For the past couple of days I’ve been riding a trainer indoors in my home office. It is weird. I did a couple Training Peaks training plans that called for me to maintain a particular power measurent for an hour to an hour and a half, and that is exactly what I did, all while watching some of the great gross-out comedies of our time (I’ve never been accused of an excess of taste).

Anyway, one of the weird things about it is that it felt efortless at the time, but afterwards I felt the same physiological response as if I had done an important workout. You know, actual fatigue. Usually when I ride outdoors I feel the fatigue, but I feel it while I’m riding as well. I’m not sure what’s going on here. Fewer bumps? Less need to focus on suroundings and balance? No cold or wind? Probably all of the above.

I’m not sure I like it. It kinda feels like doing the leg press at the gym in the sense that, yah, I can pack on weights far exceding what I’d be able to squat, but I’m also missing out on working out the important stabalizing muscles. So it’s better, but it’s also worse. I think perhaps the smart thing to do will be to keep it occasional and keep biking outside as my primary workouts. But I do love gross-out comedies, so I better not drop it altogether.