While there was once a time when indoor training was drudgery only for the most committed racers, that time is long past. There are options out there that will help you get stro💮nger through training, take part in competition at whatever level works for you, or even just ride. Many of the apps available will even combine different options depending on what you want on any particular day. You also have the option of riding alone or joining vast communities. Bottom line, whatever you need to help kee🍒p riding fun, there's an option.
Before you get too far though, you'll need to consider hardware. If you are looking to keep costs low, most indoor cycling apps will allow you to ride with a basic trainer plus a speed and cadence sensor. If you've got a bit more cash to spend, the sweet spot today is something from our list of the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:best smart trainers. These are options that will allow you to connect to a 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:computer, tablet, phone or even a TV and have the resistance change right along with what's happening on the screen. Alternatively, if you know you want the best, a 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:smart bike will free you from the ဣconstraints of a bike designed to rideဣ outdoors.
With hardware handled, it's time to add a software experience to keep it interesting. Choosing the best indoor cycling app for you will vastly affect your experience, your enjoyment, and likely your commitment to indoor cycling and that's what this list is all about. Keep reading to get a good i﷽dea of what you can expect from the different options and keep this winter's riding as fun as the summer season. Towards the bottom of the page, we've got more guidance on what to consider when choosing an app for indoor cycling.
Quick List
Best all-around
Zwift
Best all-around
Highly social wꦕith tons of racing, group workouts, and free riding through a vast virtual world.
When it comes to indoor cycling, Zwift has the largest market share. That matters because, like a social network, market share brings people. No matter the time of day, or day of the week, if you want to jump online and find people to ride with, Zwift has options. You can follow a robotic training partner along with other people, join a group workout, or even just ride through the virtual world that Zwift offers and grab onto other wheels aroun♐d you. Once you find yourself among other people, grab your phone and fire up the companion app. You can chat away and hardly notice the time tick away.
Of course, another aspec✤t of social riding is competition. Just like all the other social riding that Zwift offers, there's always an opportunity to race. If competition is what motivates you then, again, Zwift is an excellent choice if for no other reason than because of the high number of users at any given time.
On the other hand, if you prefer training alone, Zwift might not be the best answer. The training plans that Zwift offers work well but require a high level of understanding in terms of what you need. There's little guidance for picking a pla🤪n and they don't adjus🌱t based on performance. Using Zwift to complete intervals is amazing because of the visual nature, and ability to ride towards the next interval, but you will need to learn how to train yourself elsewhere.
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MyWhoosh
(Image credit: MyWhoosh)
2. MyWhoosh
The best indoor cycling app for winning real money
Reasons to buy
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Free to use
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Focus on racing, with prize pots
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Algorithm matches competitors by ability
Reasons to avoid
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Terrain not as varied as some alternatives
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Lower spec graphics
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Limited user base means few races
MyWhoosh offers indoor cycling for free. Based in the UAE, it hosts the 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:UCI esports world championships. Although it's focused on e-sports racing, it also offers group aജctivities and structured workouts. While desert worlds still dominate, it's branched out to offer routes in other simulated locations, including Belg💯ium, Australia and California.
You can kit your avatar out with a range of Colnago bikes and UAE team kit, as MyWhoosh is one of the sponsors of the UAE Team Emirates pro team of Tadej Pogačar.
MyWhoosh's offering is based around its Sunday Race Club,ꩲ which offers US dollar cash prizes for winners and attracts top competitors from around the world. Prize pots for event series are as large as $1 million. Its algorithms attempt to verify that performances logged in competition are genuine.🅺
If you're not a top-rung c🉐ompetitor, MyWhoosh looks to group you with riders of a similar ability. Outside the Sunday Race Club, there are fewer events than on Zwift though thanks to the smalle🦂r user base.
The best indoor training app for real world locations
Reasons to buy
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Huge feature set
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Route editor
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Real world elevation profiles add realism
Reasons to avoid
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Augmented reality is a bit clunky
If you like the multiplayer online gaming function of Zwift but want real-world footage, then you'll want to check ℱout Rouvy. Rouvy has a sizable catalogue of outdoor routes from around the world and now you can ride them in your house.
The advantage here is that even though Zwift has incredibly talented designers making great rout🍷es, there's a certain synthetic quality to them. No matter how good a designer is, they are still creating something that lacks a bit of randomness you find in the real world. By using real-world elevation profiles, Rouvy feels more like real life.
