Yesterday’s post on fair-weather Zwifting generated a lot of feedback, with Zwifters around the world chiming in with their reasons for riding indoors during nice weather. Here are more reasons that weren’t covered in the original post:
- Riding late at night: Fitting a ride in can be a challenge regardless of the season. Rob M. said “I’m only Zwifting in the summer when it’s too dark to go out, the wife goes to bed at 22:30 and that’s my turbo time. That way I get to see my wife and son, eat dinner after work and train without it impacting my family.”
- Family time: Lots of Zwifters are stay at home parents with young kids, or simply want to spend as much time with their families as possible. Ayrton S. says “With a 3 month old baby in our house, zwift has been a lifesaver. I sometimes manage 80 – 100 zwift miles a week and a day or two on the weekends to ride outdoors for a few hours of climbs.” Derek B. says “I’m a full time dad and Zwift gives me the flexibility to do the kind of training for my epic outdoor rides (got the Race Across Germany next week – 1,100 km’s non stop as RAAM qualifier)…”
- Avoiding sunlight: I certainly understand this one, being a fair-skinned redhead who requires sunscreen prior to any summer rides. Darren B. mentioned the benefit of no sun exposure (ie skin cancer), and Warren T. added an interesting note: “Recovering from Lyme disease so it’s a great help to get me riding since I have to avoid direct sunlight with meds I’m on.”
- Avoiding bad air: Air quality can fluctuate seasonally, especially when it comes to pollen counts. Jon C. says “For me, the reason I’ve used Zwift more lately has been the poor air quality and exceptionally high volumes of pollen this year.”
- Get riding quickly: I live in a small town with just one stoplight and low traffic, so finding a quiet road is easy. But that’s not the case for everyone! Kevin F. says “I live in a city of ten million and it takes me a good hour of riding to get to a good, relatively safe place to ride a bike at speed. I can do that on weekends, but during the week I just hop on Zwift.” George B. says “I would have to drive hours to get some safe hills to ride. With Zwift I get the option to ride hills everyday.”
- No zombies: I missed this in my original post, but it’s certainly a valid fear. Randy S. says “Rain or shine, my plan is to Zwift all the time. No need to worry about getting killed by a car, dog, sunburn, bees, zombies, etc.”
