Indoor training app, is there gap in market for travellers ?

kmcd21

This should be simple to find. So far no success..
I am away from home a lot so trainer road zwift etc. Are not suitable for me.
I struggle to find a training platform
On my phone or watch to record progress when I move around lots of hotel gyms. Spin / exercise bikes vary so much. More often than not there is no Wi-Fi or network coverage in gyms I use so
I need an offline app.

Be great to hear similar experiences and work arounds from ladies and gents who are looking for a training solution that works away from home ?

I have an Apple Watch and phone and have heard the spinning app paired with a wahoo cadence sensor is supposed to work well ?
I have yet to try this..

Any other thoughts be grateful to hear them ?

pblakeney

Fulgaz works offline as long as you have previously downloaded the routes, then simply upload when wifi is available if required.
I'd be surprised if other apps don't work in a similar way.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Zwift for Android works great, I sometimes use it if laptop is being used elsewhere, such as my two sessions yesterday.

mrb123

Round these parts the travellers don't seem that keen on cycling and appear to prefer close passing cyclists in their pick-ups.

kmcd21

FulGaz seems reliant on turbo trainer s only though..
I need something Compatible with gym bike or spin bike

pblakeney

kmcd21 said:

FulGaz seems reliant on turbo trainer s only though..
I need something Compatible with gym bike or spin bike

Ah! That’ll be why I took a turbo & bike to the digs. 😉

shazzz

Trainerroad on my phone with a HRM strap works for me when travelling. I record on a Garmin watch now - I used to take my cycling head unit with me before I had the watch.
Even better if you find a gym with a Wattbike and can work with power.

kingstongraham

With a Wattbike, I could understand, but with a spin bike with no way of recording accurate power, what's the value?

shazzz

It gives me a structured workout to follow within the context of an overall plan. I feel I can judge power output well enough based on HR and perceived exertion. It's not perfect, but good enough for me.

kingstongraham

The old style sufferfest was that kind of thing (before worried about copyright etc) - I used those videos in the gym and it told you to go at a given PE. Those were great.

franko777

Yeah I travel a lot and could do with a better option. I use Trainerroad normally but haven’t really figured a decent way of using it when I’m away.

pblakeney

Take your own pedal power meters & spanner/Allen keys along with your phone and head unit? Not the cheapest option, but portable and workable.

kmcd21

Power watts is not the aim here..
heart rate and cadence as an indicator of progress and a benchmark to record data.

At the moment once leave home where I have turbo trainer Wi-Fi and trainer road zwift etc etc access. That’s easy to have structure and record progress.

When away from home long periods no Wi-Fi no method of recording sessions on random gym bikes or spin bikes.
Training aimlessly..

I want something that if train at home can easily transfer it to
Anywhere outside home. So
You are always using the training aid. It’s a very simple concept but difficult to acquire.

me-109

Most of that guff is not stopping you from training, just recording what you've done. That's not 'training aimlessly'. You can have structure with a stopwatch and perceived effort, along with a HRM if you need and/or want to track/record the effort (or use in itself). The structure is what you decide fits your aims.

kingstongraham

I think you need something simple like a generic training interval timer app, just so you don't need the session in your head. Doesn't need to be cycling specific.

pblakeney

kmcd21 said:

Power watts is not the aim here..
heart rate and cadence as an indicator of progress and a benchmark to record data.

At the moment once leave home where I have turbo trainer Wi-Fi and trainer road zwift etc etc access. That’s easy to have structure and record progress.

When away from home long periods no Wi-Fi no method of recording sessions on random gym bikes or spin bikes.
Training aimlessly..

I want something that if train at home can easily transfer it to
Anywhere outside home. So
You are always using the training aid. It’s a very simple concept but difficult to acquire.

Simple. An app on your phone with a heart rate monitor and cadence sensor which connect to your phone. Wahoo cadence sensors come with attachments to put onto your shoe.

bobmcstuff

shazzz said:

Trainerroad on my phone with a HRM strap works for me when travelling. I record on a Garmin watch now - I used to take my cycling head unit with me before I had the watch.
Even better if you find a gym with a Wattbike and can work with power.

How are you doing this, in free ride? In your typical hotel gym there won't be a bike with bluetooth/ANT to connect to...

When I had a Tickr I used the Wahoo app to record the HR trace, and that was better than nothing. Would be interested in a better solution!

shazzz

bobmcstuff said:

How are you doing this, in free ride? In your typical hotel gym there won't be a bike with bluetooth/ANT to connect to...

