The Moveee team
Free coaching · a real route for every ride
Here's some money-saving news: you don't need to buy a smart trainer to train with power indoors. If you already own a basic "dumb" trainer — one with fixed or manual resistance — you can turn it smart with a power meter (or a cheap sensor) and your browser, and get most of what a smart trainer gives you. Here's how, honestly, including where the limits are.
What "smart" really means — and what you can fake
A smart trainer does two things: it measures your power, and it changes its own resistance on command. A dumb trainer does neither. The good news is that the measuring half — the part that actually matters for training — is easy to add. The automatic resistance half is the one thing a dumb trainer genuinely can't do; you change gears yourself instead.
Power meter (best)
AccurateIf your bike has a power meter, a browser app reads it directly over Bluetooth. You get true watts on a dumb trainer — the resistance just won't change automatically.
Speed/cadence sensor + virtual power
EstimatedA cheap speed sensor plus your trainer's known resistance curve lets the app estimate power. Not lab-accurate, but consistent enough to train by.
Nothing yet
Add a sensorA speed/cadence sensor is inexpensive and the single best upgrade for a dumb trainer. A power meter is the step up when you're ready.
How to train on a dumb trainer
- Pair your power source — a power meter, or a speed sensor for virtual power — to a browser app over Bluetooth.
- Set your resistance manually (pick a gear, and set the trainer's resistance lever if it has one).
- Ride to the numbers. For intervals, shift gears to hit the target watts on screen — you're doing manually what ERG does automatically.
- Save the ride with full power data, and send it to Strava.
It takes a touch more attention than ERG on a smart trainer, but the training stimulus is real — power is power.
A free browser app that reads your power
Moveee Indoor reads a Bluetooth power meter or sensor directly, so a dumb trainer still gets you a real, recorded, power-based ride on a real 3D road rebuilt from map data. It runs in the browser with nothing to install, it's free while in alpha, and rides save with full power data to your Moveee plan and Strava.
Before you spend on a smart trainer, see how far a sensor and a browser tab get you. For a lot of riders, that's the whole winter sorted.
Sources 6
Where this article summarises a study, the study itself is linked — not a write-up of it.
- 1 Maier T, Schmid L, Müller B, Steiner T, Wehrlin JP Accuracy of cycling power meters against a mathematical model of treadmill cycling · International Journal of Sports Medicine · 2017
- 2 Jobson SA, Passfield L, Atkinson G, Barton G, Scarf P The analysis and utilization of cycling training data · Sports Medicine · 2009
- 3 Zadow EK, Kitic CM, Wu SSX, Smith ST, Fell JW Validity of power settings of the Wahoo KICKR power trainer · International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance · 2016
- 4 Cycling Power Service 1.1 · Bluetooth SIG · 2016
- 5 Cycling Speed and Cadence Service 1.0 · Bluetooth SIG · 2012
- 6 Web Bluetooth (Draft Community Group Report) · W3C Web Bluetooth Community Group · 2024
Your own roads, indoors, in a browser tab
Moveee Indoor pairs your smart trainer over Bluetooth and rebuilds a route you have saved as a 3D road — real gradients, ERG for the intervals, and the ride saved with full power data. Nothing to install. Free while it is in alpha.
Start an indoor rideKeep reading
Speed sensor or smart trainer: when is the upgrade actually worth it?
Four signs you have outgrown a speed-only setup, what power actually unlocks, and three routes compared — including the one most people overlook, which is a power meter rather than a trainer. Plus the honest case for staying where you are.
Indoor cycling app with no power meter: what you get and what you don't
Both columns side by side. What a speed sensor gives you indoors — the route, distance, heart rate, cadence, a ride that counts — and what it cannot: watts, ERG, TSS, FTP. Including why we refuse to show you a virtual power number.
How to use an indoor cycling app without a smart trainer — a speed sensor is enough
A £30 wheel speed sensor turns any dumb trainer into a real route in a 3D world, with the ride saved to your calendar. What you need, how to set it up, and the one thing about hills you should know before your first session.
Indoor cycling on an Android tablet or phone (in the browser)
You don't need a laptop or an app-store download to train indoors. Here's how to run a full indoor cycling app on an Android tablet or phone, straight from Chrome — pairing your smart trainer over Bluetooth, holding ERG targets and saving to Strava.
A Rouvy alternative for riding real roads indoors
Rouvy put real roads on the trainer with video. If you want a Rouvy alternative that rebuilds real roads in 3D from map data — including your own routes — and runs free in the browser, here's how the two approaches compare.
A free app for Elite smart trainers (in your browser)
Own an Elite Suito, Direto or Justo? You don't need a subscription to ride it properly. Here's a free app for Elite smart trainers that runs in your browser — FE-C/FTMS control, ERG intervals, real 3D roads and a Strava upload.
No app store, no install: online cycling training with Moveee Indoor
You don't need an app store, an admin password or 12 GB free to train indoors. Here's what "online, no-install" cycling training actually looks like in practice — and who it suits.
ERG mode in the browser: hold your watts on any smart trainer
ERG mode used to mean installing a desktop app. Not any more. Here's how ERG mode in the browser works — how a tab sets the resistance on your smart trainer and holds your target watts through every interval, free.
Zwift alternatives: virtual cycling apps worth trying in 2026
Zwift defined the category, but it's no longer the only option — and for some riders it isn't the best one. Here are the serious alternatives, including the free ones.
A Tacx app alternative that runs in your browser (free)
If the Tacx Training app isn't for you, you don't have to jump straight to a Zwift subscription. Here's a free Tacx app alternative that controls your Tacx Neo, Flux or Flow from a browser tab — ERG, real roads and a Strava upload included.
Power meter vs smart trainer: which should you buy first?
They measure in different places, and neither is wrong. What independent validation studies show about accuracy, why your two numbers disagree, and which one earns its money first for the riding you actually do.
How to ride a GPX file indoors on your smart trainer
Any route you can export as a GPX file, you can ride indoors. Here's how to turn a GPX into a 3D indoor ride on your smart trainer — with real gradients driving the resistance — straight from your browser, no install.