Posted: 7/24/2025 1:39:02 PM EDT
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Figured I would update my research on indoor apps from earlier this year. FWIW I do think riding outside is the best and it is my favorite, and I do so year around, but thanks to family schedules and weather (I get gnarly thunderstorms most afternoons in the summer) I have found the trainer to be really useful, a ride inside is better for my fitness and mental health than no ride at all. I can't argue with the results, my mountain biking and road riding have all improved dramatically with my regular use of the trainer. I am aim to have 4-6 rides a week indoors/outdoors, along with strength training off the bike 4-5 days a week. My setup: My road bike (a circa 2017 Specialized Allez with ye olde rim brakes) with a dedicated wheel and cassette running a Vittoria 700x23C trainer tire. Trainer is a "dumb trainer", the venerable CycleOps/Saris Fluid2, with the multi position climbing block. I am using one of these as a speed sensor, can also function as a cadence sensor. It connects to my gaming laptop via Bluetooth. Note, if your room is full of electronic noise, e.g. a bunch of other Bluetooth stuff, you might have some connection issues. I might buy another to track cadence, but I generally have a good feel for my cadence so I haven't done that yet.  
I also run the ceiling fan and a large 20" fan on the floor angled up towards the bike/rider. I'm not a super sweaty person naturally so this works pretty well, I am not ruining my bike sweating all over it and the components. If that is a problem for you they make "sweat nets" and towels. Be careful though, sweat is very corrosive to aluminum and steel. I protect the floor with a $10 yoga mat from Walmart. For the uninitiated, the difference between a smart trainer and a dumb trainer is the former connects to the application and changes the resistance to match hills or the lack thereof. On the the latter, you have a fixed resistance, but can change the effort by shifting into different gears using the bike's drivetrain. It is backwards from the road: You go into you fastest (aka smallest) cogs to make the most resistance. All of the apps have some things in common: you are in a bird's eye-ish view behind your cyclist avatar, and the speed sensor's output governs how fast you are travelling in the app, matching your speed to your reported weight and the characteristics of the road in the game. You can change your bikes, wheelsets, and outfits. The bike and wheels generally have some effect on your weight and aerodynamics. Drafting other riders helps you go faster with less effort. You can do free riding around the virtual environment, ride defined workouts, and in many apps, join races with other users. All offer some sort of free trial too. 1. Zwift Zwift is the most popular app from what I can tell, and definitely in my top 2. It is a virtual world, with some places like France, Japan, the UK, and even some places in the USA, but most famous for it's fake world "Watopia". Watopia is by far the most popular riding zone if you like riding with other people. Setup is easy, and it runs well even with huge numbers of users on, and doesn't seem to cause my computer any issues. It costs $20 a month or $200 a year. It definitely borrows a lot of "gamey" elements like powerups you can score after a sprint or climb, and for folks riding with smart trainers they also have virtual shifting and braking available if you have the right equipment. If you're riding a dumb trainer like I do you can't participate in some races because they require a power meter for that. Overall, Zwift is solid and just plain works, and makes riding inside more fun and engaging. The workouts are great too, I have used many of them, some come from World Tour teams. Zwift is also partnered with the Tour de France and sponsors the ladies Tour de France. My power numbers seem fairly accurate to what I experience on the road and on a Peloton bike. Zwift also integrates with a treadmill, I have never done that but I pass a lot of runners on my Zwift rides. 2. Rouvy Rouvy is the most realistic I think. The imagery is video footage collected in the real world, and related to (I presume) GNSS data to create the road. Routes are available all over the world, it definitely works better if you download them in advance of riding them. If you have speedy internet and no one streaming you can usually ride a route without too many hiccups. A lot of iconic cycling routes in Rouvy, it is pretty neat. You can ride solo, or have some "ghost riders" to have a bunch riding with you. In the 'time trial' mode the bunch or other riders provide no draft to you. You can also ride with real folks in group rides or races (if you have a power meter once again). Cost is $20 a month or $180 yearly. Power numbers are pretty much identical to Zwift. One thing, is when you ride a switchback or tight turn the view is still straight ahead, the camera rigs they and users use (yes you can submit your own routes) don't look into a corner like your head does. 3. MyWhoosh MyWhoosh is free to use, with in game ads like banners, flags, and billboards. The integration of the ads is great and not annoying at all. It feels gamey like Zwift but really bogs down my computer even on