This is my first ride of 2025, and it’s also my first ride in quite a while. I wouldn’t say I’ve been completely lazy, as I’ve been going on fairly regular hour-to-two-hour walks. However, the fitness graphs don’t lie—my overall fitness has been trending downwards. I knew I needed to get back on the bike.

The truth is, while I don’t feel like I’ve been lazy, it’s definitely been difficult to convince myself to ride recently. I’m not entirely sure why that is. In some ways, it feels like I’ve lost a bit of love for cycling. Maybe that’s because I’m stuck riding indoors, but realistically, I think I would be indoors regardless. The weather has been so bad lately that I wouldn’t be riding outdoors much, even if I were in a position to do so.

Alternatives to MyWhoosh

Whilst I’ve been off the bike, I’ve been exploring other options aside from MyWhoosh. Not because I’m particularly bored of MyWhoosh, but just to see what else is out there. YouTube continues to recommend videos related to Zwift, so I’ve been looking at what Zwift has to offer. Zwift obviously has the community, and I’d say it also has nicer graphics on lower-end hardware. However, I still think MyWhoosh beats Zwift hands down in terms of visuals when you’re using a decent-spec PC. That said, as we’ve discussed before, the Venn diagram overlap of gamers and virtual cyclists is fairly thin.

Today, I logged into Zwift for the first time in a while. Over the Christmas break, I received a referral from someone visiting my site. Somewhere on the site (I can’t even remember exactly where), there’s a link to Zwift. If someone signs up using that link, they get some sort of bonus—maybe a free month of Zwift—and I, in turn, get 30 days free for referring them. Unfortunately, it turns out Zwift won’t honour that referral unless you’re an active subscriber, which I’m not.

I considered resubscribing to Zwift, but at £180 a year, I just can’t justify the cost at the moment. It’s simply too much for me right now, so that option is off the table. Still, I loaded Zwift back up today to have a look. It does have some nice features when compared to MyWhoosh. One thing that stood out was the upcoming Tour of Watopia, which is always a great excuse to get back on the bike at the start of the year.

Another thing Zwift offers is its independent challenges, like sprint or endurance challenges. These involve completing four events to earn rewards, such as experience points. It’s a nice touch, and I think Zwift is ahead of MyWhoosh in delivering that sort of experience. While I won’t be returning to Zwift, I do appreciate some of the things it has to offer.

TrainingPeaks Virtual

The one other software I’ve been looking into is TrainingPeaks Virtual. I can’t remember exactly what this platform used to be, but I know TrainingPeaks recently acquired it and converted it into what it is now. What particularly appeals to me about this platform is the inclusion of bot races. I do miss racing. Of all the things I enjoyed about Zwift, the racing is what I miss the most. It’s not enough to make me want to pay for Zwift again, but I do miss having races on demand. There was always something to do if you wanted to race, and I used to race once or twice a week.

Admittedly, I always got my arse handed to me in those races, which was frustrating at times and somewhat diminished my enjoyment. I knew that at some point in the race, I’d inevitably get dropped. For some reason, Zwift categorised me as a Category B racer, but I was never truly a Category B rider.

I’ve noticed Zwift has been revamping its racing system, introducing things like a new racing score, and they always seem to be iterating on it. That’s classic Zwift, I suppose. In a nice way, you could call it iterative development, where they’re always trying to improve. The less nice way of describing it might be buggy. Still, it’s good that they’re making the effort, and it’s a testament to their large community that they can keep refining the racing experience.

That said, I don’t really care whether I’m racing real people or bots. Of course, real people add a level of dynamic unpredictability to a race, but what mattered most to me was the challenge. Racing pushed me to work harder—probably harder than I ever would during a regular ride or even a structured workout. You never knew when someone would attack, and you had to be ready to respond.

The fact that TrainingPeaks Virtual offers bot racing really appeals to me because it means I could have a race tailored more to my level. It’s something I need to test out, especially since I believe it’s free for the first quarter of 2025. I’ll need to install it and give it a go, but so far, it looks like an interesting alternative.

Today’s Ride: Easing Back Into It

Going back to today’s ride, I decided to do a workout—one of the shorter ones, because the thought of doing an hour-long ride for my first session back wasn’t very appealing. I figured I’d look for a 30-minute ride to ease myself back into things. I ended up choosing a 38-minute workout that looked like it would be challenging enough. I wasn’t disappointed—it was definitely a challenge.

The final minute of the workout was particularly tough. If it had been any longer, I’m not sure I would have managed to finish it. I’m not even sure what the in-game FTP was set to, but it felt really tough. The last time I rode on MyWhoosh before Christmas, I couldn’t finish the workout. I’d set up some ridiculously high TSS workout for no good reason, and that left me feeling a bit down. So today, I went into the session determined to finish it, and I’m glad to say I did.

That said, it was a real challenge, and it’s clear that my fitness is far from where it used to be. Still, I got on the bike and did it, and that’s a win in itself. I’m planning to stick with it and ride regularly for the rest of the week.

In hindsight, I did enjoy it. I think cycling is always like that—when I look back, I’m glad I did it, but in the moment, especially during the tougher spots, I do question why I put myself through it. But I know I have to, so that’s just the way it is.

Anyway, I’ll wrap it up there for today and see what tomorrow brings.