Tips for a novice cyclist wanting to get fit with a turbo trainer before summer I have decided to have a dalliance into cycling since a lot of people I know are quite into it themselves.

I have bought myself a bike (Specialised Tri Cross). Only a cheap, used one for now as I can always buy a nice, expensive and more lightweight one further down the line if I find I need it.

I chose a cross/adventure/gravel bike as I do intend to go slightly off-road, along river/canal paths on my travels, rather than being stuck to the road with a specific road bike.

I have also bought a turbo trainer (Tracx Flow smart trainer), along with training tyre so that I can get cycling no matter the weather.

My plan is to make the most of the turbo trainer whilst the weather is less than nice outside, after work so that (hopefully) I can have some sort of fitness for when the summer and the warm(ish) weather comes.

My question for the bicycle.stackexchange community is, how would I best go about doing this?
A lot of cyclists find they need motivation to train on a static trainer. It can be unrelentingly tedious to sit spinning on you bike staring at the same wall when you are used to nice scenery going by. If you are used to running on a treadmill or a similar exercise this may not be such a problem for you.

As you have a smart trainer that will work with Zwift, I'd recommend getting a subscription and taking advantage of the structured workouts they offer, and the motivation of virtual cycling courses and competition. You only really need a laptop or tablet to create a workable set up.

If you are not going to do Zwift, there are structured training videos for 30-60 min workouts on you tube that you can use. The Global Cycling Network has some pretty good ones.

You'll want to figure out what your goal is for when you transition to outdoor riding and pick appropriate workouts. E.g. if you live in a hilly area you would want to train for hill climbing, or if you want to do long rides select workouts that build endurance.