With the rise of pelaton and other indoor cycling equipment, indoor cycling became very popular over the last 10 years. If you are going to a gym in Europe or the United States it’s likely that there is an indoor cycling class that you can attend. Both outdoor cycling and indoor cycling have numerous benefits. But which one is better? As Cyclesimply.com we wanted to look into this question from multiple perspectives: convenience, wheater, training, social life, experience, and cost.
Convenience
Have you ever wanted to ride your bike but felt too lazy to put your helmet on, unlock it (assuming it’s outside), or take it outside (assuming it’s inside)? I feel you. It’s not only easy to start cycling indoors but also you can cycle indoor anytime anyday more conveniently. The other factor that makes cycling indoors more convenient is that you can cycle as much as you want and stop whenever you want. When you are riding outdoors you need to cycle back to your original location unless you are using an on-demand cycling app like lime bike or citi bike. There have been many times when I pushed myself to cycle more even when I was exhausted to bring my bike back home.
Winner: Indoor cycling.
Wheather
Depending on where you live the weather may impact your outdoor cycling experience badly. During summertime, cycling outdoor is enjoyable. You just need to put on shorts, a t-shirt, and preferably a helmet and you are good to go. You don’t need to spend 10s of minutes to get ready to cycle outdoors. That’s not the case during the wintertime for many people. You need to make sure you have enough clothing to keep yourself warm. The trempreture is only one of the aspects that would impact your outdoor cycling experience. How about rain, snow or wind? All these natural beutiues may worsen your cycling experience. Therefore, if you are looking for a consistent experience indoor cycling is the way to go.
Winner: Indoor cycling.
Training
Spining classes are almost a must have of any gym thats out there. Its a very effective way to get fitter. Indoor cycling is more impactful compared to outdoor cycling when it comes to burning calories and reducing body fat percentages. A research group in Korea conducted a study with 24 female middle school students to understand the impact of indoor cycling and out door cycling impact on fitness. 12 of the 24 for students cycled indoors for 16 weeks and the other 12 cycled 16 weeks outdoors. While the researchers concluded that there is no difference between indoor cycling and outdoor cycling when it comes to weight loss they observed that indoor cycling had greater impact on overall fitness, body fat percentage reduction.
Winner: Indoor cycling.
Social Life
Have you ever cycled outdoors with a group of friends or with a club? If you haven’t we strongly suggest you to do so. There are several cycling groups in the united states that tour around the cities while stopping by multiple coffee shops or even sometimes bars. There are interactive cycling equipment available now. But is it the same? We don’t think so its almost like talking to your friends via skype vs meeting them inperson. While this may change with the technological development for now we think outdoor cycling is much better compared to indoor cycling when it comes to socializing.
Winner: Outdoor cycling.
Experience
Depending on what you are looking out of cycling the winner of this subsection will vary. If you are looking for consistency and flexibility indoor cycling is for you but if you are adventures like me outdoor cycling is for you. If you end up having a flat tire while cycling outdoors your cycling experience can turn out to be a nightmare. On the other hand, while cycling outdoors you can build long lasting memories. Last week I have cycled to the other side of the city to attend a BBQ, it was very enjoyable as the sun was setting and I was able to ride by the beach. I enjoyed my self alot. So overall if you make sure that your bike will function proparly while you are outdoor cycling journey its likely that you will have a better experience riding outside compared to cycling indoors.
Winner: Outdoor cycling.
Cost
While the prices of both indoor cycling equipments and bicycles varies alot on average bikes for outdoor cyling are cheaper. This is mostly because of the electronic infrastructure that indoor bikes need to have. If you are looking for a bike for your budget we as the cycle simply team listed the best ones for multiple price points: Best Hybrid Bikes under 500, top city bikes, Best Road Bikes under 200.
Winner: Outdoor cycling.
The Bottom Line
Both indoor cycling and outdoor cycling is good for you for multiple reasons as discussed above. We suggest you to choose based on your needs and you may choose both of them. Often cycling indoors is a gateway to cycling indoors. If you consider starting with indoor cycling check out our articles at which we compare the best options: Schwinn indoor bike comparison and Schwinn 130 vs 170. If you decide on buying a bicycle check our articles at which we have listed best bikes for multiple personas: Best Bikes for Big Guys, Best Bikes for Teens.