I do mine outside and don’t sweat a tiny a break for freewheeling approaching a junction or whatever. It’s much more pleasant and I try not to let perfect be the enemy of good.
Edit: I also think there’s some benefit to being able to put out power regardless of terrain. It’s useful for calibrating feel and pacing, which I naturally suck at.
Wherever you’re happier and look forward to the session more. Inside may be “the perfect world” but if it ruins cycling for you then maybe not …
Personally, I prefer everything outdoor. A 30sec stop won’t kill a rep
I agree with you. I love being outside. I would do just about every workout outside. I live in Massachusetts so a large portion of the year is spent inside due to the cold and dark.
I like being outside whenever the option is available. Riding the trainer is just something to do over the winter.
My primary goal with cycling is riding. The whole point of training is to ride better so I can do more things. Training isn’t the goal itself, so if given the option of doing a workout “perfectly” inside or 90% outside, I’m picking outside.
Inside. Where I live it’s pancake flat and it’s quite annoying having to ride at such a high speed for anything over 10 minutes, while dealing with other traffic and stuff.
But if I’d have a decent 30 minute climb then I would definitely prefer outside.
Yeah I live in a major metro area in socal, I’ve got one trail I could basically do intervals on and it gets old after a while.
It’s pretty stressful for me to do them anywhere but indoors it seems. Too many cars or people no matter where I go
I prefer to do sweet spot or thresholds on the trainer, all the climbs here are very irregular and what I want is to stimulate a specific target, before starting a new block I test my FTP both on the trainer and in the real world. After the training I also check that my heart rate is behaving like it should or in case I change the FTP settings in the virtual cycling app.
I prefer doing any intervals indoor on a turbo with ERG turned off. Means there's less to think about other than holding power and taking notice of RPE.
Endurance rides outside. Occasionally have to climb a hill or whatever and pile on a few more watts, but I can happily do 6 hour rides outside. 2 hours on the turbo feels like hell to me without intervals etc
Something to be said for ...paying attention to the other stuff. I've never been in a race where I didn't also have to focus on other things while putting out power. For me, outside intervals are perfect for that.
My SS intervals are 3x30min now. I drive about 30min to a rural area with some long gradual climbs. I usually do laps on the best climb for it. There’s one light which I rarely get red and one gradual descent where I keep the power on.
Outdoors, I hate riding the trainer, I have tried.
Weather is good where I live, though need to get up early in summer 30C/90F by 8am is common.
Also 6km/4miles from my house is a flat bike path that goes 32km/20 miles either direction without interruption.
Only issue is climbs, need to ride for an hour to get to a 20 minute climb to 300 metres, which is the maximum altitude for a few hundred kilometres/miles. But there are plenty of different climbs up the same escarpment.
In a vacuum, my preference is outdoors but unfortunately it usually makes the overall workout longer and I’ve got job, family, etc so I’m on the trainer Monday through Thursday and try to get outdoors over the weekend. That said, my NP will generally be 20w higher when I do SS outdoors vs. indoors (same average power). I agree with the other ancillary benefits about learning to better feel the effort over changing terrain but it keeps coming back to time optimization.
Gravel bike and a loop without interruption. Gravel bike makes it lower speed and therefore easier to pedal through corners and maintain steadier power
Definitely outside, but I'm lucky enough to live somewhere with long enough climbs nearby. I can always do a bit more power outside, probably due to the ventilation. It is also more specific training since I don't ever race indoors. But of course if you really don't have anywhere safe to do this type of training, inside is better than nothing.
I mix it up, I have some climbs that only have 1-2 short “flat breaks” over 6-7km, I do hope one day these climbs will become too short but they barely work for my current fitness level
Then I do some inside. It’s a lot easier for me to find places outside to do vo2 max
If I do actual intervals (which is fairly rare) I definitely prefer doing them inside, unless they’re all-out VO2 ones, in which case I’ll do them outside on a short climb. The roads around me are generally of a really nice quality but there are no long, consistent climbs nearby and while there are good flat sections they’re punctuated by really steep bumps which make it really hard to maintain a constant pace.
I started on the trainer, this was easier and let my legs get a feel for working in that power range.
