You’re a roadie. You love cycling because you enjoy going outside, discovering new places and riding with other riders. So why use a smart trainer?
Weather
Sure, some cyclists have a rain bike and enjoy riding when it’s wet outside. But let’s face it, most of us don’t. My friends like to joke that I must be made of sugar, because I act like I’m going to melt if I think it’s going to rain on a ride.
But it’s not just rain you might want to avoid. There’s also extreme heat or extreme cold. When it’s 105 outside, it can be dangerous to ride. And when the temperatures drop, it can be uncomfortably cold and you might have to worry about snow or ice on the ground.
Smart trainers let you get a ride in even in adverse weather conditions like these.
Time Limitations
Depending on where you live, you might either need to put your bike in the car to get to the starting point of your ride, or it might take you 20 or 30 minutes to ride to your starting point. If you only have an hour to get in a specific workout, it might not be possible at all to do it outside.
But with a smart trainer, you can just jump on the trainer and complete your workout at home. Even better, you can literally program in the exact workout that you want to accomplish and the smart trainer will take you through it step by step so that you complete it properly, giving you feedback about your wattage and time spent with every part of the workout.
Ride at 2 a.m. on a Friday Night or at Rush Hour
Sure, it’s possible to ride in the dark. I have a very good light system and I often ride at 5:15 a.m. so I can get my workout in before I have to go to work. But it’s just plain smarter and safer to avoid riding on the roads during peak traffic times, or at times when cars do not expect you to be there or there are a higher percentage of drunk drivers.
Why risk it when you can ride your smart trainer instead?
Esports
With apps like Zwift or Rouvy, you can turn your smart trainer into a highly social online video game. Suddenly, riding the trainer isn’t an awful chore anymore. It’s fun! If you have a tablet, smart phone or a computer, you can sign up for these services in a matter of minutes and jump right into riding with other cyclists on their smart trainers around the world. Join them on a group ride, or enter a race and try to win it. See if you can set a KOM on one of the app courses. The possibilities are endless.
Did you know there’s even a CVR World Cup, with cash prizes? The payouts are substantial, too.
See and Track All Your Stats and Measure Improvement
Maybe you don’t have a power meter on your road bike. With a smart trainer, you can see and keep track of how much power you can generate on a bike, and see how many kilojoules of power you burned on a ride. You can also compare apples to apples with this ride compared to a previous trainer ride. You felt like you weren’t riding very well, but hey, look — you actually generated the same power as that ride from last week!
You’ll be able to see how your fitness is progressing in black and white.
You Really Do Ride Harder When You’re Chasing That Other Bike on the Screen
Riding alone on a regular trainer, it’s sometimes difficult to push yourself the same way that you can when you’re riding out on the road, with a group. But riding a smart trainer and using an app like Zwift allows you to bring the group dynamics right into your house. Pedaling along with someone on the screen next to you, trying to hold their pace feels just as real as when you’re doing it outside on the road, motivating you to put in harder efforts.
You Can Upload it to Strava
If you’re one of those obsessive “Strava or it didn’t happen” cyclists who can’t stand the thought of going on a ride that you didn’t record, there’s good news. Smart trainers and related apps will generally sync with Strava so that you can upload your workout and have a record or share it with all your followers. You’ve probably already noticed when other cyclists upload their Zwift or other smart trainer rides, and now you can join them.
What else did we miss? Why do you love using your smart trainer? Leave a comment and tell us so we can add even more reasons to the list.
This site is going down the tubes. I’m a 30 year cycling veteran getting burned-out on all this crap that takes away from what really matters……THE RIDE! I’ve seen the same fads come and go but what is always there is there actual ride. I was so excited when I found this site, I loved it because it catered to beginners, it seemed to focus on what actually matters, now it is just another trendy “you got to have the newest and best” to be a good rider. It’s false, all you is a will to have fun and enjoy the company of other cyclists that feel the same way. You don’t need all the latest training tech to get better. Best advice I got as a newbie to get better was, ride ride ride and it still holds true today. I stopped focusing on gadets and training fads and am so much happier. I no longer “train”, I just enjoy ride.
30 of 52 years cycling
90% disabled vet
stroke survivor at 35
Believe me, life is much shorter than you think, enjoy it while you can.
Sorry to hear you feel that way! I appreciate your feedback. We still have many of the same regular contributors for the newsletter that we’ve had for years, and hopefully they are still writing columns that you like better.
Agree with the previous comment. No convincing reasons mentioned above – to “specifically” purchase a (generally more expensive) Smart Trainer, instead of using a cheaper Dumb Trainer. Most Dumb Trainers will perfectly work for improving or maintaing fitness (and be very enjoyable) in all the points mentioned above – even with Zwift and Trainer Road, using their virtual power curves specific for each Dumb Trainer. Alternately, one can use a dumb trainer combined with a power meter – if they really want to have very precise power numbers feedback.
That is a good point that I had not considered.
I personally had not ridden a trainer at all in 10 to 20 years because I found them mind-numbingly terrible and it felt like a punishment to spend time on one. When I started to see more and more friends on Strava posting Zwift rides, I got interested and talked to them and then got a smart trainer myself to test and review.
