

[grudas]

You obviously dont ride in Winter then! Sorry but there is no chance in hell you can ride in shorts in 0C. I run very hot, and have a rep for being the first person in shorts in late winter/spring, but there is no chance I would ride in shorts in this weather. I can't imagine it's great for your joints too.

(above is assuming you're arent just commuting for 5 mins or so, and are going on longer rides, hours long)

I guess I don't ride long, max I do is 2hrs but I have done 0 and below in shorts, last year for e.g. -2c outside in rain.

my knees were red when I got back so like you say, probably not ideal.

but when I commuted in london - 12 miles each way, 45-50mins I only ever did it in shorts, all year round.

 

[fez]

I will go bib shorts down to about 7-8 degrees but below that I generally like to cover my creamy calves.

 

[Junglist]

If I was going out with the intention to burn all my matches I’d go without leg warmers but if it’s a regular ride, leg warmers are a must.

I’m on my second cold of the year so haven’t done much this week. Against my better judgement i tried to do a Z2 ride just to keep my mind happy but my heart rate was higher than it should’ve been.

I’m just over 5 months continuous riding indoors. First few weeks was spent hammering out climb portals and I’d say ~3.5 - 4 months sticking at a plan and I swear it’s made little to no difference. I guess I’ll only be able to tell once I start riding outside again but I feel not one iota fitter or faster. On paper, I’ve gained (or recouped) 35w, lost a kilo or two, HRV (for whatever that is worth) has gone up 60% according to Bevel yet I still mentally and physically feel slow lol.

Why can’t Rome be built in a day

 

[fez]

I still mentally and physically feel slow lol.

In what way, indoors or out? I find that riding outdoors at this time of year is slower that you expect. The roads are covered in crap, potholes at their worst, you don't want to go hard on the downhills etc.

It also always takes me a few weeks riding outside properly to see any real conversion of that indoor fitness to outdoors. Almost all my stuff indoors is ERG and that simply doesn't translate super well to outdoors where my power is all over the place due to where I ride.

Sometimes I also have to remind myself that there is only so fit I will get riding 5-6 hours a week indoors with all the other stressors in life.

 

[grudas]

indoor is boring as hell, I can't stand it. Workouts feel harder than outdoor, feel like they take for ever etc! I much prefer going for my 21k loop that takes me 45-50 mins, 220m climbing and I get a proper good workout. Weather is horrid and roads are horrid so I don't do that often enough sadly.

 

[Shadowness]

indoor is boring as hell, I can't stand it. Workouts feel harder than outdoor, feel like they take for ever etc! I much prefer going for my 21k loop that takes me 45-50 mins, 220m climbing and I get a proper good workout. Weather is horrid and roads are horrid so I don't do that often enough sadly.

Indoor definitely harder! Join is giving me a number of intervals at about 280-300W, and on an outdoor ride the other day that felt much more comfortable (relatively). Time just goes slower, and there's less distractions. BUT I'm hoping that being stronger indoors means you're even stronger outdoors.....hopefully!

 

[Junglist]

To be fair, I am basing it purely on 'vibes'. I am (was until i got ill this week) doing roughly 5-7 hours a week depending how long I go out on Saturday so I'm not putting in tonnes of hours and work a week but I'm certainly doing more than i used to on a regular basis. Once it starts getting light in the mornings and dry again I'll go for an early spin around the loop I used to do. 32km with 285m climbing. Used to take me around 65-70 minutes. Then the other would be the ~18km 'TT' route I used to do which was a nice flat section of cycle path. If I can PB on both of those in a few weeks, I'll be pretty happy as a real world example that consistency is paying off.

I do like indoor riding though. I Really enjoy Zwift though. I get a little kick from levelling up lol

Indoor definitely harder! Join is giving me a number of intervals at about 280-300W, and on an outdoor ride the other day that felt much more comfortable (relatively). Time just goes slower, and there's less distractions. BUT I'm hoping that being stronger indoors means you're even stronger outdoors.....hopefully!

