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forum
Who rides a trainer in the summer?
Just wanted to see what the consensus is I wanted to do 2 indoor trainer seasons during the week but have just managed to kill my trainer! Totally annoyed about it and isn't really the time of year to be buying new especially as I just bought some carbon wheels.
after following structured training I can see the benefits and with now being more time limited on when I can get out of the house due to family comitements it just makes sense. Also training on the road at sweetspot and vo2 intervals isn't the most consistent or safest thing to do.
Never thought I'd mourn the passing of that hateful device.
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
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Latest Comments
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Actually you basically prove that the new bike is a lot faster. You more or less have the same times with both bikes but you riding like a weather...
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Even in our 'cycling perfect' country (The Netherlands) overtakes like those are totally common. I wouldn't bat an eye, honestly....
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No they haven't, otherwise there wouldn't still be a debate over it.
- mctrials23 34 min 42 sec ago
Amazed he didn't cite disabled people needing access. Its pretty simple. "I'm going to prioritise cars in every way I can because that gets me more...
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BMW Mini, not a proper one.
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See recently reported comments by elected labour party represenetives in Burnley to see how that works.
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- hawkinspeter 6 hours 22 min ago
I re-fuse to believe that not charging drivers is the current attitude
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15 comments
Following advice on here I bit the bullet and bought a trainer before Christmas and am still using it and intend to - as others have said it's really good for focused training and I doubt many people could replicate the same kind of workout on the road - you get inclines, road junctions and so on getting in the way.
I'm by no means a good rider nor am I racer but its helped me with improving cadence and speed when out on the road.
Yep agreed. If your local roads aren't particularly cyclist-friendly, I find it pretty tough to concentrate on cadence training or staying in a particular training intensity zone. Both have the potential to go out the window when you have to resort to surges in effort to save your skin from intolerant motorists or inattentive pedestrians.
As a convert to use of indoor trainer, I think paulrattew has hit the nail on the head. To me the real benefit is that you can separate your fun riding from your not-so-fun-but-done-for-a-reason training. This doesn't stop in summer. On the other hand, if you are just riding a bike for fun anyway and you get out more in summer than in winter I can see why you wouldn't bother in summer. I don't think I'd bother with trainer if I didn't have something to train for.
I use the trainer throughout the year. If I want to do structured training (primarily using trainerroad) then it just makes sense to do this indoors on the trainer, even if its nice outside. This means that when I do ride outside I'm not having to worry so much about trying to do specific sessions or hit specific numbers - I can just enjoy the ride!
I've just upgraded to using a kurt kinetic rock and roll turbo, but the one I was using before that was an old Tacx Sartori (not the newer smart version). The resistance unit with this was absolutely bomb proof and survived a lot of heavy use, being moved around a lot, left in a damp garage, chucked in and out of the car. The resistance was really consistent (it offers multiple levels of resistance) and all in all I was really happy with it. Only reason I've changed is that I'm coming back from injury and the leftover damage from that has meant that I can't really cope physically with riding a bike that is held stationary under me (the Kinetic trainer allows the bike to move side to side as I pedal, a little bit like it would out on the road).
It's 35 degrees Celsius in my neck of the global woods and we're in the middle of summer. And yes I still do use my turbo trainer.
Because of the vagaries of my work shift (2 pm - 11 pm), sometimes I am an easy target for the type of insomnia that kills any chance of me waking up at 4:30 am on Sunday mornings to put in my weekly long rides. The turbo trainer is a huge help in that regard, even if I restrict sessions to just around an hour long.
For motivation, I refer to GCN. Their indoor training playlist has gotten rather solid these past few months, with a lot of new videos. Very useful for people with no way of measuring cadence too as their on-screen graphics have a cadence metronome every now and then. I also use an interval timer app on my phone (Impetus) that I've set up with a few HIIT drills.
Well I've bought a new trainer should turn up this week against my better judgement i've gone for a tacx Flux I just couldn't justify spending the additional money on a kickr and with the British cycling discount at CRC it worked out not to bad. If the thing blows up CRC should be pretty good and with a 2 year european warranty i should be reasonably safe.
I've been try Xert for the last few weeks again and am really liking it so may use that for a while they have a good android & a Garmin connect app. Before i started using TR the concepts they used were difficult to understand but now i get the basics. The simplified explanation is it's a cycling fuel gauage that runs on your garmin and for your given effort will tell you how long you have till you'll pop. Their workout planer also works in this way and they have a resonable library you can use or build your own so i will use that for trainer workouts.
Spring/summer is the best time. Wouldn't get time to watch classics and grand tours otherwise!
Rollers all year round
As the first poster said, it's very hard to copy the level and detail of a good workout on the real world. Especially if you live in a big city.
To solve getting bored: TrainerRoad, rollers and NowTV. Unlike Amazon and Netflix they have an awesome back catalog. Should take me a year to get through it.
Unfortunately it still rains in the Summer in England. The (gun) show must go on......
After advice on here I'm going to try using a turbo over the next few months. I also have family commitments that mean I don't now get out as much as I used to. However, my two main concerns - and reasons to demotivate me - are:
(i) getting bored on the thing (hardly a revelation, I know)
(ii) finding swapping the rear wheel out too much of a faff/chore
I hope I'm wrong on both counts. I don't want all the electronic Zwifty-type gizmos (trying to keep the cost of all this stuff as low as possible). Aiming for two 90-minute sessions (although probably an hour each) per week. That's better than nowt...
Use your road tyre they work fine. The addiction comes from having a smart trainer connected to a laptop or monitor with a decent internet connection. Use Zwift or trainer-road
I do, alot. I have just started riding long miles outside for training for 2 sportives. I spent all winter(Sept-March) training to spin at a higher cadence whilst holding the same power-works a treat for long rides where I dont suffer from 'doms' anymore.
If the weather is crap I'll ride on Zwift of use a trainer-road interval session.
Buy a decent trainer.
I've been doing trainer road over the winter and have seen some good improvements i also run power on my bikes so i suppose that puts me in the serious category.
My broken trainer is a tacx smart low end trainer. Which I have now repaired twice. The next jump up to a trainer more 'pro' and hopefully more reliable is around a £1k with nothing in the middle. The Tacx flux seemed like a middle ground on cost/performance but the reliability of the early ones has been shocking. Guess i just don't want to put my hand in my pocket!
Where I live (East Anglia-ish), the only way that I'm going to get any hill climbing fun is on the turbo.
I can't help but wonder what my neighbours make of the sounds that emanate from behind the near closed door of my garage as I grunt, strain & mutter my way up a virtual Ventoux.
Yes, most riders serious about their progress use the turbo in summer too.
You can migrate your workouts to the road, as I've been doing recently, and I'm sure many others, but the quality just isn't as good.
Get yourself a new trainer, one with power and jump on Zwift/Traineroad/Bkool etc