How to make indoor cycling training (more) fun with Zwift

Do you know that feeling?

You are in top form at the end of September and then suddenly autumn will come. First your head starts to protest and then your bike. My bike doesn’t want to get dirty. Perhaps indoor cycling is an option?

Last year I bought a Wahoo Kickr to start indoor cycling, but it wasn’t very inspiring. I tried it again this year but it was still boring despite a challenging training schedule, Netflix series or a telephone conversation.

So… how am I going to get through the winter this time?

I didn’t want to start again in March. Recently I have lost the taste of mountain biking a little, but I still love the feeling I get from long trips on the road bike. After careful consideration, I decided to buy a gravelbike.

The gravel bike feels like the best of both worlds. I don’t have to stick to cycle-paths, but I can if I want to. This way I can continue on the road during winter without any worry. Ideal!

My search was short. In addition to my Specialized Tarmac, I wanted a Specialized Diverge. After discussing it with my LBS @vanleeuwen two-wheelers in Rozenburg, it became the Diverge Comp. About the first ride together you can read everything in the previous post by Tanja. After a few small scratches and a dent in our image, both our Diverges were initiated.

Turning to indoor cycling

But still it keeps raining. So it’s back to the garage again. Because the Diverge fits perfectly on the Wahoo. Turns out that bike is great for indoor cycling too. During my training ride I was looking around in Zwift and saw all kinds of competitions passing by. Funny…! After my training I read some more about competitions at Zwift and found out that there are even real world championships. I also thought that it was really not for me… though the idea still stuck with me.

So I took the plunge and signed me up for The Wild Women Racing Series. 8 laps of Volcano Circuit, about 37 kilometers, category D based on my watts per kilo. It wasn’t as simple as just riding along, you also need a Zwiftpower account, otherwise the result doesn’t count.

The race

Saturday evening at 8:00 PM a race takes place on Zwift. I was able to keep up and in the last lap I just thought “go for it”.

For a long time a fellow Zwifter stayed close to me but in the end I was the first to cross the finish line. Just like that, I won! Excited I texted my cycling friends.

The day after I opened the Zwift Companion App to find so many messages. Among these messages an invitation to join a team. First I had to laugh hard. Later that day I went to Google. I found out that there are now many teams and that these teams are cycling against each other and with each other in the virtual world.

After emailing back and forth with the team founder, I became a “member” of team Cryo Gen. After 2 days, an invitation to the world championship for team followed. Again I laughed. I read about it two years ago and now I could participate. So I signed up. That’s how you make indoor cycling training more fun.

Saturday December 14 at 8:30 PM is the day. You can follow me live, Team Cryo Gen C2.