Indoor cycling is an incredible sport and in recent years, has grown massively. A decade ago, we wouldn’t have been able to predict just how many people would be riding indoors on smart turbo trainers and exercise bikes. The rise of companies like Zwift and Peloton has made indoor cycling an incredible experience. We are seeing it at a professional level now with online e-sports racing.
Cyclists can be notoriously difficult to buy for, and generally, they already have most things that they already need unless you have the budget for another bike. In this article, we want to tell you about some of the best gifts you can buy for cyclists with all budgets in mind. Enjoy!
What do we look for in a gift for a cyclist?
When looking at gifts for cyclists, we want things that will not just be useful but a surprise. When it comes to cycling, there’s a huge amount of different things you can buy such as tools, clothing, accessories, and even art. The best gifts for indoor cyclists are things that even a cyclist didn’t know they needed. So let’s look at some gifts. To make it easy for you, we have split these gifts down into fitness, indoor cycling accessories, and unique gifts.
Functional Fitness
If you want to buy a gift that is going to be very useful for your indoor cycling loved one, then you might want to buy them something functional. These gifts are going to really add to the experience of riding indoors and can help those fitness improvements.
Foam Roller
A foam roller is an excellent tool for any cyclist indoors or outdoors. You use a foam roller to help massage the muscles before or after a session. It’s an excellent way to promote blood flow and can make a great difference to your recovery. When indoor cycling generally only has two positions, seated and standing. Being in these two positions, you can really tighten up the muscles around the legs and in the lower back.
Doing some foam rolling after a session can loosen these muscles off nicely and get you back on the bike quickly without feeling too uncomfortable. We highly recommend a foam roller to any fitness enthusiast who wants to get the most out of their training, and coming in at about $35, it’s something worth every cent.
The 321 STRONG solid core, medium density foam roller uses patented technology to deliver a therapeutic self massage comparable to a professional massage from a physical therapist. The 3 unique massage zones replicate the thumbs, fingers, and palms so you can get the exact massage you’re looking for.
Massage Gun
Years ago, massage guns were something that we only saw pro athletes using. In recent years the technology has become much more affordable, and now they are used by many fitness enthusiasts and many indoor cyclists. A massage gun is similar to a foam roller in the way it helps massage muscles and helps loosen them to help promote blood flow.
They are excellent for after a session if you’re feeling a little tight and just need a massage gun to loosen your muscles off. We really like the Cryotex massage gun because it has 20 different speeds and comes with loads of extra attachments. Coming in at only $40 it’s incredible value for money and a great surprise for an indoor cyclist.
Massage Gun can deeply relieve the body's soreness through deep and powerful muscle massage after exercise. Handheld Massage Gun for Athletes helps restore the body faster, promote muscle repair, promote blood flow and relieve lactic acid.
Resistance and Stretching Bands
If you want to spice up your indoor cycling and looking for a great piece of fitness equipment, then you might want to add some resistance bands to your indoor training setup. Resistance bands have many uses. The main way you can use them is for stretching and resistance training.
If you want to take your indoor cycling to the next level, you can use resistance bands to do resistance training, or you can help yourself recover by using the bands to stretch with after. Strength and conditioning has been shown to make a huge improvement to an indoor cyclist’s performance and are great for flexibility and injury prevention.
This pull-up bands kit has absolutely everything you need; with a gift box, it is a great birthday gift, holiday present, and anniversary gift idea for your friends, family, and loved-one.
Heart Rate Monitor
A heart rate monitor is a tool many indoor cyclists neglect to use but can add so much value to your training and workouts. It has the ability to tell you where your heart rate is at and using this data, you can work to zones to train in, meaning you can add structure to your workouts and really challenge yourself.
Wahoo are known for making some of the best indoor cycling equipment available, and their heart rate monitors are excellent. We personally have been using one for around two years, and it hasn’t missed a beat. This is a chest strap model, which we find the most accurate compared to wrist models. It’s $40 and definitely a great investment for making the most out of your time on the bike.
The Wahoo TICKR doesn’t just have great specifications, but it performs excellently. It’s not cheap but worth the money if you have the budget.
