Yes, we know that the experience of indoor cycling will never compare to outdoor cycling. However, there are many benefits to indoor cycling—and not just as a way to stay in shape during the winter season. Many elite cyclists have even given up road racing for e-racing and aren’t looking back.
One of these indoor cyclists is Thomas Perren. In a recent Nduranz podcast episode, Thomas talked to Dr. Tim Podlogar and Alex Rhodes about the benefits of indoor cycling and e-racing over road racing.
1. Community
Indoor cycling has a surprisingly strong social element. Platforms like Zwift let you join virtual teams, chat via Discord, and train with cyclists worldwide. For cyclists in remote areas or who work unconventional hours, it’s an easy way to connect with others and find your community.
2. Saves Time
Struggling to work cycling into your busy schedule? Indoor cycling makes this easier because there is no need to get your bike out, clean it, or worry about dressing for the weather.
Indoor cycling also allows you to multi-task. For example, Nduranz’s Dr. Tim Podlogar says that he gets a lot of good ideas while riding indoors, so it’s very productive for him, and he can go online to check a study—something that he can’t do while paying attention to the road and traffic outdoors.
3. Physiologically More Productive
The productivity benefit isn’t just about being able to multi-task. Indoor cycling is also physiologically more productive. There are no traffic lights or stop signs to interrupt your workout. You are pedaling for the entire time.
Cycling apps also allow you to structure your workouts. For example, Thomas always uses Auto Resistance Generation (ARG) mode, even when doing intervals. It allows him to keep a very steady pace without any micro accelerations, something he struggles with when riding outdoors.
4. Lower Cost Barrier
Cycling can be a very expensive sport to do competitively. For perspective, the bike Tadej Pogacar rode in the 2024 Giro d’Italia has a catalogue price of over €15,000.
Okay, not all of us are striving to be on Pogacar’s level, but you’ll still need to invest a lot for a competition-level road bike. With indoor cycling though, bike weight doesn’t matter. You also don’t really need any high-tech gear. Yes, you will need a turbo trainer, but there are affordable options available.
5. Less Mental Fatigue
Riding outdoors means dealing with potholes, reckless drivers, and handling descents at high speeds. It can be mentally exhausting. By contrast, there’s no risk of falling or crashing when cycling indoors. You can focus on the physical aspect of cycling without draining yourself mentally.
6. Race Season Is Flipped
Peak road racing season is typically May-July, which means that your base training phase is in January to March. This isn’t exactly the most fun time to do long, steady rides because of short days and wet conditions.
By contrast, the e-racing season typically starts in September or October and runs through March—which is the opposite of standard road season. This means base training phase falls in summer, so you can utilize the nicer weather for getting in volume.
7. Ride New Terrain
The mechanics of pedaling for climbing is completely different than on a flat road, such as the way you shift forward on the saddle and engage different muscle groups.
If you don’t live somewhere with mountains, then you won’t be able to get this experience riding outdoors. There’s only so many times you can go up that one hill in your area before you get bored.
Indoor cycling lets you simulate rides on all sorts of terrain. Don’t underestimate how big of a difference this can make. Thomas, who lives in utterly flat Surrey, UK, says that his big advancements in performance have come from implementing more indoor racing.
8. Get the Courage to Race
The road racing scene can feel intimidating, especially for newcomers and smaller cyclists. Thomas shared that it took him some time to build up the courage to join a road race.
Being a smaller cyclist in a bunch of larger cyclists didn’t help:
“I just always felt really intimidated by having people super close to me descending at high speeds and on UK roads where the road surface is not the best.”
The virtual format of e-racing eliminates the physical intimidation factor and creates a more approachable environment that can help you build the confidence to finally start racing.
9. Access Elite Races (and Prize Money)
If you want to start cycling competitively, you’ll have no problem finding an e-race. There are over 1,000 weekly races on Zwift alone, and other platforms also host competitions. You could stop reading this right now and find a race. It might not be the most elite race with many riders, but it’s accessible anytime regardless of where you are.
Another difference? There’s financial backing for many of these eRaces. The prize money for them is often better than the road races.
The 2024 Elite Zwift Series had a $110,000 cash purse for 20 winners (first place winners getting $7,000). The 2024 UCI had a prize purse of $60,000. This prize money attracts a lot of good riders to go up against and enables many riders to go full time.
10. Gut Training
Indoor rides let you experiment with fueling strategies and gut training. If something goes wrong, your toilet is in the next room.
Learn more in our guide to gut training.
11. Just Enjoy the Outdoors
For Thomas, one of the reasons he isn’t going back to road racing is because he just wants to enjoy his time outdoors. Instead of having to focus while on the road, he can just ride with his mates and have a good time and leave the focused sessions for indoors.
Want to learn more? Watch our podcast with Thomas Perren.