low graphics settings. Based in the UAE, It features a lot of Middle Eastern themed worlds and some other spots like San Francisco, Switzerland, Colombia, Australia, and Belgium. It also does this panning movement you go around a tight turn, it is just odd to me. The workouts are pretty solid, many come from one of Pogi's team's coaches. The thing that got me to stop using it was how often they update it. It requires reinstallation, and download sometimes of 28GB. When you just want to pop on and ride for an hour, losing 30"-45" of that hour to download and reinstall the app just plain sucks. After the third time that happened in as many weeks I uninstalled it in a rage. They recently opened up the game to dumb trainers, but the algorithm for mine seems way off, my real FTP is around 220 W, in MyWhoosh that provides far too little effort, I have to set it around 240-260. 4. TrainingPeaks Virtual Formerly IndieVelo, it definitely doesn't have graphics on par with the other 3 apps. More basic and focused, seems geared to the more serious riders and racerheads. No computer slow down issues though. A Training Peaks premium subscription costs $20 a month or $135 a year, and includes a lot more than the app. There are also options to work with live coaches at a lot more cost. They seem very committed to developing and improving the app. TP is also less cycling centric, they have an app/tracking platform for running, strength training, etc it seems highly regarded. It integrates well with Fitbit also. 5. Peloton I don't have a Peloton bike, but when I travel Hilton hotels have the bikes and about 60% of them work. The non-working ones are still functional, they just don't connect to the internet so you better bring a book or enjoy what is on the TV in the hotel gym. Seems geared towards the fitness enthusiast more than cyclists: if you are more of a road cyclist I'd recommend Christian Vande Velde and Christine D'Ercole as they are the 'real' riders in the staff according to my research. That doesn't mean the other instructors and workouts aren't without value, just expect a different experience. Since the hotel gyms don't have my fan setup, it can be a real sweat fest. There are also routes similar to what Rouvy offers. You adjust resistance with that big red knob. I think Peloton is a terrific product with excellent integration on their bikes, but at $44 a month plus whatever you paid for a new or used Peloton bike it is spendy. If you enjoy the spin class experience it is probably the way to go. You can also do $25 a month and integrate with your own bike or trainer, but from what I can tell you need speed and cadence and possibly a power meter. Which do I like the best? It is a toss up between Zwift and Rouvy for user experience. I think if you like gamey stuff go with Zwift, if you like the real routes Rouvy is the way. If you have a smart trainer and the seemingly unending updates don't bug you, try MyWhoosh. I am debating trying Training Peaks again, to see if the app has improved, and also to see if I get any value on tracking my strength training routines. As to a smart trainer: I tried a used Wahoo Kickr, and it was a colossal hassle. It wouldn't calibrate, and had lots of connection issues with Zwift and Rouvy, randomly dropping out all the time. Luckily I was able to resell it for $10 less than I paid for it. It was also very heavy, I like to be able to leave the bike and trainer together and move them as a unit, just less wear/tear and setup time. The Kickr weighs close to 40#, so it was very awkward to move with my bike attached. I haven't entirely given up on the smart trainer, but time is my most scare currency at the moment. My current setup is doing what I need it to do without a ton of screwing around with the equipment. |
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I loathe the trainer: however, Ohio does have some shitty weather. I ride all year, but when the snow flies, I stay inside. I was a big fan if RGT cycling which is no longer. I switched over to Whoosh which is just "ok." Its free, which is why I use it. OP, you are correct, the updates are frequent and do suck. That said, I use to run it off my laptop, but switched over to my iphone and mirror my screen through an older apple TV. It runs better that way, and when updates occur, I go to the App store and update there, which makes updates more tolerable. FWIW, I look at indoor riding as a way to pick up 75-100 miles a week when the snow flies or when it's cold and raining. I run a Wahoo KICKR on Whoosh and some of the courses are very challenging. In addition to the free courses if offers, it does have group rides/races you can participate in even as a free user. The mat my bike/trainer sits on is usually soaked and I wrap a towel around my bars, .. . the workouts are awesome. I usually put one of my gravel bikes on it for the winter, which have smaller, single front chain rings. Out of all the virtual worlds on Whoosh, Belgium and Columbia are my favorite. |
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I use the Garmin app, tacx training with my garmin. I use it on my phone and cast it too my screen. Fantastic routes, views from the rides, challenges and road feel (it shakes to simulate road surfaces) $8/ month. Attached File Also yes the traner suck. |