On top of those real-life routes, Rouvy uses augmented reality superimposed avatars. As you ride, you wilౠl see other people in the world with you, whom you can pace or try to drop and that's motivating. Along the same lines, Rouvy also has Strava live segments. Some routes will now allow you to race yourself, or other riders, using Strava live just like an outdoor route. Keep in mind that you will need a paid Strava account for that functionality though.
As well as routes that 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Rouvy's staff have videoed, you can up🧸load your own footage and can now add augmented reality objects and make the route available for others to ride.
Even though Rouvy is primarily about freeriding in real-world locations, there is also an impressive workout library. Lik꧃e Zwift it lacks the kind of adjustment and responsiveness of TrainerRoad but it does offer ༺intervals when you want them and that adds value to the whole system.
Although Rouvy ends up being a great overall package for riding real routes,💎 the AR graphics do sometimes feel kind of clunky. There is a bit of an uncanny valley situation and you can understand why Zwift chose to create a cartoony world.
The best indoor cycling app for interval based training
Reasons to buy
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Clean user interface
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Machine learning adapts to your progress
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Tailored training plans targeting your goals
Reasons to avoid
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Lacks quality visuals
TrainerRoad is essentially the opposite of Zwift and the other indoor cycling apps above. You will ride alone and you will have nothing to look at while doing it. TrainerRoad is all about taking a scientific approach to making you 🌟faster. To do that the brand leverages a combination of machine learn𓄧ing and data analysis to guide you through exactly the right workout plans to meet your goals.
With TrainerRoad, you'll begin by telling it what your goals are, and when you need to achieve them - usually in the form of a target event. The app's plan builder will then ask you a few questions about how often you'd like to train, and what ty🔥pe of event you're training for. In the end, it will spit 🔜out a base training plan for you to follow. However, this is only the beginning.
As with any modern cycling training 🎃plan, the system uses power to set correct intensities. Unlike other systems though, you don't have to do any testing. TrainerRoad will pull in all of your riding no matter if it's outdoor, indoor on TrainerRoad or even indoor on another platform. With all that data, the system will use the power of AI to detect your FTP automatically and then offer perfectly tailored workouts based on the riding you've done, your goals, and your FTP. Each time you log in, there will be a selection of workouts based on what you need on that day. If y൲ou fail a workout, the system will adjust. If you find a workout too easy, the system will adjust. It's like having a coach constantly at your disposal.
The only downside to the system is that it lacks any distractions. Sometimes it's enoug♏h to watch the seconds tick away and as you progress across a line showing the intervals but most of the time you need more. You can minimise the d❀isplay and put a movie on top but you'll often wish you could do the workouts inside of Zwift. Quite honestly, a combination of Zwift and TrainerRoad is ideal if you can afford it.
The best indoor training app for workouts beyond the bike
Reasons to buy
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High-quality workouts and training plans designed by top-level coaches
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Provisions for multisport athletes
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Lots of high-intensity motivation
Reasons to avoid
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Videos can get a bit tired once you have watched them once
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Not as responsive to progress as TrainerRoad
Wahoo X, previously known as SYSTM covers not only high-intensity cycling-specific content formerly known as The Suff🦋erfest but also a variety of workouts. Look around the app and you will find options covering mental training, running, strength & mobility, swimming, and yoga.
Wahoo X and TrainerRoad share a nu𒆙mber of similarities, such as a plan builder and workout calendar. TrainerRoad excels in the size of its workout catalogue and in how it adapts to your progress. Meanwhile, SYSTM's video footage makes it more immersive, while the included yoga, strength and mental traini🌳ng help it to appeal to those who want guidance off the bike as well as on the bike.
For those whose focus is mainly on the bike, the star of the show is definitely the content pulled from what used to be Sufferfest. During one of these workouts, you get a video to watch paired with immersive graphics, audio, and often a specific storyline. Many 💜of the workouts use real race footage to put you in race situations and then ask you to perform intervals that match the storyline as presented.
Although it's incredibly motivating and intense, that also leads to some downsides. Your body can only handle so much intensity and it can be difficult to find workouts at lower zones when you need them. There's also no automatic adjustment like TrainerRoad and, of course, the video is only motivating so many times. This combination means that Wahoo X ends up being the best choice when you want a more well-rounded tra🍨ining that involves more than just on-bike workouts.
