Outdoor ride far harder than indoor trainer session?

[dr-ivan]

This was the first winter I devoted to trainer workouts. However, from what I have heard, indoor training is far harder that outdoor riding - which was my mindset going into spring’s first outdoor ride yesterday. Not so! I was rather disappointed to find myself working on the far lower end of what I would have expected from my FTP. I could only hold around 80% of my FTP on a simple 10 minute uphill section, which is far below what I have been outputting on my trainer! I returned home after a 75 minute ride yielding a paultry 50.1 TSS, while I am used to 80-90 TSS per hour on my indoor trainer.

Being a rather newbie to power and trainers - is this normal?

 

[Old Plodder]

No idea about FTP or TSS, but I use a turbo trainer to get my legs going after any period off the bike, it helps to get the cardio vascular system up to scratch for me.
After a few sessions of turbo over a few days, I go & ride, yes it is harder work in the real world of hills & wind because I have to rebuild my stamina & muscles up.
So, not sure if this info is any good for your circumstances, just thought I'd offer you something to think on, at least until someone more knowledgeable chimes in.

 

[jim55]

Yeah real world cycling is a lot harder , for one theres a good bit of wind resistance ,, slowing down and accelerating back up to speed , as uv found out lol

 

[Nigelnaturist]

Yeah real world cycling is a lot harder , for one theres a good bit of wind resistance ,, slowing down and accelerating back up to speed , as uv found out lol

Usually.
As Jim says its a different world, try doing the same uphill in a modest 10mph you will notice the difference, and roads with open fields well, I did a flat stretch back last summer sometime, my overall avg for the 40 mile ride was 16.4mph, this stretch I struggled at times to stay above 11mph.
This is the ride http://www.strava.com/activities/83252437
and this is the stretch of road.
http://www.strava.com/activities/83252437/segments/2643009892
Then there is the rain and snow ( I wonder whats happened to that), the dark other road users, condition of roads to consider ect...... your concentration is divided.

 

[Trull]

Its a different kind of hard, its hard to motivate a turbo ride - while real world cycling includes wind/surfaces and such so there are different things to slow you down. I think the only way to get some form of parity would be to have a PowerTap and an O2 saturation monitor plus HRM etc. And even then you'd need to be indoors on a track.

 

[welsh dragon]

Being on your bike outside is far harder than using a turbo trainer. I have been using a turbo all winter. Yesterday was my first ride outside since before christmas. It was bloody hard work.

 

[dr-ivan]

Thank you all for tuning in!

Fortunately, today's ride fared slightly better... Still rather sub-par in comparison to many of my other efforts though. I am starting to suspect that my core strength is rather lacking though (due to sore lower back muscles). An entire winter on the inherently stable trainer might perhaps have weakened the core, and now my power output suffers for it.

@Trull: "different kind of hard"... Yeah, absolutely! On the trainer I concentrate entirely on spinning the pedals while in real life there are more distractions. A question though: I already have a power meter and HRM (both while riding a trainer and outdoors). But why would O2 saturation be of use? Does it fall any significant amount with effort?

@jim55: I do believe you misunderstand. I am not saying I was riding too slow , I am saying that I was struggling with outputting a power level outdoors that I was easily maintaining indoors. Wind or no wind - my legs should be able (at least in theory) to maintain the same power output inside as well as outside.

 

[MikeG]

.....Fortunately, today's ride fared slightly better... Still rather sub-par in comparison to many of my other efforts though........

Don't worry too much about your performance on the first sunny weekend of the year. It is soooooo early. Just give yourself a break, and consider the turbo-training to be a best-of-a-bad-job alternative. It'll take a few weeks to really sharpen up, whereas if you hadn't done any turbo hours (or cold winter rides), you would still be building things up in June!

 

[dr-ivan]

Don't worry too much about your performance on the first sunny weekend of the year. It is soooooo early. Just give yourself a break, and consider the turbo-training to be a best-of-a-bad-job alternative. It'll take a few weeks to really sharpen up, whereas if you hadn't done any turbo hours (or cold winter rides), you would still be building things up in June!

I guess I am just a tad bit impatient Today's short ride was already a world ahead of previous efforts!

 

[fossyant]

If you are using an indoor trainer you have to be very very disciplined about it. We have a member on here that does this and spends most of his time doing this all year, it does work as his TT times are great, but it's very hard for many to do this.

Depends upon your goal.

If you aren't racing, then just ride outside. If road racing then you need a a training plan, same as TT's.

It's easy indoors to drop off the boil if not disciplined enough.

I used to use turbo sessions as a supplement when I didn't commute and weather was bad or indeed I was injured.

I commute on the bike and ride. I don't race now but my racing benefitted from commute miles, not trainer as I wasn't disciplined enough. You can't hide on a steep hill, or stop start lights etc.

For me, outside miles work for me, and I can't stand training staring at 4 walls.

 

[dr-ivan]

I see! I was able to keep up my trainer workouts through winter, but just 3 times a week - which actually worked like a charm. I was looking forward to experimenting with different workout types, and built some myself even. But any more than those 3.5 hours a week was a horrendous torture and my motivation was just not there. Outside on the other hand, I now do 4-6 rides a week (5-7 hours). Having had some more practice after the winter season I do roughly the same amount of TSS per hour as I did on the trainer. I guess I just needed some getting used to outside riding again after the dark winter months.

I have no plans of entering any races at this point, although it would perhaps be fun at some point. My FTP is far too low to compete against many enthusiasts in my area - at least for now.

 

[mobi]

Flying a real aircraft is harder than playing flight simulator

 

[JOE_90]

This was the first winter I devoted to trainer workouts. However, from what I have heard, indoor training is far harder that outdoor riding - which was my mindset going into spring’s first outdoor ride yesterday. Not so! I was rather disappointed to find myself working on the far lower end of what I would have expected from my FTP. I could only hold around 80% of my FTP on a simple 10 minute uphill section, which is far below what I have been outputting on my trainer! I returned home after a 75 minute ride yielding a paultry 50.1 TSS, while I am used to 80-90 TSS per hour on my indoor trainer.

Being a rather newbie to power and trainers - is this normal?

You'll have to swap your turbo trainer for a spin bike. Far better for building strength and replicating the real world.
Oh and yes, it is far tougher than outdoors but remember that YOU have to make it tough. This all builds mental strength too.
I speak from experience believe me!

 

[Gravity Aided]

Flying a real aircraft is harder than playing flight simulator

Unless you are trying to land that DC3 at Dutch Harbor, Alaska.