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We had a smart trainer with Zwift; did not use it much. Now we have a Pelaton, and all 4 in the family use it. High school daughter found out it comes with floor exercise routines, in addition to biking. Wife found biking routines that fit her. Same for son. I immediately noticed: - the Pelaton girls are made to be super flirty! It’s comical. Kids joke about it. “So dad, did Jess King say you are awesome? Do you feel a real connection with her? Hmmm??  ”Turns out she’s a giant lesbian, so the jokes on all the guys drooling over her, lol. |
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Originally Posted By Dominion21: We had a smart trainer with Zwift; did not use it much. Now we have a Pelaton, and all 4 in the family use it. High school daughter found out it comes with floor exercise routines, in addition to biking. Wife found biking routines that fit her. Same for son. I immediately noticed: - the Pelaton girls are made to be super flirty! It’s comical. Kids joke about it. “So dad, did Jess King say you are awesome? Do you feel a real connection with her? Hmmm?? ”Turns out she’s a giant lesbian, so the jokes on all the guys drooling over her, lol. The window lickers in GD have done a few Peloton girl threads over the years. I do think changing up your routines even if it is just a week or few days can be good sometimes, so it is kind of nice to get a 'Peloton break' when I travel. It is great there are so many options out there for everyone. I ended up getting a smart trainer, I decided to stay in the Saris/CycleOps universe and got a M2, they are on sale right now for $199 both at Saris and Amazon. I really wanted their direct drive one, but for more than double the price I chose to stay wheel on. It is definitely a whole different animal, I now have to really use the drivetrain of the bike. It will do a 15% grade, and I made the mistake of picking a route that had one very close to that in there at one point: I was in my small chainring and granny gear standing and could barely turn it. No spinning your way out of stuff like that  Had one hiccup calibrating it, the ratcheting knob on it goes one far too tight before it clicks and was smashing the tire. I swapped the knob from my Fluid 2 onto it and voila problem solved, and no tire slippage either. Still waiting for Saris to get me another knob, otherwise setup and assembly was very easy and took about 10 minutes. The unit is much lighter than the used Kickr I had briefly, it weighs nearly the same as the Fluid 2 it replaced. |
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Originally Posted By Bigohio: I loathe the trainer: however, Ohio does have some shitty weather. I ride all year, but when the snow flies, I stay inside. I was a big fan if RGT cycling which is no longer. I switched over to Whoosh which is just "ok." Its free, which is why I use it. OP, you are correct, the updates are frequent and do suck. That said, I use to run it off my laptop, but switched over to my iphone and mirror my screen through an older apple TV. It runs better that way, and when updates occur, I go to the App store and update there, which makes updates more tolerable. FWIW, I look at indoor riding as a way to pick up 75-100 miles a week when the snow flies or when it's cold and raining. I run a Wahoo KICKR on Whoosh and some of the courses are very challenging. In addition to the free courses if offers, it does have group rides/races you can participate in even as a free user. The mat my bike/trainer sits on is usually soaked and I wrap a towel around my bars, .. . the workouts are awesome. I usually put one of my gravel bikes on it for the winter, which have smaller, single front chain rings. Out of all the virtual worlds on Whoosh, Belgium and Columbia are my favorite. I have a newer iPad I just got, might try running MyWhoosh on that and casting to the screen just to see what happens. Edit: Or not. My new to me iPad isn't compatible, neither is my phone . Might also try running the Garmin one another poster suggested. Still going strong with Rouvy at the moment, but always good to find stuff that is lower cost if I can, since Rouvy comes out of my discretionary $. |
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Originally Posted By AgeOne: I use the Garmin app, tacx training with my garmin. I use it on my phone and cast it too my screen. Fantastic routes, views from the rides, challenges and road feel (it shakes to simulate road surfaces) $8/ month. https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/317810/1000010166_jpg-3599619.JPG Also yes the traner suck. Apple Genius: "How did you burn out the vibration motors in your iPad?!?" I tried riding Paris-Roubaix on an app... Or not. Only compatible with ANT+ on non-Garmin trainers, no bluetooth which is what I use. Boo. |
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Originally Posted By flynbenny: Apple Genius: "How did you burn out the vibration motors in your iPad?!?" I tried riding Paris-Roubaix on an app... Or not. Only compatible with ANT+ on non-Garmin trainers, no bluetooth which is what I use. Boo. In the case of the tacx it uses the motor in the trainer to create the roadfeel. It doesn't just shake, it feeds back through the pedals. |