Why this B.C. couple chose virtual bike racing over outdoor activities

Stephanie Ossenbrink competed in bike races and triathlons — until she had children. Finding the time to train while trying to corral toddlers just wasn't possible, until her husband, Björn, introduced her to the world of virtual cycling. 

Using an app called Zwift, Ossenbrink can now cycle in the comfort of her home in Kamloops, on her old racing bike, while her kids are fast asleep. 

"Every night at 8 o'clock we're on our bikes, Zwifting for an hour to two hours," she said. 

"This opened up the door for me to keep being active and keep being competitive.

"I don't have to schedule my days around going outside on a ride to do something for my fitness," Björn added. 

The couple has set up a virtual cycling station in their basement, complete with a projector, their bikes, and a fan to keep them cool. 

Zwift allows cyclists to choose courses in both fictional and real locations. It simulates outdoor riding, increasing the resistance as the rider comes up on hills, and tracks their physical health and riding statistics. Those statistics can be viewed by other athletes from around the world.

Aside from being able to train whenever he can find time, Björn said one of the main benefits of cycling like this is not having to deal with vehicles. 

"You can just really focus on your workout," he said. "It definitely opened up cycling to people who would not cycle before because they were scared of going on the road."

"This is hard," Stephanie Ossenbrink said. "This is a real sport, it just doesn't have the handling skills of what you do outside."

Virtual bike racing isn't just for fun, or for a good workout — there are competitive races with prizes and titles to be had. In fact, Stephanie won Zwift's Wild Women Racing Series in February. 

She cycled 29 kilometres in 43 minutes and 28 seconds, a second faster than the second place cyclist.

Two weeks later, she went on to win the Canadian National Championship for women, where she raced against fellow Kamloops cyclist and Olympic athlete Catherine Pendrel. 

She beat the second place athlete, Janna Gillick, by just 0.211 seconds.  

"It was really good to see other fast riders race the race, and I couldn't believe that I won," she said.

"If somebody is afraid to ride on the road with cars or afraid to ride in groups ... or has kids and can't get out or works full time ... try it," Ossenbrink said. 

"You will not regret it."