Accessories
Now we come to accessories, and these are going to add to your indoor cycling experience by making your setup a little better. It might be a sweat towel to soak up all your hard work or even a phone mount so you can watch a film while powering into those pedals.
iPhone Mount
If you have a fairly recent iPhone, then this gadget is perfect for you. It’s a magnetic phone holder which can strap to pretty much anywhere on the bars of your indoor bike. It means you can watch a film while riding or even scroll through Instagram.
What we really like about this compared to other phone holders is the fact it is incredibly minimal. Instead of having these big clunky phone holders made of terrible looking plastic and completely destroying the aesthetic of the bike, it’s literally just a small band. It doesn’t have to just be for the bike, it can be used anywhere.
Bring ease to your fitness routine & make the most of your iPhone 14, iPhone 13, & iPhone 12 with the MagSafe-compatible Belkin Magnetic Fitness Phone Mount & strap.
Spin Bike Sweat Cover & Frame Protector
We love it when a company gets inventive and this is a great example of someone taking something as simple as a sweat towel and making it something completely new. Starting with the sweat towel that is designed for spinning bike handlebars. It’s shaped in a way that not only will it loop over the front to collect the sweat off your hands, but it also comes with great carrying compartments too.
Then we have the frame protector, this is my favorite towel piece. It is designed to sit around the resistance dial and cover the frame on the top tube. Not only is it made to help collect sweat, but it will hugely protect your frame too. Sweat is the biggest issue on indoor bikes and can easily rust them, shortening their lifespan very quickly.
The spin bike mats can keep your peloton bike dry and protected from sweat breakdown and corrosion in high-quality materials. It can effectively block sweat and dust and give you a clean and tidy exercising environment.
Provides complete protection, prevents the peloton bike from getting wet with sweat, and provides a firm grip on the handlebars. It is durable and can be used for a long-lasting time.
Cycling Mat
I feel many indoor cyclists underestimate the importance of a good mat. Mats have a lot of great abilities. They catch the sweat and are very easy to clean with a cloth, then protect your floor and even stop the bike from moving around in heavy sprints. The best thing we think they can do is reduce noise by absorbing the vibrations.
If you want to gift someone a mat like no other, then the Powr Labs is going to be perfect. It has the ability to really improve the experience. It is made to be super thick for not just protection, but it has an amazing ability to soak up noise. Great if you live in an apartment or have a bike in the upstairs of a house.
Built for Peloton & Indoor Bike Trainers - Custom designed at 2.5x6 ft (30x71") to provide 30% more length for cycling and bike trainers.
Microfiber Cooling Towels
Cycling indoors is a sweaty business that can get a little too hot to handle. The body needs to be at a certain temperature to work efficiently. This temperature is about 37.5 degrees Celsius. These cool microfiber towels are ideal for keeping you cool while riding, helping you make the best performance possible.
When you get very sweaty, you wipe the sweat off yourself, ring it out, and then the towel being damp cools it down. It gets cold, and then you repeat the process. They are large lightweight towels and can be washed and reused. They come in a pack of three and are very popular amongst spin bike riders.
Unlike other sports towels & gym towels, these microfiber cooling towels help cool you down in a jiffy. Avoid overheating by using it during vigorous exercise routines or strenuous work in hot weather.
Shoe Holders
A very good value for money gift for any indoor cyclist is some shoe holders. These clip onto the back of your spinning bike, and after you have done a session, you take your spinning shoes off and hang them on the back.
It’s good to hang your shoes after cycling indoors as it stops the sweat from seeping into the sole and base of the shoe when you hang them. Instead, the sweat pours to the front, where it can dry up much easier. Coming in at less than $8, they are an absolute bargain and will be well received by outdoor and indoor cyclists.
Keep your shoes from sitting on the floor where they can mark the flooring and generally look untidy.
Fan
If you want an easy way to improve performance and make cycling indoors more comfortable for a loved one then getting them a powerful fan could be a great gift. As we mentioned earlier, staying cool is very important when training indoors, and the best way to do that is by ventilation.
This Amazon basic fan is an ideal solution. It’s well made, comes with a few different speeds, and is surprisingly quiet for a powerful fan. Coming in at less than $30, it’s a bargain, and we can highly recommend it, and it will be well received by an indoor cyclist.