When I had a Tickr I used the Wahoo app to record the HR trace, and that was better than nothing. Would be interested in a better solution!

No, not in freeride. I just load whatever workout I want to do in the TR app and tap "Start workout". It gives a message that there is no power source but you can ignore that and then it loads the workout as usual. My Wahoo Tickr pairs to my phone. As mentioned, I have to use HR/PE to judge my effort against the target as there is no actual power data, but that's fine for me. At the end the ride saves to TR as normal and you can add an estimated TSS.

As pblakeney mentioned, you could add a cadence sensor if you want to, but I don't bother.

This set up is good enough for me. If you are used to riding in Erg mode all the time then using PE may take a bit more thought, but I never use Erg anyway so am used to matching my effort to the TR targets.

kmcd21

me-109 said:

Most of that guff is not stopping you from training, just recording what you've done. That's not 'training aimlessly'. You can have structure with a stopwatch and perceived effort, along with a HRM if you need and/or want to track/record the effort (or use in itself). The structure is what you decide fits your aims.

Is it really guff ? Zwift traineroad wahoo.. all seem to be making great business’s out of the “guff” and hobby cyclists making noticeable gains.

End of day if I am looking at following a 3 month training program and I get interrupted to go to work for a month. It blunts any progress. As I can’t restart the program until I return home. Therefore I’m taking a step backwards.

Being able to remain consistent is key to a lot of programs.

Not having an app or program to continue using when away is not stopping me from training. I just have to do different activities row, run, body strength and conditioning exercises.

bobmcstuff

shazzz said:

bobmcstuff said:

How are you doing this, in free ride? In your typical hotel gym there won't be a bike with bluetooth/ANT to connect to...

When I had a Tickr I used the Wahoo app to record the HR trace, and that was better than nothing. Would be interested in a better solution!

No, not in freeride. I just load whatever workout I want to do in the TR app and tap "Start workout". It gives a message that there is no power source but you can ignore that and then it loads the workout as usual. My Wahoo Tickr pairs to my phone. As mentioned, I have to use HR/PE to judge my effort against the target as there is no actual power data, but that's fine for me. At the end the ride saves to TR as normal and you can add an estimated TSS.

As pblakeney mentioned, you could add a cadence sensor if you want to, but I don't bother.

This set up is good enough for me. If you are used to riding in Erg mode all the time then using PE may take a bit more thought, but I never use Erg anyway so am used to matching my effort to the TR targets.

That's fair enough, and I do tend to do sessions on hotel bikes where possible. But I dont really do TR ones specifically, I'll just do some kind of intervals based on what I think I should be doing for my plan at that point.

I think the thing which would stop me trying to plan specific workouts when I know I'll be in a hotel gym is the massive variability of both hotel gyms and hotel bikes. If the gym has decent AC and a decent spin type bike then perhaps I would follow the workout as specified, but more often than not you are on some rubbish sit up and beg bike with a sofa seat in a gym with bad airflow or other people queuing to use the equipment.

I often run on work trips for this reason TBH. Least you see a bit of the place you're visiting.

shazzz

I find that having a specific TR session to do helps me get over the fact that many hotel gym bikes are shit! Having said that, hotel gyms are much better now than they used to be. For a few places I visit regularly I have scoped out decent gyms with Watt Bikes or good spin bikes. They aren't cheap for daily membership, but worth it (esp if you can charge on expenses!).
It's always a compromise, but you can get a good routine going.
I'm not a runner so try to make the bike option work if I can.....

kmcd21

I don’t visit anywhere regular. I visit all over so I can never depend upon one gym.

As I thought.. there is a gap in the market for what I am
looking for.

DeVlaeminck

kmcd21 said:

Is it really guff ? Zwift traineroad wahoo.. all seem to be making great business’s out of the “guff” and hobby cyclists making noticeable gains.

End of day if I am looking at following a 3 month training program and I get interrupted to go to work for a month. It blunts any progress. As I can’t restart the program until I return home. Therefore I’m taking a step backwards.

Well a training plan is just prescribing x minutes at effort y and x minutes at effort z. To do that you need a way of tracking minutes (a watch) and a way of tracking effort (power meter/HRM/perceived exertion). Then if you want to track it a method of recording so a garmin or at a pinch pencil and paper.

I use a wattbike a lot in winter in my gym but I just use the watts and do intervals of various durations.