I ONLY ride indoors - then tried a REAL RACE | Zwift to reality

All my cycling has been indoors, on a Wahoo Kickr on Zwift, so I wanted to see if I could use that fitness and ride outside...in a race!

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#Duathlon #Paincave #marklewis

[MarkLewisfitness]

As a Zwift fan boy, it's nice to know I can pop outside and not fall off 🤣 Hope you enjoy this one 👍

[Zwift]

Congratulations on this fantastic ride Mark! We love to see this analysis and it's great that your Zwifting transitioned into a great IRL performance! We look forward to seeing how you go next time. Ride On!

[nalissa]

The commentary is hilarious. "I can't kick him out till he's 18. The laws in this country are a joke." You take the haters comments with much aplomb. Kudos on the race!

[cyclingnerddelux]

To the haters, I would point out that I don’t recall you ever being anything but perfectly honest about your cycling ability. That being said, I don’t know if the purist in me can allow you to call that two-wheel Batmobile you’re kicking around on a bicycle. 😉 Jokes aside, great to see you enjoying your bike!

[worldspawn]

Just a tip, coming to the end of the bike, for the last 2km raise your cadence. Above 90. You cadence on a run is significantly higher than cycling, so by raising your cadence it helps te alleviate that heavy feel in your legs with the run post cycle.

[MrMadeinthes]

Zwift vs a spin bike is a completely different experience. My wife did peloton for quite some time and has done quite a few triathlons using it as her indoor trainer. When we upgraded to Zwift for her indoor training she immediately saw a huge improvement in cycle times. The Peloton just doesnt correlate to actual bike position for outdoor road racing.

[backofthepack]

Well done, entertaining as ever. I am in the camp that Zwift supplements my riding and allows me do training when the weather is crap or can’t always get out. I did a 70 mile sportive last week in Surrey/Kent. Did really welly smashed all the climbs and really think all of my Zwift riding helped over the last 18 months. Noticed the same with my mountain bike, love riding outdoors still but feel that Zwift has toughened me up a lot

[misterb]

I my defence, I was a very avid cyclist for many years until about 2016 where I changed over to ultra marathons (100 miler runs etc). My cycling went down to maybe 10 rides a year for the last 5 years. In July 2021, I joined a coach who put me on Zwift for the first time in my life. I rode Zwift maybe 3 or 4 times a week using structured workouts, and did ONE outdoor 95km cycle. Two months pass... I line up at a MTB race (which I have won in the past a few times dating back to 2010), and pulled out a podium in 3rd place from a field stacked with guys in their early 20s (I'm 42) and haven't done a MTB race in years. So yeah, Zwift CAN indeed get you into good cycling shape. Love the content Mark, I relate to lots of your vids.

[willishuang]

Hah great race report! As a more experienced triathlete, I can give you a few surefire tips - with just more run practice, you'll run really well both before and after the bike. And transitions will improve from 2 minutes to <40seconds without even tri shoes, you just have to practice it beforehand. And Zwift is 100% legit for triathlon-duathlon biking. Great job!

[andytucker]

Find your local cycling club, enter some time trials and make the club ‘10’ your go to session for the week. It will make you a better rider for little outlay or effort. Then run off the back of them. Full beast mode.

[MICROVOLTSver]

Great content Mark!
Thanks to you, I ran my first 10k without stopping, when like 2 months ago I could barely run 200 meters.

[jameshassan]

Fantastic effort Mark, I’ve been riding the bike for over 40 years and doubt that I’ve ever got anywhere near that average speed when riding solo. Hope your next event is even better.

[robertgummesson]

I'm not even into cycling (more into running) but this video is a prime example of why I love this channel. It's clever and I love the side comments (rude mum commenting, kid laws in the UK, etc). Keep it up!

[fredericopereira]

Zwift is an incredible training tool not only because you have all the numbers and stats in front of you but also because it pushes you way harder that when you're riding outside. I am 100% sure that any cyclist can only improve when alternating between training indoors and outdoors.

[dunrob]

Loved, the humour and humility - great work bud. I have been an outdoor gravel type track rider for 10 years but my riding buddy has moved to Tasmania. So I got the Kickr and Zwift and have been riding hard. The buddy came back for a week and we did our normal rude. Real world riding felt easier than zwift lol. Granted the buddy had not ridden since he left but I felt so much stronger with more power than in previous sessions. Love Zwift. Love the outdoors also.

[hook]

First time viewer. Great content and you are an amazing story teller! I have a spin bike and road bike. It was 3:30 AM when I finished my spin this morning. Your video came up below the spin routine I follow on YouTube. Glad it did! You're awesome!

[DonAltoPB]

Haters will always be haters. They’re just mad cause they’ve been riding for 10+ years and have half your FTP. They’re the folks who label their weekend strava group rides “easy ride” while actually trying to race everyone in the group and have no idea what an actual zone 2 ride is. Keep smashing it man!

[nosirrahm]

I don’t have any interest in bike races, but your entertaining presentations always have me captivated. Good job, Sir!

[PuhutaanPyöräilystä]

One advice I could give to you that is based on the gopro footage. Take your knees in for more aerodynamic benefits to kick in. I could see your knees spread out in the shadows. I'm a tall guy myself aswell and got told the same many times in the beginning

[wesleyooms]

That was entertaining to watch. The footage from the bike especially the joy of overtaking so many riders haha.