It’s another good transition from low weight-bearing cross-training to running if you’re on your way back from injury or another way to add volume to your running training with a lower injury risk. There’s also lots of ways to measure your effort so you know that you’re working just as hard as you would in a running session/steady run – a good introduction to this and what the numbers mean can be found here.
Admittedly not that many college gyms have one, but it’s worth asking around the Hareys to see which colleges do. On top of that, the university sports centre has got some.
A good starting point is to do a 20 minute test ride at maximum effort and find your average wattage for the ride, your test wattage. Some hard sessions to try (feel free to try something shorter before making it more difficult the next time) could be:
If you find that you want to watt-bike often (whether to cross-train or because of a long term injury), it might be worth investing in a (uni) gym membership. Make sure you check with your physio that you’re not going to aggravate an injury by watt-biking – if it’s serious, pool based cross training may be a better option.