For those riding indoors in the warmer/hotter months, what strategies are you using to keep your pain cave cool? I have a basement room in air conditioning, quality fans and cracked window but can be quite unbearable on warmer summer days.
Iām in the Uk so we donāt have the huge temperature swings of others.
My trainer is in the garage with the tv on the wall between the two opening doors. These are open every time, even in the depths of winter.
I then have a pedestal fan directly in front of me which again is on every session. Summer on max, winter on low.
If thereās snow on the ground i can get snow blindness so ride in sunglasses and if itās really cold my hands can get too cold because of their close proximity to the can do i put on a pair of cotton gloves.
The neighbours think Iām slightly bonkers which Iād agree with.
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Speak for yourself 
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Define āCoolāā¦I am in Central Texas and it has been over 100 the last few daysā¦If I can keep the room at 76 in the afternoon I am doing well. I run two fans with one being an āair-moverā with concentrated air flow right at my chest. I usually do not ride more than 90 minutes so tolerable.
Yeah, over the last year in Hampshire weāve had approximately a -10C to +38C range, in the past 30 years it would usually be more like -3C to +33C (and during that time regular summer days of 25C+ have become a lot more frequent, while snow that lasts for more than a day is very rare now).
Iāve been riding outdoors less in recent weeks because Iāve been told to restrict my daily exercise and itās impossible to get to the closest lovely rural non-hostile lanes and back, so itās been far more convienient to jump on the turbo instead. But I plan to ride outdoors again and have a my first āfancyā pair of carbon semi-aero wheels to fit, when Iām allowed to do the rides again Iāve loved so much over the past six years in the South Downs lanes.
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Not me. Nowhere near. Iām only 54, so I hope I have decades of road riding ahead of me.
At this time of year I prefer riding outside. Particularly given the hot weather weāve had for the past few weeks. When the sunās out - particularly when itās warm - Iād much rather be outside enjoying it than sitting in my garage sweating like a pig. =) On Monday I went out at lunchtime for an hour and the average temperature was 33C. I can imagine how bad my garage would have been.
Iām live in an area where itās easy to get to mostly quiet country roads though. I might feel differently if I lived in a city.
Conversely, during autumn and winter, I pride primarily indoors. Outside is usually cold, wet, possibly icy, and dark. Itās a much less attractive proposition.
That said, weāre expecting another child in December, so my outside time might be more limited next summer. I definitely appreciate that itās much more convenient to ride indoors.
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Another child at 54? Channelling you inner Al Pacino?
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Iāll be 55 by the time they arrive! 
Yeah, fourth. Eldest are nearly 25 and 21, with the youngest coming up to 6 years old. =)
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Two different thingsā¦ for the past +20 years, regardless of Zwift, and regardless of the sport: 80% of my training has been indoor and 20% outdoor. The only racing I care is 100% outdoorsā¦ The fact is that only the pros and the āslowā people āonlyā train outdoors, but indoor racing is a joke, IMHO. Long-term, you do need a āIRLā carrot 
Note: training = workouts -not just a whole bunch of random ridingā¦ 
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āFor those riding indoors in the warmer/hotter months, what strategies are you using to keep your pain cave cool? I have a basement room in air conditioning, quality fans and cracked window but can be quite unbearable on warmer summer days.ā
I use a dedicated HVAC unit with dehumidifier aka ādehumanizerā LOL, so all my indoor training is around 68f/73f and always below 35% relative humidityā¦ my outside rides are all mostly hot and humidā¦
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You mean VenTop? LOL
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I avoid cars as much as I can and got a gravel bike (effectively a road bike with fatter tires and frame armour) so I can explore and not limit myself to roads.
Coincidentally, I let my gym membership lapse and have a dedicated bike on a smart trainer - Zwift is a tool for me to stay fit/get fitter.
I guess I find myself unintentionally riding more indoors than out, even in summer.
I did 50km in France with Robo Pacers yesterday despite it being warm and sunny out because I didnāt need to plan a route, hydration, clothing - just got on and rode. Time flew by.
As an aside: the latest changes such as Teleport and Coffee Stop have made the game massively more user-friendly - Zwift has really lowered the āfrictionā in using the game, which I suspect contributes to off-season use.
EDIT - a couple of months later and Iāve done FAR more riding indoors on Zwift than outdoors, even on the gravel bike. Itās just easier to get more training volume - and structured training - indoors. I still love outdoor riding but it almost seems like a completely different activity to me.
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Almost every ride i do outdoors, i have a close call with a car.
Happened so often, kinda got used to it now.
Somebody was killed a few days ago at a junction i cycle through many many timeā¦definitely makes you think but its just impossible to give up riding outsideā¦its the reason i started cycling in the first place
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hahahaha at first, I said what in the world are you talking aboutā¦ LOL yeah, I meat dehumidifierā¦
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im in same positionā¦ i got 4 bikes for outdoor, and none are used hardly ever nowdays. i have built a frame (no wheels or brakes) with etap and its permanently on the wahoo kickr & climb, and is used most days.
hereā¦ its really too hot for longer rides, and the feeling of not having to load up pump/ tubes etc for puncture is a big bonus.
The way I look at it, however hot it gets in my Wattage Cottage, itās never as hot as it would be on a really hot day outside. That makes it easy.
This was my fourth offseason on Zwift. The first few years, I essentially gave up on Zwift during the outdoor season. Iād use it a couple times when the weather was particularly bad, but I still wanted to get a ride in. But otherwise, it was full outdoors until fall.
This year, for a couple reasons, Iām splitting it more. On weekends, Iām still outside. Iād much rather spend a long Saturday outside than inside on the trainer. But during the week, itās still Zwift. Iāve only ridden to the office once, where I used to ride at least once a week. As a lot of people have pointed out, traffic just seems different out there. Okay, so my last close call with a car (just last Sunday) was totally my fault; the driver fortunately saw me and stopped. But more often than not, itās the cars that arenāt paying attention.
Itās also so much more effort to get up early to ride in the morning, and then get home so much later in the evening. Iād rather find some time to get on Zwift. It doesnāt hurt that Iām doing a little more racing now than I had in previous years. Iām not fast, but itās still a ton of fun, and a totally different workout than you get outside. Plus ā¦ no stop signs / red light, no sunscreen needed, no traffic, no weather.
Iām not giving up on the outdoors all together, though I definitely understand why people do. Zwift does give me more options though, and I do appreciate that.
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Hubby and I broke down and bought a couple of bikes. Itās been 2 years since we owned real bikes. These should be the last bikes we ever own now.
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I can see the motivation, but 50km in France doesnāt quite match 50km in real France. For that I still need to ride outside. Zwift is good for the weekdays, but riding outside is for the mind and the experience, even in the 40ĀŗC+ we had a few weeks ago.
Plus riding at altitude brought me more fitness in a week than Zwift would have done in months.
I did nonstop Zwift in 2021, 1000km a week sometimes, it was too much - needed outside to be honest, but the lockdowns prevented it.
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I road ride with a friend on the safest roads, mostly climbs, and Iām extremely specific which roads. Zwift is great for warm ups, for times when you just need thirty minutes, for biking every day. Itās a great service and I like the terrain variety.
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