A lot of people (including me) don't really think of being indoors on a trainer as "riding" but "man's gotta do" and all that.
Living here in this godforsaken frozen wasteland, a trainer is a necessary evil. Everybody who's ridden outside when it's -20, raise your (frostbitten) hands - I'll wait. Oh, and for what it's worth I HAVE ridden outside when it's -20. But when it takes longer to get ready for the ride than to do the ride it's just not worth it. I'll do it on occasion just to get out but not on a regular basis. Also, the secondary roads here are not salted and there are long sections that are always shaded so they're a sheet of ice. Even studded tires don't help. So this means the only place I can really ride is up and down the shoulder on a state highway.
I'm riding the recumbent on the trainer. As I've mentioned in the past, pre-surgery the recumbent was noticeably easier on my back and I'm assuming the same will be true now. Plus it's a more controlled environment and perhaps most importantly, if my back starts to hurt I can stop without having to worry about how I'll get home.
OK, rationalizations done let's move on.
I'm a long time Zwift user. Although it's a "game", I find it to be very motivating, much more so than grinding out miles while watching a movie, jamming tunes, whatever. The environment ("world" in Zwift parlance) isn't real but the other avatars you see on a ride represent real people and there are a number of ways to challenge yourself:
- Setting a PR on a climb.
- Keeping your power level above "x" for some period of time or for the entire length of a climb.
- "I'm going to catch that person in front of me" or "I'm not going to let that person behind me catch me"
- Going for a KOM on a climb.
- Alpe d'Zwift is a killer and there are a number of other really tough routes.
So as a result, I can do long rides on Zwift while staying motivated and engaged. I guess that says something about me that it takes a bit of competition, albeit with myself on occasion, to keep me interested.
But right now I don't need to be pushing hard, what I need to do is easy spinning and slowly rebuilding the strength that I've lost. I don't need to be challenging PR's, staying in front of people, etc. For some reason when I use Zwift I can't help competing in some fashion. I don't know whether it's to stave off boredom, innate competitiveness (which strangely enough I don't really feel IRL on the road) or what but if e.g., I'm doing the "Epic KOM" and see that my PR is within reach I start to push harder or if I see that I'm gaining on someone I'll push that little bit harder to catch them.
In real life riding on the road if I see another cyclist up ahead I'll try NOT to catch them. Unless they're going significantly slower than me I'm content to back off and keep my distance. I do on occasion push hard on a climb or try and set a new PR but that's me versus me.
So I'm trying Rouvy.
They do have assorted challenges but I've found most of the rides to be very lonely experiences where I'm the only rider. The routes, of which there are many, are beautiful and most of them are really well done. There is also a wide variety of routes ranging from flat and short (which I've been doing) to long and extremely hilly (Alpe d'Huez, the Stelvio, etc).
So I can roll along and look at the scenery.
Is this permanent or will I go back to Zwift once I've regained some semblance of strength? Hard to say at this point but I'm enjoying Rouvy thus far but I've only done two rides on it of less than 18 miles.
Stay tuned!