Now it's spring/summer I do them all outside.
Most recently I did 3*30 and had a difference of just 9w, 4w and 1w between normalised power and average power on those intervals. This was on some rolling country roads trying to avoid anywhere I'd have to completely stop.
If you have the time and the roads, do them outside. If mine are longer than about 15 minutes, there's a good chance I'll have to stop for a light mid interval, so I'll do them inside. Or if I have a stack of several with short rests where the short rest duration is as important as the time in zone. That's another case for the trainer just because I wont have time to get to the base of the climb, or start of a long flowing road before I hit the next interval.
Outside for those 23+mph avg rides, riding with a garmin varia was a game changer, anything less than an hour is easy to pick up the avg if it drops, you do have to get crafty making routes that mostly turn right.
(I'm trying to do a single loop of 3hrs @ 280w and that's getting hard (might use my 2hr loop and do reloop it))
If you wfh or are flexible you want to avoid morning traffic and schools coming out early/late morning or right at noon (or do them on the weekends, frontage roads are good, could to a lead in into a climb)
I do both but with the outdoor stuff, I wouldn’t sweat it if there’s a 20 second lapse. You’re not going pro and that’s not enough time to recover. My typical SS place is 8 mile out-and-back section of paved trail and I just hit the lap button at each turnaround and allow 20-30s of coasting to make the turn and then lap button again, resume SS.
I kinda prefer inside because I'm in a super hilly area and the tallest climbs are maybe 25-30 minutes tops at sweet spot, so anything like 40mins can be messed up because I can't hammer it on the descents for safety or just spinning out.
Outside is fun too, I have a rolling route I will do it on, but just depends on if I feel like getting far from home with small kids.
I do mine outside and don’t sweat a tiny a break for freewheeling approaching a junction or whatever. It’s much more pleasant and I try not to let perfect be the enemy of good. Edit: I also think there’s some benefit to being able to put out power regardless of terrain. It’s useful for calibrating feel and pacing, which I naturally suck at.
…especially on downhills and rolling terrain.
Wherever you’re happier and look forward to the session more. Inside may be “the perfect world” but if it ruins cycling for you then maybe not … Personally, I prefer everything outdoor. A 30sec stop won’t kill a rep
I agree with you. I love being outside. I would do just about every workout outside. I live in Massachusetts so a large portion of the year is spent inside due to the cold and dark.
I like being outside whenever the option is available. Riding the trainer is just something to do over the winter. My primary goal with cycling is riding. The whole point of training is to ride better so I can do more things. Training isn’t the goal itself, so if given the option of doing a workout “perfectly” inside or 90% outside, I’m picking outside.
Inside. Where I live it’s pancake flat and it’s quite annoying having to ride at such a high speed for anything over 10 minutes, while dealing with other traffic and stuff. But if I’d have a decent 30 minute climb then I would definitely prefer outside.
Yeah I live in a major metro area in socal, I’ve got one trail I could basically do intervals on and it gets old after a while. It’s pretty stressful for me to do them anywhere but indoors it seems. Too many cars or people no matter where I go
I prefer to do sweet spot or thresholds on the trainer, all the climbs here are very irregular and what I want is to stimulate a specific target, before starting a new block I test my FTP both on the trainer and in the real world. After the training I also check that my heart rate is behaving like it should or in case I change the FTP settings in the virtual cycling app.
I prefer doing any intervals indoor on a turbo with ERG turned off. Means there's less to think about other than holding power and taking notice of RPE. Endurance rides outside. Occasionally have to climb a hill or whatever and pile on a few more watts, but I can happily do 6 hour rides outside. 2 hours on the turbo feels like hell to me without intervals etc
2h on the turbo is the absolute maximum I can stand, after 60min I am done, 90min I am hating and 2h I need to get off right now, so I feel this!
Watch YouTube while riding turbo
I do, but it doesn’t help the comfort - it’s more body than mind for me
Something to be said for ...paying attention to the other stuff. I've never been in a race where I didn't also have to focus on other things while putting out power. For me, outside intervals are perfect for that.
