Going virtual: An 'outdoor' cyclist tries Zwift and indoor riding for the first time

After holding out against it for years, one Cycling Weekly writer finally braves the world of online cycling, with mixed results

Adam Becket
(Image credit: Future/Andrew Sydenham)

Reader, I love cycling outdoors. I will bend anyone’s ear for hours about the benefits of being in the middle of nowhere on two wheels, and I don’t think it is too much of an exaggeration to say that riding my bike has helped me continue to stay on the straight and narrow, to keep me away from the mental health shaped wolf at the door. Throughout the pandemic I kept riding, through the heat and the cold of lockdown, even in the rain, because I simply had to keep going. 

Throughout this, I never once considered cycling indoors. Mainly through stubbornness, because I felt superior thanks to my exploits in the great outdoors, but also because of the merits I see “traditional” riding having.

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