- 11-inch air-circulating floor fan
- Improves air flow in small rooms
- 3-speed settings with back-mounted controls
- 120 volt / 70 watt power consumption
Headphones
When it comes to indoor cycling, a great thing about it is there’s no danger like if you were to be cycling out on the road. That means you can get away with using headphones. Headphones that work for indoor cycling can be challenging to find.
You need headphones that work when you are sweaty and stay on even when you’re jumping around on the bike, and of course, we want them wireless with enough battery capacity for those longer sessions. These ones from Amazon are ideal and well tested by us here at Indoor Cycling Love, and we highly recommend them.
Sport headphones to keep you motivated, a secure fit that won’t shift or fall out during long hours of training, and no wires to hold you back. Equipped with three pairs of ear caps and flexible ear hooks, which can stay on your ears and get a suitable fitting.
Unique Gifts
All the gifts above are excellent, but what about those unique gifts that no indoor cyclist will expect? Well, this is what the next section is all about. These are some gifts that will come with the element of surprise and have your loved ones saying “where did they find that?”
Posters
If you want to give an indoor cyclist some excellent motivation, then why not give them something to look at while training? As much as we would love a picture of a cat with “hang in there” on, we thought maybe something more cycling related would be appropriate.
Here we have a couple of our favorite indoor cycling posters. For the Zwift users, we have Wattophia and a lovely L’Alpe d’Huez poster, one of the Tour’s iconic climbs. Clicking through these pictures will show you many different ones that you might really enjoy.
Cycling Word search
What better way to spend your time off the bike than with a bit of brain training? Here we have a cycling word search. All the words are bike related and whoever you buy it for will spend hours hunting through finding words such as chain or cassette.
We really like the cycling word search, and coming in at only $5, it’s a great gift, and it’s light on your pockets. It’s even easy to send in the post if you want a gift for someone who lives far away.
This Cycling Word Search Book is ideal for learning with fun the vocabulary of Bicycle, Biking, Bike, and Cycling.
Contains 60 Puzzles:
- 40 puzzles of word searches
- 20 puzzles of word scramble
Training Book
If you know an indoor cyclist who is really focusing on getting fitter and faster, then this training book is an excellent guide. It is going to be something they will be able to read and use. We must warn you if you are in close competition with them, you might want to order one for yourself.
Joe Friel wrote the cyclist training guide, and it is one of the most comprehensive guides you will find. It can tell you how to optimize your training so each workout counts and even will give you a guide on nutrition to optimize your body for extra cycling gains.
The Cyclist's Training Bible equips cyclists of all abilities with every detail they must consider when planning a season, lining up a week of workouts, or preparing for race day.
Workout Tops
If you want to give a bit more of a unique gift, then why not think about treating your loved one to some clothing? Indoor cycling casual clothing is hard to find, and it’s something many people are looking for. Here are some of the best shirts we found readily available which we think are great designs to either be worn when working out or just for wearing casually.
They definitely scream indoor cycling for sure and they are an easy way for an indoor cyclist to share their passion with others. They come in all different sizes and are well worth every cent. We highly recommend them.
Necklaces – Charms
Do you have a friend who is literally indoor cycling obsessed? If so, we have the perfect gift for you to give them. A small piece of jewelry that they can take anywhere with a small bike on to remind them of their indoor bike.
This small charm is really cool, full of character, and comes in different finishes. If they love indoor cycling, they will love this.
- Hand Polished
- High Polish Finish
- Heavy-Duty Jump Ring
- Lifetime Guarantee
Indoor cyclists are notoriously difficult to buy for. It can be really tough to pick gifts for them because once they have an indoor bike and a few accessories, you are very limited. We hope you enjoyed our list and found the perfect gift for your loved one or friend.
FAQs
What is the best gift for indoor cycling lovers?
Well, it depends on the person who you are buying for. We think a great gift is anything that can improve the experience they get from the bike. Something as simple as a phone holder, fan, or even a motivational picture is a lovely gesture.
How can I make my indoor bike more interesting?
We can highly recommend a few ideas to make your indoor bike more interesting. Firstly structured workouts, consider having a TV on in the background, train online with friends, or even listen to music.
Is indoor cycling a good way to lose weight?
Indoor cycling is a great way to lose weight. It burns a lot of calories, it’s a low-impact form of exercise, and it’s a lot of fun. We highly recommend cycling for weight loss.
