You Be The Judge.
By the time you read this, I will have logged over 3,000 "miles" on Zwift, all in the dank confines of my garage.
I will have "climbed" nearly 170,000 feet.
I will have spent over 145 hours on the trainer looking at a virtual version of myself who never seems to sweat.
I started on Zwift about ten months ago.
I've also done some real-life riding in that time, getting in about 3,500 miles on actual pavement. Well, probably only about 50 feet of it were on pavement, with the rest being on my bike. If it weren't for the frequency of me laying down on the job, that number would have been closer to 4,000 miles by now. Once back on the road at the end of this month (fingers crossed), thanks to an extended visit to the very flat state of Mississippi I will probably hit 4,500 to 5,000 road miles by mid-November.
I don't count trainer "miles" or "vertical", but I generally count the hours. I don't spend a whole lot of time with internet forum calculations about how they equate (X hours on the trainer x the square root of the ambient temperature - the fully kitted rider's weight in kg x the frame material variable = Y amount of road miles. For me, one hour = one hour.
So, if you add the 180 road hours I've done this year, the 145 trainer hours, and whatever I pull off in the next couple months, chances are I'll have what I consider a decent year.
Your mileage (or hour count) may vary.
What these numbers don't take into consideration is how much I was sick this past winter. It doesn't reflect injuries or family commitments that prevented me from riding. It doesn't convey the intensity of my riding and how that affects my body. I have those numbers too, but I'm too tired to look at them.
I could evaluate my year on how many times I won, but that involves far too many variables.
Rather, I try to go by how much I'm enjoying the activity, which is purely subjective, but in the end it's all that really matters. Spending (on average) an hour a day on something that I'm not particularly fond of and is completely optional... well, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
On the whole, I'm still having fun.
Despite the injuries and other stressors cycling has dumped on me this year, I still had fun. To be honest, I can't remember a year where things went more wrong, and yet I was still having a good time. For me, having a good time is time well-spent.
Again, your mileage may vary.
I'm not the same person who bought a hybrid at REI on a whim all those years ago. I'd like to think I'm a better person, although some people may disagree with that assessment. As long as I can look back and say, "I'm better off now than I was then", then I figure I'm still moving in the right general direction. If I'm having fun doing something that is a net positive, chalk that up as a double win.
For now, it works for me.
I will have "climbed" nearly 170,000 feet.
I will have spent over 145 hours on the trainer looking at a virtual version of myself who never seems to sweat.
I started on Zwift about ten months ago.
I've also done some real-life riding in that time, getting in about 3,500 miles on actual pavement. Well, probably only about 50 feet of it were on pavement, with the rest being on my bike. If it weren't for the frequency of me laying down on the job, that number would have been closer to 4,000 miles by now. Once back on the road at the end of this month (fingers crossed), thanks to an extended visit to the very flat state of Mississippi I will probably hit 4,500 to 5,000 road miles by mid-November.
I don't count trainer "miles" or "vertical", but I generally count the hours. I don't spend a whole lot of time with internet forum calculations about how they equate (X hours on the trainer x the square root of the ambient temperature - the fully kitted rider's weight in kg x the frame material variable = Y amount of road miles. For me, one hour = one hour.
So, if you add the 180 road hours I've done this year, the 145 trainer hours, and whatever I pull off in the next couple months, chances are I'll have what I consider a decent year.
Your mileage (or hour count) may vary.
What these numbers don't take into consideration is how much I was sick this past winter. It doesn't reflect injuries or family commitments that prevented me from riding. It doesn't convey the intensity of my riding and how that affects my body. I have those numbers too, but I'm too tired to look at them.
I could evaluate my year on how many times I won, but that involves far too many variables.
Rather, I try to go by how much I'm enjoying the activity, which is purely subjective, but in the end it's all that really matters. Spending (on average) an hour a day on something that I'm not particularly fond of and is completely optional... well, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense.
On the whole, I'm still having fun.
Despite the injuries and other stressors cycling has dumped on me this year, I still had fun. To be honest, I can't remember a year where things went more wrong, and yet I was still having a good time. For me, having a good time is time well-spent.
Again, your mileage may vary.
I'm not the same person who bought a hybrid at REI on a whim all those years ago. I'd like to think I'm a better person, although some people may disagree with that assessment. As long as I can look back and say, "I'm better off now than I was then", then I figure I'm still moving in the right general direction. If I'm having fun doing something that is a net positive, chalk that up as a double win.
For now, it works for me.
If you want to have some fun jump into some Zwift races. Very good motivator to get a very hard workout in.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, most Zwift races don't coincide with the time I have for riding the trainer. Even when there is an alignment, chances are I have a very specific workout planned that doesn't involve bleeding out of my eyes.
ReplyDeleteThe ones I did jump in last winter were packed with obvious virtual dopers and sandbaggers, making the suggested w/kg rankings all but meaningless. Since then, I haven't made an effort. I might give it another shot this winter when things get stale, but being slightly off in terms of time zones definitely limits my windows of opportunity.