FulGaz's motto is less virtual, more reality, and that's prec🌄isely what this app offers. Using real ride footage and some pretty advanced physics modelling, FulGaz not only tailors resistance based on what's happening on screen, but the footage itself will react to your effo🐲rt. With 4K footage filmed from the handlebars of riders around the world, the app uses real elevation data to control the smart trainer to match what you see on the screen, also taking into account your weight and power to adjust the speed of the footage.
This is where it has its USP: the catalogue of real-world footage is broad, from the infamous Alpe D'Huez to Sunshine Canyon outside Boulder Colorado. It offers the immersive nature of something like Zwift or MyWhoosh, but with a focus on real-world locations, rather than creating virtual worlds and maps. It is, it must be said, similar in this respect to Rouvy, though the first person view is a differentiator ෴here.
FulGaz also has a worko⛦ut library and the ability to import custom sessions from TrainingPeaks or Today's Plan, and you can create grouಞp rides to tackle routes with friends.
Bkool
(Image credit: BKOOL)
6. BKool
The best indoor training app for riding in a virtual races
Reasons to buy
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Multiple views are available as you ride
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Make your own routes
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First person view available
Reasons to avoid
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Hit or miss video quality
For quite some time, BKool made some pretty unique indoor trainers while also pushing hard into software. With the smart trainer market becoming ever more competitive, the Spanish outfit decided to shift its focus entirely towards creating the best indoor 🎃cycling apps.
The BKool cycling app offers four types of sessions: Route, Workout, Velodrome and of course, FTP test. Similar to the other apps which offer ‘real rides’, the resistance matches what you see on the screen and the faster you pedal, the faster the footage plays, emulating a real-l💞ife ride. There are also virtual versions of real races 🍬like Milan San Remo and Strade Bianche.
The main difference between Rouvy and Bkool is both the platform's biggest strength and its weakness. What I'm talking about ꦍis the ability to upload user-generated videos and ride them as if it were still the days of riding rollers with a VHS cycling video on your TV.
Although Bkool has added different views, including a 3D avatar like Rouvy, its greatest st⛦rength is that you can ride in a first-person view and it feels like you are on loca⭕tion wherever you might be riding. It must be said that Rouvy does have a route creator in beta testing so soon the two may be closer than they are now.
The downside to that freedom of uploads is that the quality isn't always the same. Sometimes the videos are quite low quality and they feel blurry. It doesn't help that many of the videos take place during winter ri൩des and generally ✤look rather dark and dreary. Still, you do get a very real-world feel, like Rouvy, and if you like velodrome riding you can do it in Bkool.
Along with the😼 option to ride with an av👍atar, BKool has also added a social aspect. There are now leagues and challenges that run throughout the year and there's a different workout featured every day.
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Peloton
(Image credit: Courtesy)
Peloton One app
The best indoor cycling app for stay at home spin classes
Reasons to buy
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Vast catalogue of engaging workouts, both pre-recorded and live
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Running, strength and yoga included too
Reasons to avoid
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Only three workouts per month with basic subscription
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Cannot track progress with basic subscription
The Peloton App One runs on a phone and gives you a𒅌ccess to Peloton's workouts. Your subscription is managed through the phone app, but you ca♌n stream workouts to a range of other devices.
Although the Peloton Bike is Peloton's headline offer, the Peloton App One can be used on non-Pelot𓄧on equipment,ꦚ avoiding the high buy-in price of Peloton's own equipment.
The main downside of the app is that a basic subscription only gives you three workouts per mon🗹th, across cycling, rowing and treadmill. You'll need to upgrade to the App One+ to get unlimited access and also to unlock metrics as you work out and recording of your progression. The App+ puts the price up to £25/$24 per month, making Peloton a pricier option than the best cycling apps above, including marketꦕ leader Zwift.
Peloton has 4,000 pr🍒e-recorded spin classes ranging from 20 to 90 minutes in length and run by professional spin instructors. There are live classes where you can follow and chat with other people w﷽ho are suffering alongside you, and there are scenic rides too if you just want to spin your legs out.
As part of the monthly cost, you also get access to a library of running and rowing workouts with equally motivational audio coaching and🃏 also strength workou﷽ts, yoga, meditation and more.
If you're looking to set up for indoor riding, ꦗthere are some hardware and tech issues to consider alongside choosing the best indoor cycling app for your needs.
How much do you want to pay?
There's a wide range of prices for using an indoor cycling app. To a certain extent, you get what you pay for, but apps such as MyWhoosh are focused on growing t🍌heir user base and so give you - in its case for free - much of the functionality of market leader Zwift a✅t a lower price.
