If he's using such a training bike with the intent of using a service such as Zwift, I'd expect the author to already have a decent road bike and that the train

If he's using such a training bike with the intent of using a service such as Zwift, I'd expect the author to already have a decent road bike and that the training bike is more of bad weather, winter and easy access to fitness workouts without having to deal with traffic. But even if he doesn't have a bike yet, he most likely would ride a road bike and you don't that for bucks. I agree though, riding bikes is extremely underrated, no matter where you live.