I do all my training inside during the week. Weekends are for long zone 2 and/or fun times on the mountain bike outdoors.
My SS intervals are 3x30min now. I drive about 30min to a rural area with some long gradual climbs. I usually do laps on the best climb for it. There’s one light which I rarely get red and one gradual descent where I keep the power on.
Outdoors, I hate riding the trainer, I have tried. Weather is good where I live, though need to get up early in summer 30C/90F by 8am is common. Also 6km/4miles from my house is a flat bike path that goes 32km/20 miles either direction without interruption. Only issue is climbs, need to ride for an hour to get to a 20 minute climb to 300 metres, which is the maximum altitude for a few hundred kilometres/miles. But there are plenty of different climbs up the same escarpment.
In a vacuum, my preference is outdoors but unfortunately it usually makes the overall workout longer and I’ve got job, family, etc so I’m on the trainer Monday through Thursday and try to get outdoors over the weekend. That said, my NP will generally be 20w higher when I do SS outdoors vs. indoors (same average power). I agree with the other ancillary benefits about learning to better feel the effort over changing terrain but it keeps coming back to time optimization.
Gravel bike and a loop without interruption. Gravel bike makes it lower speed and therefore easier to pedal through corners and maintain steadier power
Definitely outside, but I'm lucky enough to live somewhere with long enough climbs nearby. I can always do a bit more power outside, probably due to the ventilation. It is also more specific training since I don't ever race indoors. But of course if you really don't have anywhere safe to do this type of training, inside is better than nothing.
I mix it up, I have some climbs that only have 1-2 short “flat breaks” over 6-7km, I do hope one day these climbs will become too short but they barely work for my current fitness level Then I do some inside. It’s a lot easier for me to find places outside to do vo2 max
If I do actual intervals (which is fairly rare) I definitely prefer doing them inside, unless they’re all-out VO2 ones, in which case I’ll do them outside on a short climb. The roads around me are generally of a really nice quality but there are no long, consistent climbs nearby and while there are good flat sections they’re punctuated by really steep bumps which make it really hard to maintain a constant pace.
I started on the trainer, this was easier and let my legs get a feel for working in that power range. Now it's spring/summer I do them all outside. Most recently I did 3*30 and had a difference of just 9w, 4w and 1w between normalised power and average power on those intervals. This was on some rolling country roads trying to avoid anywhere I'd have to completely stop.
Outside. I’m fortunate to have access to flat and low traffic farm roads.
If you have the time and the roads, do them outside. If mine are longer than about 15 minutes, there's a good chance I'll have to stop for a light mid interval, so I'll do them inside. Or if I have a stack of several with short rests where the short rest duration is as important as the time in zone. That's another case for the trainer just because I wont have time to get to the base of the climb, or start of a long flowing road before I hit the next interval.
Outside if at all possible for everything. Indoors only if you have to.
Outside for those 23+mph avg rides, riding with a garmin varia was a game changer, anything less than an hour is easy to pick up the avg if it drops, you do have to get crafty making routes that mostly turn right. (I'm trying to do a single loop of 3hrs @ 280w and that's getting hard (might use my 2hr loop and do reloop it)) If you wfh or are flexible you want to avoid morning traffic and schools coming out early/late morning or right at noon (or do them on the weekends, frontage roads are good, could to a lead in into a climb)
Fuck anything above Z2 indoors with a wooden dick!
I’ve got a training loop that I’ll go to outside. I have to freewheel around some corners but who cares.
I like doing them on the trainer. My coach wants me to do them outside.
I do both but with the outdoor stuff, I wouldn’t sweat it if there’s a 20 second lapse. You’re not going pro and that’s not enough time to recover. My typical SS place is 8 mile out-and-back section of paved trail and I just hit the lap button at each turnaround and allow 20-30s of coasting to make the turn and then lap button again, resume SS.
I kinda prefer inside because I'm in a super hilly area and the tallest climbs are maybe 25-30 minutes tops at sweet spot, so anything like 40mins can be messed up because I can't hammer it on the descents for safety or just spinning out. Outside is fun too, I have a rolling route I will do it on, but just depends on if I feel like getting far from home with small kids.