Welcome To My Ride!
This video will convey how important it is to regularly ride your bike in order to maintain your fitness; particularly leg strength and cardiovascular fitness. Up here in New England, winter rides along rail trails can be enjoyable and I have been known to get one or two of these rides in when the trails are free of snow and ice. By-in-large, however, conditions tend to be well below my cold riding threshold (40 degrees Fahrenheit) even on a blue sky day with dry roads. Where a die hard cyclist will “thermal up” and get out there, I am at an age where I do not have to follow that crowd. At this point in my life, taking a bike ride needs to be enjoyable… many thermal layer’s, face coverings, insulated booties, lobster gloves, chemical heat patches? I have done that, suffered with my fellow riders, and have left that all behind. And so I am now no longer a die hard “Get out there at all costs” cyclist and I happily retreat to my relatively warm basement and feel no shame in doing my winter riding on my bike trainer.
There was a time when I hated trainers… remember stationary bikes set in front of your TV? I detested them! And, for me, they soon became bedroom clothes racks and, eventually, Goodwill donations. I tried rollers and that was a good experience until an indoor accident put me into a wall. Only the wallboard was damaged. Then I discovered spin classes at the local YMCA… loud upbeat rock music and a pretty girl at the front of the “spin studio” barking out directions and encouragement. I will admit that she kept up my interest and enthusiasm - I got through it. And after the spin class I often did some weight work or yoga… all great winter activities to keep the cycling body fit and the weight down.
Right now, and for the last 3 years, Covid and other infectious diseases have kept me away from the gyms and spin classes. I now retreat to my basement and cycle my brains out on “Zwift” - an immersive and engaging computerized cycling experience. Zwift allows me options… jump on and go for a solo ride, participate in an organized group ride, do structured workouts like you will see in this video, and even enter a race with cyclists at a similar fitness level as this old man. And while Zwift is “cartoonish” for sure it provides a focus on improving my cycling skills and feeds back the cycling data to help me stay engaged and motivated.
I have a hard time explaining this high tech indoor training process to others and have always wanted to attempt a demonstration video. While a camera videoing a TV monitor injects some jitter and blur, I believe I captured the basics of me doing a cold weather cycling structured workout in my basement. Hopefully it will give you a hint of what can be done on a smart trainer. So with those limitations stated, feel free to ask questions in the comments.
Here is the bottom line for me…
Workouts: When doing a workout like the one depicted in this video, the Zwift program sets the tension on my bike so I am forced to pedal at a specific wattage to overcome this tension and move forward down the road. Interval training like what I am doing in this video is very difficult when riding outside on the roads. Within this structured workout interval training can now be accomplished flawlessly.
Other Zwift Ride Options…
I can also be on Zwift doing a solo ride, a scheduled group ride, or a road race. During these activities the computer does not control the workload of the cyclist. I am on my own bike, shifting as required to keep up my pace, feeling the pain when I attack a hill, actually feeling the draft during a group ride, and getting feedback on power, speed, and cardio. I can also schedule a meet up with a friend or group of friends to ride together. And for these more social group rides, we can actually come up on our smart phones or tablets by using an audio chat program called “Discord” and have an audible chat capability. Like an outdoor ride where you occasionally chat with your mates, we can do that here as well. It is all good!
Finally, I have been talking here exclusively about Zwift but, please know, that is because it is all I am experienced with. There are many other similar cycling programs. All of these programs have their own strengths and weaknesses and the ones I am familiar with require a monthly subscription - $15.00 for Zwift. They also allow you to cancel or pause your subscription at any time. I use Zwift for about 3 months out of the year and find it to be well worth it.
Indoor Trainer Reviews - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ZHWrZm3H6Fo.html
What Is ZWIFT - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-M5TYuJOteG8.html
13 янв 2023
