This covid-induced laziness has to end. My bike got delivered a couple of days ago. I guess I better get on it . . .
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Cool. The new indoor bikes are getting much better, with many things to keep them more interesting. Iāll be interested to see what you think.
Iāve been riding outside, but weāre thinking of a āconnectedā indoor bike for winter. In a normal winter, my commute is enough motivation to head out in the rain and ride each day; but with me working from home, thatās now different. The upside of working from home is that I have flexibility in terms of when I ride. I usually go before work, but a check of the weather might have me do an afternoon ride. Having a decent year in terms of riding, which has surprised me a lot.
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I used to use spin studios about two or three times a week.
With the lock down approaching I managed to buy a second hand spin bike (a Technogym āGroup Cycleā) and have been using the Les Mills RPM classes online (but these are recorded rather than live).
Iāve not used Peleton, but my understanding is some of their classes are live and that you get a lot of the stats- max power, energy used, distance covered etc. plus (possibly) some form of competition in the peleton online class (that some spin studios offered).
My LesMills / SpinBike solution is certainly cheaper (bike was about Ā£300, subscription about Ā£30 a quarter) but I doubt itās anywhere near as engaging as Peleton.
I did my first little rides - a short warmup and then a 20 minute fitness test to measure FTP. The FTP test was pre-recorded, and I suspect that whether a class is live or pre-recorded wonāt matter to me at all. No matter what itās just me in my basement with my AirPods on looking at the screen.
Iām really tired after that 30 minutes; Im also really out of shape, but hey thatās the idea!
@StephenPacker the bike does show stats, and there are many options how to use them. I have no interest in competing with anyone other than myself; using stats to show my improvement will be interesting to me (I think).
I used to ride my road bike somewhat regularly, but where I live now itās far too suburban. And my wife really doesnāt like it; she gets nervous even on country roads when cars pass. I donāt have time to do it without her these days, so the indoor spin bike will have to suffice for bike fitness.
Unfortunately, I am way down on miles for the year. I am just under 2000 miles, which is about 1500 miles behind pace for my average over the years. Mostly, work has interfered with my weekday afternoon rides. I canāt wait to retire in a few years when I can ride every morning I want to.
Thatās some awesome mileage youāre getting.
The biggest year I had was 2017 when I cycled 8500 miles and had 425,000 feet of elevation gain. Thatās a combination of riding on road, single-speed, and gravel bikes. I have a mountain bike, but hardly ever use it.
If the FTP test is done right, you feel like you are going to die in the last five minutes. I have only ever done coached FTP tests at a cycling training center. I havenāt done one in years because itās so painful. 
I gave it quite a bit of effortā¦will ride with this result for a few weeks and when it starts to feel easy Iāll do the test again.
When I did my last one, my HR hit 180 bpm 15 minutes in and maxed at 186 bpm at 20 mins. My normal max HR is about 176-180.
Iām an asthmatic and smoked for many years, so my FTP isnāt great. It was 198 at my last test, although I forgot to hydrate properly and take my inhaler before the test. Now I just donāt worry about it. Iām more about just enjoying the ride, than pushing performance.
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