Yeah, watts certainly feel harder indoor. Last summer when my trainer was getting fixed I did my Trainer Road workouts outdoors. I struggled to not go well over the watts it was asking me to do. Then back indoors they felt challenging again. Genuinely feel if you did a 20m FTP test outside you'd score a good percent higher compared to indoors

 

[Shadowness]

Yeah, watts certainly feel harder indoor. Last summer when my trainer was getting fixed I did my Trainer Road workouts outdoors. I struggled to not go well over the watts it was asking me to do. Then back indoors they felt challenging again. Genuinely feel if you did a 20m FTP test outside you'd score a good percent higher compared to indoors

I've never hit the same 20min power indoors as outdoors. Generally been about 20-30W lower indoors.

I'm working my way through completing all of the routes in TdZ right now. I think you get quite a points haul if you do.

 

[SoliD]

I guess I don't ride long, max I do is 2hrs but I have done 0 and below in shorts, last year for e.g. -2c outside in rain.

my knees were red when I got back so like you say, probably not ideal.

but when I commuted in london - 12 miles each way, 45-50mins I only ever did it in shorts, all year round.

I wouldn't even race CX without leg warmers below 4c!

 

[grudas]

Indoor definitely harder! Join is giving me a number of intervals at about 280-300W, and on an outdoor ride the other day that felt much more comfortable (relatively). Time just goes slower, and there's less distractions. BUT I'm hoping that being stronger indoors means you're even stronger outdoors.....hopefully!

I treat it as "something" better than nothing basically, but I find it so boring that it's just that, a bare minimum to keep some kind of fitness between outdoor rides when the weather is right. My fitness has 100% dropped in winter but its not gone, I'm able to pedal okay when I get out so I'll take that as a win and thank indoor training for it lol. As much as I hate it, it's a good tool over-all.

 

[Shadowness]

Luckily I've never fell into the 'hating' indoor rides. Generally there's crap to watch on YT, or any streaming service, or a new movie. So distractions are not an issue.

And as the weather is so bad at the moment, I generally get very twitchy if I've not done any exercise after a day or so off! Was planning the gym tomorrow but I must have slept in a funny position as my neck is playing up, so planned the Uber Pretzel ride tomorrow morning - curious to see how close to 4 hours i can get.

 

[fez]

Luckily I've never fell into the 'hating' indoor rides. Generally there's crap to watch on YT, or any streaming service, or a new movie. So distractions are not an issue.

Yep, the stuff me and my partner want to watch are quite different and I like watching various youtube videos she would have no interest in along with football when its on.

The trainer is a really good way to kill 2 birds with one stone.

 

[Roady]

but must come back to commute and regents park laps...
glasses and wet wather in dark don't work so not risiking it..

It's been a darn wet winter, which does also make it feel darker and more gloomy. We've had very few 'cold, clear but dry' days! You know - the great ones for riding!

You obviously dont ride in Winter then! Sorry but there is no chance in hell you can ride in shorts in 0C.

Soon after I started cycling an old guy at work who has ridden all his life said, anytime the temp was below 15 degrees to have your knees covered to 'protect the joints for the future'. I've stuck to it and it has to be consistently over that for me to even consider leaving the house without knee warmers on!

If I was going out with the intention to burn all my matches I’d go without leg warmers but if it’s a regular ride, leg warmers are a must.

I think so much of it is personal & how our bodies react... I'm *always* overdressed, pretty much from habit. Generally I run quite cool taking a while to warm up and ride early, the habit of being dressed for the 'current conditions' rather than 2 hours later coming from being a commuter with a short commute... Outside of the 25+ degrees mid summer my legs and feet don't seem to sweat. Even if I'm hammering nearly 2 hours of Zwift TTT's on a Thursday night, with only 1 fan pointed at my chest at 6-8 degrees in my garage, my feet are dry at the end. So transition that to outdoors, I have no issues with my legs or feet easily overheating.

Plus I 'feel' better being warm, especially this time of year the days I don't commute I feel cold. So riding even my 8-10 min commute I 'enjoy' for that extra warmth it seems to give me most days - roll that into it 'being normal' to have that extra core temp a few times nearly every day... I really miss it when I don't! Even when it means riding in the 0 degrees and rain (GCN vid kinda proves this!?)

If I overheated more, had a longer commute, did more outdoor longer miles in the winter - then I would probably not overdress like I do. This time of year any riding outside I do are short commutes or social club rides where I'll be one of the strongest riders. It's very easy then to taper efforts (or adjust/unzip layers) to accommodate any heat build-up... Plus needing to be a bit warmer as I'm waiting around more and in z2/3 while others are z4!