Myth: Indoor cycling is a solitary experience

Although I've always preferred to ride outside, the realities of work and family have long necessitated a mix of both indoor and outdoor training. I've never been afraid of riding in the cold and wet but there's only so many daylight hours in the winter. Fitting in training with the rest of my responsibilities sometimes means late night is the best time for me to ride.

What has changed over the years, I've been training indoors longer than I care to admit, is what indoor cycling looks like. Years ago it was always with rollers and I remember when I first transitioned to one of the best smart trainers. Even as that transition happened, what didn't change was the solitude of indoor training.

When I was younger I would do things like watch a timer or some visual representation of the intervals while listening to music. When the intensity, and motivation, is high I still sometimes do that. Most of the time though, it's not enough. I've been training long enough that I often can't access the kind of motivation that comes from doing something new on your own. As fall sets in, I've been in the same spot many times before. My fitness is changing in the same way it did last year, and the years before it.

I do four, sometimes five, indoor training rides a week. While I might be able to find enough internal motivation for a few of those, I've had to look for something more to fuel the rest. For me, that means community and connection. Just like when I ride outside, I like to talk to people and connect with community. When I can do that, the distances and intervals seem to melt away.

Although I'm certainly not alone in this feeling, not everyone understands that indoor cycling offers the same connection possibilities. Zwift in particular is fundamentally built on a foundation of community and yet, even 10 years on, many people continue to associate indoor cycling with solitude. Last weekend, as I dodged an early season storm, I found myself discussing this fact with others in the Zwift group ride I was participating in. The ridiculousness of that situation seemed like a perfect opportunity to highlight how communal indoor riding can be.  

Finding a Zwift group ride and what is available

As I mentioned above, I discussed this topic with a group of people I was riding with on Zwift. It begs the question, how did I find that group and which groups are available? 

The first part of that question is the easy one, how do you find a group to ride with on Zwift? While it's possible to attack this problem in a number of ways that don't directly involve Zwift, there is an easy way to start. Grab your phone and open up the Zwift companion app. From the main screen either open the hamburger menu or scroll down a bit and select events. 

Once in the events section you will see a list of events starting from the closest to the current time and continuing. The main list includes everything and that is going to mean a lot of races. Races can sometimes take on a social component but don't expect you will have much luck finding long lasting community through Zwift racing if that’s where you start. Instead, hit the filters button and select group rides only. There are also opportunities for group workouts but, again, you will likely have better luck starting with a group ride if you are looking to meet people. 

With only group rides selected you will, obviously, see a list of group rides. What you will also see is a graphic for each group ride and many of them will have logos. As I look right now I see rides from AHDR, 3R, Galaxy Cycling Club, and the Big Ring all within an hour. If you click on these rides you'll also get a description and some will have links taking you to Facebook group pages or other websites. I even see some that have shared Spotify playlists to listen to during the ride. Take note of the pacing details, general vibe, and if you are looking for a women's group you can find that info on the details as well. 

Right now there are a number of Tour of Watopia rides happening. It's worth mentioning these because this is a Zwift led initiative that is becoming more and more common. While these are some of my absolute favourite events to do, and there is often conversation during them, they aren't a good way to meet a long lasting community. Given the direct Zwift involvement, these events bring together a large number of people. Those people don't have much connection beyond Zwift though and while it's a great opportunity to chat with people, you won't have a good way to build a deeper connection. 

Along the same lines as Tour Watopia, another option for social riding is the Zwift Pace Partners. Pace Partners are available from the main screen in the Zwift app and are simply robotic riders who will hold a specific pace while free riding through the Zwift virtual landscapes. You pick the speed you want to go and jump into the ride. There will typically be a group of other riders doing the same and you can communicate with them while riding. Like Tour of Watopia rides, it’s a great way to be social but there’s no easy way to build a greater relationship. For those with a fear of commitment this is a great option.

How to communicate while riding

You don't have to communicate while riding. This is especially true when using a Pace Partner but no matter what you do, you can do so silently. Often it's enough motivation to just have a real person to follow. There's an inherent connection there and if that's enough, you can stop there. Even if you decide to be silent, you can also frequently distract yourself by reading the conversation as it happens. Yes, reading the conversation.

The primary way that communication happens on Zwift is through text using the companion app. While riding in Zwift, you will find a new section in the companion app called "Game." It loads automatically if you have the app running on another device but you can also access it through the hamburger menu should you need to. Once there, the main screen will be a map but if you click over to the messages tab, you'll have a text box. This is how you will communicate. 

Sometimes groups will also have a discord link in the description of the companion app. Don't rely on this. I may have found someone there once or twice in the years since Zwift implemented that capability but it's certainly not common. If you want to try and use it, your best bet will be to ask via text if anyone is in the Discord then see if you can jump in during the ride. 

In most situations that little text box is your key to communication during a Zwift ride. It will broadcast to anyone that is near you so it works just as well if you are freeriding and find a wheel to follow as it does in an organised ride. It can also be a vital link in a race if you suddenly find yourself needing to organise another rider for a breakaway. If you want to be sneaky about that, you can even choose to direct message and keep the conversation between the two of you. The organised rides are where people expect it though and that means you are most likely to get a reply. 

