CW investigates the growing popularity of indoor group training sessions.
Very occasionally cycling in splendid isolation is exactly what you need, but most of the time we are better together. Riding in a group is not only more fun, it gets you fitter too. The motivation to beat a mate cresting a little roller or holding your place in a slightly too-quick chain gang pushes you on. Ride regularly in a group and it’ll pay dividends in fitness gains — not to mention the craic and banter of social riding. Traditionally, we have thought of group riding as an outdoor-only pursuit, but that is steadily changing as clubs and training groups cotton on to the potency of training together indoors too. I have visited several such sessions to witness first-hand the sweaty spectacle and assess the fitness merits; I am, for the purposes of this feature, the cycling spy who came in from the cold.
Until recently, putting the best bike away for winter heralded a return to solitary confinement. Turbo training used to be solo and lonely. Not anymore. The club-organised group turbo session in a church hall or the like is a well established, though often underrated, phenomenon. Indoor group riding is moving on, too, using the latest in smart-trainers and technology to optimise training; some groups are even booking altitude chamber sessions.
Eyewitness account
The air is, to put it politely, scented; the condensation is running down the windows; and the music is pumping out. The turbos are spinning and whistling. It’s the weekly group session at Otley Rugby Club, run by local training company In-Gear Coaching.
Ex-second-cat racer Jonathan Farnaby is now in his second winter season running these sessions and is in no doubt about their value. “It’s the best training hour I do all year,” he says. “I come out of winter at my fittest, ready for the racing season.”
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة February 2,2017 من CYCLING WEEKLY.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
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هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة February 2,2017 من CYCLING WEEKLY.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
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