5 Indoor Cycling Training Tips for Very Long Rides: Make your rides more effective and enjoyable

Make your long Zwift or TrainerRoad ride more enjoyable and beneficial by treating it right and getting the most out of it. Fun stuff to click on 👇

♦️TrainerRoad Group Workout of the Week RSVP

[MrHedemark]

I jump off every two hours or so to put on a fresh pair of bibs and replace my towel. Being comfortable and somewhat dry some of the time really helps, and it also kind of mimics the fuel stops I would do on a long outdoor ride or unassisted race. Ymmv.

[richardmiddleton]

If I'm doing a long zone 2 (60-70% ftp) I'll switch between high and low cadence keeping the power the same every 5 minutes, really breaks up the time and seems to go faster. Stand for 30-60 seconds every 10 mins. Keeping your concentration when it get really dedious is all part of long ride training.

[Suedesi]

One of the best channels on cycling/triathlon. Keep it up Justin, appreciate you.

[michaelrheiner]

I’m relatively new to cycle training but have been running for the past year. I was always going to add cycling to my training since, at 53, I don’t want injury to prevent some form of training. I just completed the Zwift 6 week beginner training, but also, in keeping with my running model, I incorporated long rides. I’ve done 1-2-3 and 4 hour indoor rides on a gravel bike with my wife’s saddle (my bike has not arrived yet). The mental aspect is the biggest challenge.

I appreciate you suggestions. Long rides, like long runs, are so good for strength building...both physical and mental. A four hour indoor ride is basically the equivalent calorie burn of a 2 hour run. So I had to get to 4 hours. But doing that ride is a grind. Honestly, a little messaging of others was helpful as it took my mind off of the ride just a bit. Zwift on the iPad, hockey or a movie on the iPhone, and Google playing my play list gave me enough distraction. Especially important given that the saddle is not suited for me.

Food is an exploratory process. I’ve done a few 36 mile rides in the Fall on a Yeti, but nothing like the constant peddling of the indoor training. And riding on flats adds an additional challenge with foot placement. Food and water is easier to have near by, but eventually the plan will need to match what is possible to carry on a triathlon ride as opposed to what I can put on the counter next to the bike that I can just reach for.

Clearly you and most who follow you are much more advanced as riders. But I don’t lack for commitment to he training. I’ve never run or ridden an actual race of any kind....but at 53 I’ve found within me the love of training. Running a 6:09 mile, 23:23 5k, 48 10k, and a 1:40’s HM in just one year of work (after losing 80 lbs), has opened the world of athletics back to me. It’s always about the journey since the destination is never sure. But we can control our choices to train....again, thank you for your counsel and advice. It is not going unused.

[AdrenalineIsLife]

Recently bought an indoor trainer. These tips are greatly appreciated. Thanks for sharing!

[xwing]

I'm a huge fan of watching movies during my long rides. It's hard for me to justify sitting around on a Sunday and watching an EE:LOTR movie, but it goes great with the long endurance rides on TR. I have a dumb trainer and I occasionally space out and drift out of target power, but usually I'm pretty good. Another thing about indoors for me is after 2 hours or so, I usually have to get off and stretch for 60 seconds every hour or so. I don't have to do that on the road, but on the trainer I have to. I'm pretty comfy in aero on the road, just something about indoors and 2+ hours.

[Rodrigo]

I use a motivational movie/video. A cycling documentary or a youtube “cycling motivation” loop-videos. Pumps up the mood. 👍

[weasellyone]

I've done some long, and I mean long indoor rides. 14+ hour long. A couple things that are key for me. Change your kit. I try to change it every 3 hours if I can or when on a long decent like the Alpe on Zwift. Food I try to have lots of variation. Palate fatigue I find makes my favorite things awful. Don't become static in your position on the bike. Sit and stand often move your hands. When taking a break take off your cycling shoes, give you feet a rest. Hope this helps anyone thinking of doing some crazy ride like an eVeresting.

[Bardsedia]

I did a 6 hour Zwift a few times. Solid! Doing my base training on Zwift is very rewarding come summer and getting outside. Hr goes high for a few rides then comes down quickly

[timdixo]

Tips are bang on. Some of mine...
Vornado fan aimed at head on a kickr desk at touching distance.
Elite stereo rotating front wheel plate.
Spd pedals and Spd open sandals significantly reduce hyperthermia.
Wet cooling towel material wrapped around head.

[galenkehler]

If you're using a smart trainer you can just use erg mode to help with pacing. I have a custom workout in zwift setup as 24 x 1 hour intervals of all the same power. This allows perfect pacing at whatever cadence I like.

[sebastianrennert]

I can totaly recommend meetups on Zwift plus discord or a similar app. We do our 100k+ workouts like that and so you can chitchat a bit and enjoy riding with some friends. Hours do really fly by. Additionally we do some groupworkouts as a meetup from time to time.

[galenkehler]

I use a single 4" fan a few feet behind my saddle.
Effective cooling of the muscles working. Cooling the lower back is a really good way of cooling the core without cooling extemities.
Doesn't dry out the eyes and face.
And keeps the chamois dry.

[dansjourney]

I use my indoor rides to catch up on netflix. but glad the weather is warming up here now so can start to do the longer rides outside.

[jibranjawaid]

Great video, thanks for sharing! I wasn't putting a fan Infront of me but just relying on the ceiling fan/ aircon for cooling so found indoor rides quite difficult... But as soon as I've put a fan Infront it's made a world of a difference and I am enjoying indoor riding was recently able to complete a 2.5 HR indoor ride and that's the max I've done indoor... I tend to get saddle sores with indoor rides so what Ive started doing is riding out of the saddle every 10-15 minutes for a 50-60secs for relief by switching up the trainer grade mimicking a climb and that tend to keep things interesting... As it gets really hot here in Karachi so I am now preferring riding indoors for my z2 efforts, but enjoy doing intervals... Oh and podcasts are definitely my go-to learning during the z2 efforts...

[swindonwellness]

I’ve ridden many of the TrainerRoad 6 hour rides and have seen lots of films I wouldn’t normally watch 😂. I did a 10 hour ride using the Tacx app and a GPS route that I had done ultra triathlons on. I created a 4 loop file that equated to a 1/2 iron ride and then did that 4 times. The great thing about the Tacx app is you can race previous rides so each set of 4 laps I was able to race against the previous sets. I might be easily entertained but it helped the time go by. The problem with that is my turbo has powered descent so I was able to get short rests so not the same as 10 hours in ERG mode.

[hms]

I run Zwift from iPad Pro on Wahoo stand in front of a display with Apple TV running mostly YouTube for music concert footage. So much amazing content available. Cycling and Ski documentaries are great along with catching up on content such as this and other tech. A few years I caught up on older TDFs available on YouTube. Some some such as Netflix Formula 1 are fantastic and makes indoor cycling addictive. Most of this content I would not sit on the couch to watch.

[stevendaddyrue]

Thanks for your perspective, that’s part of the reason I got a Lemond revolution and a used Quarq power meter. Now I’m back on sufferfest for $400 on my TT bike and when I do my 70.3 I will have consistent power data to what I have been training with all winter

[ΠετροςΡουσσος-εξ]

Another great video! I just watch YouTube videos that I add to my watch later list :) some past Hawaii ironmans are a good addition to that list!

[trbeyond]

My tip is to get a small mirror and place it directly in front of you and practice working on good aero position. This includes a proper head tuck and pressing your forearms against the outside of the pads which will actually bring your shoulders closer together.