Go ahead and type a message and it will show up on the lower right of the screen next to your name. Group rides will have leaders who generally work to keep the group together so you will be talking to everyone. Those same leaders will also sometimes work to foster discussion and when they talk, it's big text in the centre of the screen. If you don't feel like you can manage your phone's keyboard during a ride, speech-to-text systems are an alternative. Don't worry, everyone expects mistakes.

If you just want connection for a ride, go ahead and chat away. As you meet people you can also use the communication tools to learn how to connect off of Zwift. Typically there will be a Facebook group you can join but sometimes Discord is used instead. In either case, sometimes that info is in the ride description and sometimes not. You can ask away and will find people who are happy to help you find the group for future connection. 

The level of community you can expect from indoor riding

As with anything, you are only going to get what you are willing to put in. As social as I am, I rarely join a group. For me indoor riding is far from solitary but it's also not about deep connections. I jump in a group ride and I chat, often about cycling tech, then I jump off. I've come to know people like Tsutomu Iwabuchi, a frequent ride leader covering upwards of 500km / 300 miles a week on Zwift, but I haven't built deep connections. That's a choice I've made but you can make a different choice. 

When I jumped into the AHDR (Aussie/Americas/Euro Hump Day Ride) facebook group and asked for stories of connections, I got some great ones. One of the frequent trends I saw, which I've talked about in the past, is the prevalence for traditionally under represented groups in cycling to find connections virtually. Women in particular often tell me that Zwift groups have been a great way to meet other like minded women cyclists. It's something I heard from a woman named Amanda Graham who told me about how she "wasn’t a cyclist at all until I started riding on Zwift during COVID. I joined AHDR through the AHDR ladies rides soon after and caught the bug! Met a bunch of amazing women on Zwift, and started racing in ZRL (Zwift Racing League) with an AHDR women’s team." She went on to talk about how her virtual experience led her to start riding outdoors and that in turn led her to meet up with the same people who she'd only known virtually. Graham summed up her experience by saying, "AHDRL has literally changed my life."

Another womens COVID story I heard was from Audrey Braun. As it turns out, she's one of the people who ended up riding with Graham in real life but Braun's story happens in the opposite direction. For Braun, COVID wasn't when she started cycling but rather the reason she jumped to indoor riding and met a community. According to Braun, she had always been against "indoor riding and avoided Zwift like the plague for a number of years." During COVID she started riding indoors to stay fit and sane but she "also started riding with the AHDRL girls" and that became a springboard for ZRL racing. Today she's still part of that community. 

Honestly, the number of people enthusiastically wanting to share the experience of meeting friends and finding community on Zwift was overwhelming. I picked two concise stories but there were so many more I don't have the room to cover. Peta Faragher told me about how she was in a very serious accident and the AHDR community visited her in the hospital, pooled money for a care package, and were an integral part of keeping her spirit high during rehab. Scot Jaworski told me how the dad jokes and banter brought him but "the incredible athletes" pushed him to be a better rider. 

When I asked Jason Pinkerton what it meant for him to be part of a community like AHDR, he responded: "these folks are lifelong friends. I spend hours each week coordinating rides, racing or chatting about life on discord, zoom or through the companion app. We share stories, photos etc. genuinely they’re great people. I’d be on a plane tomorrow if any of them needed help. We plan to meet up next summer in France and climb some of the famous cols." 

Zwift community is local too

I've walked you through how to use the Zwift companion app to find group rides, start chatting, and potentially connect outside of Zwift. I've highlighted some stories about how people you meet virtually can turn into far deeper connections than you expect and I've shown that indoor riding isn't solitary. There's one more side to the conversation that I'd like to highlight though.

Zwift offers opportunities to find like minded cyclists and turn indoor riding into a social experience. Zwift happens to be the best choice if that's what you are looking to do. On the other hand, if you are lucky enough to already have a community of cyclists you feel connected to, Zwift can still help. The simplest way that can play out is that you can arrange a meetup on Zwift through the companion app. Invite a friend, or five, and grab one of the best headphones for cycling to connect through discord. You can chat away as if you are next to each other even if it's snowing, raining, or generally miserable outside. Given that you don't have to be next to each other during the ride you can also just jump into any group ride, free ride, race, etc and chat with friends while riding.

Personally, one of the most fun things I ever did on a bike was to race on Zwift with friends in my ear. A local group asked for people who wanted to race on Zwift and I jumped at the chance. I already incorporate Zwift racing into my weekly training as a high intensity day. Riding with a local race team meant I now had teammates in my ear and we could try to execute group race tactics. We even participated in team time trials and I was able to experience both having a team manager calling out the rotation and being the team manager calling the rotations. It was absolutely incredible and it came about because of people I met offline who were local.

Indoor riding doesn't have to be solitary and Zwift can help you meet new people to make it social. That said, Zwift can also be the conduit that takes your local offline riding indoors. If you are riding indoors on your own, that is a choice but it's not the only one. Don’t be fooled by the myth that indoor riding is solitary.