Indoor v outdoor riding DOMS

Hi guys & girls,

I live in Melbourne and we are currently in extended lock down. As a consequence I have been doing a lot of my rides on my Wahoo Kickr Core. I am finding I am pulling up sore from the Kickr rides. Way more sore than I would if I did the same TSS / HR / Power out on the road.

Can anyone relate?

Sam

I do a lot of my rides inside on a KICKR as well. I think it is the no micro rests you get when riding outside. Even when I do my best to pedal constantly there are drops to 0-100 watts. Those little breaks add up. For me, I go with the 1.5x rule: an indoor ride feels and in terms of zone time is 1.5x an outdoor ride. So for example if I was going to do a 3 hour zone 2 ride outside, I drop it down to 2 hours inside. I think if you do the same time inside as outside you will generate way more fatigue. Just my opinion. No science behind that

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A lot of the soreness I feel from inside vs outside is from being in a fixed position. A rocker plate under the trainer has helped although it’s still not the same as the freedom one gets outdoors.

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Hey @JakeL

No worries about being blunt. I tried to make it clear it was a n=1 comment.

For perspective (living in Atlanta), I have to ride 30 min+ to get out the city/suburbs. So that’s an hour total with traffic, stop signs, red lights. No way to just stay Zone 2

Also, there is literally no flat riding here unless I find a 1-2 mile stretch and just keeping riding that over and over. Which would be pretty boring. And try as I might, sometimes it hard to keep the watts up on the downhills.

Between those two things, it takes a 3 hour+ ride for me and most people here to get 2 hours of zone 2. I know people in flatter more rural areas can do.

So for me, indoors is very efficient and I don’t mind the trainer (especially when I can watch the Tour, Giro, Vuelta, and classics. But I know lots of people hate the trainer.

Still love the long outdoor rides. I did 4 1/2 hours on Saturday. TSS was 205. Got 1 hour 50 min of zone 2 and 40 min of tempo. Zone 1 was 1 hour and 12 minutes. Admittedly this was more of a soul ride, but I don’t think I could have dropped that much below an hour, 45 min at best.

So that’s my experience, for what its worth.

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Seemed like a little bit of an attack on you so I deleted my post, my bad. I understand how terrain and city living can cause issues. Although I live in driftless Wisconsin, I can easily avoid the city aspect.

No offense taken here. Just wanted to explain for the OP why it works this way for me. On the trainer for Zone 2, I do erg mode so outside of warmup, I have 0% zone 1!

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Yes can relate Jake. Need to stretch the lower back out and get out of the saddle when you can.