I found that the smart trainer / app combo is a big winner and makes all the difference in the world for me compared to just riding a trainer decades ago. But I had not considered that with sensors installed, you can also run a lot of the apps with a regular trainer too and get many of the same features.
Wow, some more people whom believe if everybody don’t think and/or like the same as they do then their opinion is crap. Lighten up folks. Everybody have different likes and dislikes. It’s kinda like TV, if you don’t like it, turn the channel.
I have trained indoors over the winter most years from 1985, using hamster wheel trainers progressing to semi smart trainers and now use a fully smart trainer with Zwift. Having used different training programs written on paper,downloaded onto Garmin headunit etc I find the latest Zwift incarnation of indoor training ,workouts is the most entertaining and realistic indoor training.Which is a good way of maintaining and improving fitness over the winter.evenings but still look forwards to riding outside on the road each weekend.
I just purchased a smart trainer and installed Zwift today. My first ride was terrific and I am looking forward to many more rides. I do not understand the objections to the article on smart trainers that were offered by the two readers above. If you don’t like the idea of using a trainer, then don’t read the article. There is plenty of other stuff on this site for folks who don’t use a trainer. I enjoy this site.
I have had a Tacx Neo for the last year and use Zwift and Tacx TDA. Both are great alternatives when the weather’s bad as it is often this time of year. I enjoy riding out with the club too, but i’m not going to risk it in the cold and wet having coming off and broken my hip a few years ago. I’ve used dumb trainers in the past and believe me, Zwift and other similar applications combined with a smart trainer is a completely different and more rewarding experience.
The article was a valuable refresher this subject’s current state-of-the-art. This subject is pertinent, particularly to bicyclists who don’t currently have a trainer system, and have had sub-optimal experiences with standard trainers. As smart trainer systems improve, they become increasingly relevant to the whole bicycling community. RBR seems to have identified this dynamic, and has presented a brief over-view for its readers.
” I’ve used dumb trainers in the past and believe me, Zwift (and other similar applications) combined with a smart trainer is a completely different and more rewarding experience.”
This is exactly my belief as well….A GAME CHANGER this is.
Living in NY the current C-Virus epicenter has changed my perspective on owning a smart trainer. The local bike clubs no longer sanction group rides, and their have been reports of the local police stopping rides. It’s not possible to maintain the proper social distancing, which should increase with the groups speed. An active rider is also needs to breathe more often and deeper, taking in more air. If I was to have an accident, it’s not clear what the availability of an ambulance, the wait or triage at the local ER, or what virus protection may be available to patients. I want to continue to ride outdoors, but have an eye on possible negative consequences. Looks like I’ll be riding with my online with Zwift on a regular basis,
If you want realistic road riding feel combined with smart trainer capability, you have to go with these rollers:
Elite Nero Interactive Rollers $900 or E-motion rollers with smart-power resistance control $1265.
Added bonus, rollers smooth out the pedal stroke/improve form
I think it’s all a matter of what your goals are & what you’re training/ riding for. I’m perfectly happy with my Kinetic Rock & Roll trainer (which I do like better than my previous stationary trainer because I can move the bike more naturally when I’m standing, & when I’m sitting I can see how smooth I am because the bike will bounce a little in the trainer if I’m uneven). How many of these “smart” trainers actually let you “move” the bike like this? Just curious, not making a judgement. When I look at them though, I don’s see this capability. I’ve had this 10 yrs or so & see no need to upgrade. I put a cycling video in the DVD & “ride” with the pack, or can go with the break, sprint to the finish, etc. If I’m just cruising or recovering I can watch the news or whatever.
I don’t see the need for a lot of fancy apps either. I use a spare cycling computer with the sensor on the back wheel. This tells me my speed, not watts, but I can still judge performance & improvement by seeing how long I can hold a certain speed, or if I’m hitting higher speeds on 30 sec intervals in a given gear over time etc. Use your imagination & creativity, don’t let a smart trainer make you dumb! Yeah, somewhat old school, but simple & easy. I guess if you like competing, some of the strava (sp?) stuff might be more to your liking.
Iv’e been using a DUMB trainer, I”ve got power and HR and my Garmin 1030 is a great coach/tool to help. I’ve been very interested in what a Smart Trainer would add to what I’ve already got, besides the social aspect and would still like more info on that.
I have 4 months of use now on a Wahoo Kickr Smart Bike, riding with Rouvy AR, and the realism is amazing. I find myself reaching for the brakes when a car pulls out on the video, and looking around the corner while approaching curves. You can ride any time, any weather, and any place, including Tour de Suisse stages, the Hawaii IronMan course, or even just a cruise around Central Park in New York.. There’s a blue tooth controlled fan available that changes its wind speed with your virtual speed (or keyed to HR if you prefer), and the bike tilts up or down to match the varying pedal resistance with inclines. The most important thing is that I ride it much more than my old stationary bike because it such a great immersive experience. I could never tolerate 2-3 hour rides on my old rig but do it routinely now. I find Rouvy to be by far the best for realism, and much prefer it over what seems to be a gamer-aimed experience on Zwift.
John, since you like Rouvy you should try FulGaz. I’ve been using it for years on a smart trainer. It doesn’t have the AR features (yet), but the variety of real-ride videos is unmatched online.
Matt K.