Riding the Trainer

Mike679

Active Member
The unfortunate reality of winter is fast approaching as is the increased time on the trainer as the weather turns and snow inevitably covers our trails. I was curious to see how everyone here handles the boredom of indoor riding.

T.V., music, training videos?

Me, I have a TV/VCR combo on a wall bracket in the basement and 9 times out of ten I use Spinervals videos (I have three different tapes) to pass the time and add some structure to my "ride". Nothing like watching a dozen or so sweating cyclists making funny faces under harsh lighting with bad synthesizer music as the soundtrack. In fact, I'd say the production value is similar to that of bad 80's porn...well, so I've heard. The tenth time I usually just watch Sports Center and coordinate my intervals and rest periods with the commercials.

This would all be irrelevant, of course, if I could convince my wife that I truly need that Surly Pugsley with 3"+ wide tires so I could ride in excessive amounts of snow.

Anyway - what do you all do when forced to ride the infernal trainer? Just curious.

Mike
 

anrothar

entirely thrilled
i don't have a trainer, but while riding through endless pastures and corn/soy/wheat fields, i relied heavily on my vivid imagination. some yellow mold would have come in handy, but i had none...:(
 

Norm

Mayor McCheese
Team MTBNJ Halter's
Mostly music. If I'm doing intervals, music is all I need. If I'm just spinning tempo miles before work I need TV.
 

NJ Jess

Active Member
La Tour

Yup, when I train with Team Bulldog, we have La Tour de France on. It really gets you into the mood. Especially when Brian is yelling out "quick, quick, quick..."

When I'm at home I watch videos of Downhill and hear some heavy metal crash music. Both types of trainer days are great.

I will suggest you contact your local bike shop to see if they have trainer days. Usually it's 5 bucks and bring your own trainer, but the group atmosphere is soooooo much better.
 

pixychick

JORBA: Ringwood
JORBA.ORG
normZurawski said:
You can always hang a carrot in front of your bike.

now you're talking my language, but make that chocolate instead of a carrot. yummmm, you can tell my diet is going well. :D

No seriously, I hate riding indoors too. I will go to great lengths to avoid it completely. I will ride the woods til conditions shut them down. I will then go to either studs, road bike ( if above 20 degrees), XC skis, skate skis, indoor trials, basketball, weights or whatever. Last winter I did something 4+ times a week and never rode the trainer. I did take a few spin classes. That was good for a few times in late winter to up the intensity. I'll admit, my fitness was not great this year, but that's because I got a little lazy. My leg conditioning went to the next level. Perhaps it was all the long hilly rides I did on the road last winter.

I guess we have to do whatever it takes.

pixy
 

ChrisG

Unapologetic Lifer for Rock and Roll
I have three different videos and vary those to suit the workout needs of any given period. After a while, I've memorized every single piece of dialogue, but they're still a good training tool.

I also have workouts which I've written out on big sheets of paper. I'll do these with music blasting in my face. The general structure is 20 minute warmup, 30-40 minutes of work/intervals, 10-15 minute cooldown. I'll vary gearing and the work/rest ratio to suit the desired training intensity.

I do a lot of visualization on the trainer, imagining myself climbing a tough climb, chasing down a break in a road race, sprinting, etc. I find it helps a great deal with getting the best effort.

Whatever I'm doing, I've got a big box fan providing the cooling, btw. This is indispensible, unless you're doing your trainer work in an unheated garage.
 

PatrickBrown

Active Member
ChrisG said:
I have three different videos and vary those to suit the workout needs of any given period. After a while, I've memorized every single piece of dialogue, but they're still a good training tool.

I also have workouts which I've written out on big sheets of paper. I'll do these with music blasting in my face. The general structure is 20 minute warmup, 30-40 minutes of work/intervals, 10-15 minute cooldown. I'll vary gearing and the work/rest ratio to suit the desired training intensity.

I do a lot of visualization on the trainer, imagining myself climbing a tough climb, chasing down a break in a road race, sprinting, etc. I find it helps a great deal with getting the best effort.

Whatever I'm doing, I've got a big box fan providing the cooling, btw. This is indispensible, unless you're doing your trainer work in an unheated garage.


I remember these chris, the old days of you, me, mike, chad, chuck or kirsten on occaision..... man I remember leaving there fealing beat up sometimes....

there lots of strength gained there.
 
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