Riding indoors has the reputation of being the opposite of what cycling is.
The apps that got here first built their world around one kind of rider: the one with a plan, a block to finish, and a number to hit. Everything outside that got quietly filed as not counting, and not being considered training.
Fair enough. Some people want exactly that, and the people selling it are good at it. We are not trying to take it off anybody.
But a lot of us on a trainer are not building towards anything. We are inside because it goes dark at five, or the roads are sheet ice, or there is one hour between one thing and another, and it is the only hour there is.
A lot of real cyclists look at indoor cycling and think: those aren’t my people. They were right about the apps, they are dorky. But they are completely wrong about the heart.
Indore aims to make indoor riding legit, and for everyone.
Any ride is a good ride.
And that's the whole argument. You got on. You got the legs moving. None of that needs to be scored, qualified, or explained to anyone afterwards.
Fortytwo minutes half-watching something on the laptop is a ride. Twentyseven, because honestly that's all it was, is a ride. The bad one you nearly didn’t start is, if anything, the better story to tell.
Who is Indore for.
Most off us came to cycling sideways. From from commuting to work one spring and finding they kind of like it, from a friend who wouldn’t shut up about it, from wanting to lose some extra weight. We couldn't put together a productive season of riding if we had to.
On the other hand a lot of us have a bit of experience, and know how our bodies work, and how they respond to training. We can design and manage our own training easily.
Indore wants to be the common playground to both these types of riders by offering specific functionality required by them.
Leisure riders get the experience in which they don't even have to think of it as training, and just do base rides and ride group rides with friends. While experienced riders can rely on their experience and adjust their training load as they go along.
Neither require commitment, and there is nothing to fail at.
What are the main reasons to ride inside? Because outside isn’t happening. Weather, daylight, ice, traffic, logistics, a sleeping kid, a knee that has opinions.
Indoors is fine. It will never be like riding outside, but when outside isn't possible, let's make the best of it.
What Indore won’t do.
Every one of these is something we could add tomorrow, and yet we decide not to.
Tell you what today is for.
Nothing in here holds a view on your day, or week. Sessions are there when you want some structure, and they arrive without a calendar attached. Miss one and nothing happens because there is nothing to miss.
Make the numbers the point of it.
Power, heart rate, time, the whole deal — recorded and kept, because one day you might want them. None of it is graded, though. It's a record, not a score. A witness, not a judge.
Pretend you’re somewhere else.
There are no fake landscapes, dorky avatars, or “kudos” arriving from strangers. You are in a room with a fan on, and indoors is indoors. It has never needed an apology. It is what it is.
Grow in order to keep you.
Nothing gets built just because it lifts engagement, or moves some needle somewhere. If it doesn’t serve our idea of indoor riding it doesn’t ship.
The point of the whole thing turns up about 10 minutes after you get off the bike.
It is the small, slightly surprised feeling of having ridden on a day you were sure you wouldn’t. That's it. That’s what Indore wants to provide.