Other apps, such as TrainerRoad, offer something unique and leverage t🔯his.
It's also worth considering the cost of 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:riding indoors versus outdoors. We've fo🧸und that the initial price of each is comparable for similar levels of set-up.&nꩵbsp;
So the price of a monthly subscription to an i꧋ndoor cyc෴ling app, even if it looks significant, may not be that great compared to the other costs of riding a bike either indoors or outdoors.
Also note that most indoor apps allow you to pay annually and some also offer ꦦmulti-user subscriptions, which work out cheaper than paying month by month.
What do you want to get out of your indoor cycling?
Are you looking to ride, race, socialise and explore roads around the world or are you prepping for an event and▨ looking for highly specific intervals?
There are plenty of apps that do all of the above. However, in the same way that tools in a multi-🥂tool aren't the same quality as dedicated workshop tools, the apps that arꦰe explicitly designed for interval workouts offer a better experience than those where it's not the main focus.
This works in the other direction too; the apps that are 🧜designed around freeriding and racing will pro🌼bably be more motivating than following a series of ramps on a screen, although your riding may be less goal-oriented.
But no matter which app you use, you will only get faster a🅷nd stronger provided you actually use it, so most importantly of all: find one that you enjoy and the rest will follow.
How social are you?
If yoꩵur emphasis is purely on workouts and keeping or improving your fitness, you may be content with an indoor cycling app that just lets you do your thing alone, ad be pleased with the out-and-o🦩ut focus.
If, on the other hand, you value the social aspect of your ✨riding and want to ride with others or race against them, then an app with greater interactivity will be more motivating.
Also consider the user base. With over a million active users, Zwift is the top dog here. You may find that other riders are few and far between on othe𒁃r apps, so you're essentially riding alone most of the time, or need to ride at a spe🍬cific time to join an event.
Where do you want to ride?
Indoor cycling apps take different approaches to their simulations. Zwift only offers imaginary💎 worlds and simulations of a small number of real-world locations.
Other indoor cycling apps including Rouvy provid⛦e video footage of real locations, so you can expeꦇrience riding the Stelvio, for example, more realistically.
S🧔till others, such as Bkool and Rouvy, allow you to upload your own ꦅroute files and create a simulation based on these. This is a great option if you want to prepare for a real event, understand how specific parts of the course might feel to ride and develop a pacing strategy.
Do you need a smart trainer for indoor cycling apps?
All training apps use power to determine how fast you're moving through a 💞virtual world or to dictate intervals. There are three ways these apps can determine power; a smart trainer, a power meter, or virtual power. The first two are relatively self-explanatory; 'smart' turbo trainers and power meters will connect to your device with a Bluetooth or ANT+ connection (you may need an ANT+ dongle for the lat🌊ter) and the app will be able to glean how many watts you're pushing.
If the centrepiece of your pain cave is a 'dumb' trainer, you don🧸't have to go out and drop a week's pay on a power meter or a turbo with electronics inside to use a training app, but you will need a speed and cadence sensor.
Every trainer has a unique power curve, and using this resistance curve, apps know how to generate a power estimate based on speed and ca🗹dence. although not all apps provide this func♕tionality.
There are some caveats to virtual power, namely, the accuracy hinges on whether your prospective app has tested a specific trainer. Virtual power numbers also won't be as accurate as the highly tuned strain gauges in a power meter or sma💫rt trainer, but are within the ballpark to get you started with a training app.
Which operating system do you use?
Before you fork over your credit card details for an app subscription, it's essential to double-check that it'ꦰs compatible with the OS you plan to run it on. For the most part, every app works on your Apple or Windows computer and iOS or Android devices, but a few are still lagging on Android or iOS versions while others are adding Apple TV to their repertoire.
Check the recommended device hardware and software versions too, if your devi🦋ce is more than a couple of years old, as you may get a downgraded experience on older equipment.
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Josh hails from the Pacific Northwest of the United States but would prefer riding through the desert than the rain. He will happily talk for hours about the minutiae of cycling tech but also has an understanding that most people just want things to work. He is a road cyclist at heart and doesn't care much i🌊f those roads are paved, dirt, or digital. Although he rarely races, if you ask him to ride from sunrise to sunset the answer will be yes.
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 140 lb.
Rides: Salsa Warbird, Cannondale CAAD9, Enve Melee, Look 795 Blade RS, Priority Continuum Onyx
