Virtual Bike Riding

Deborah's and my new smart bike trainers are fantastic. These are going to be a game changer for exercising during the Wisconsin winter when it's too cold to go outside and too zombie apocalyptic to go to a gym. We canceled our gym memberships over the summer and spent the early fall debating what to do for winter exercise, in between walks and bike rides outside in the uncharacteristically mild fall weather. Mid-level smart bike trainers were what we opted for. These will pay for themselves in about a year in money saved on a gym membership, not including the $15/month membership for the smart bike trainer ride apps that connect to the trainers and simulate actual real world bike rides (riding our own actual bikes, which attach to the trainers). $15/month definitely beats the $90+/month we were paying for a family gym membership. Plus, we can have multiple family members on one membership in the cycling app called Rouvy, which is what we'll likely use, having expired at least one of our free Zwift (another app) trials as of this writing. There's also an app called RGT Cycling, which is indefinitely free and works well (although it's limited to just a handful of routes and training regimens unless/until you upgrade to the paid premium membership). This morning, we participated in a group ride on RGT Cycling, which included me, Deborah, and my buddy Brian from California, all of us transported to Europe, virtually and instantly, for a ride through some computer rendered Italian countryside. There were about 20 other cyclist on the ride, who all pretty much lapped us. But we didn't care. It was our first such virtual group ride, and thus very much experimental. No matter what cycling app we end up subscribing to (probably Rouvy), it will be nice to have RGT Cycling available for free.

I think that's about it.