Newbie on a turbo trainer

Turbo training is boring...if you train like
a snail.
Just kidding, add music and cycle video?

I bought a Rock and Roll from Kurt Kinetic a few weeks ago to replace my mag trainer. I can honestly say, it has made a difference in how long I can spend on the thing, I can now happily sit on it plugging away for the kind of durations you would normally reserve for a road ride.

It's great for getting out of the saddle for climbing and sprinting, (or just stretching out). It's not as good as rollers, but much less of an issue with falling off the damn thing.

I tend to have a couple of the rides with with the suffer fest team, or if I want to do a long variable ride, I'll stick on a recording of the Tour or Giro, or a Classic and "ride it with the peleton", so to speak, highly motivating. I usually use cadence and HR as a measure of how hard I am working, until I can afford/justify power meter pedals, then I'm set with the ant+ on the Garmin Edge!

Of course here (Singapore) I can ride outside all year round, but the TT allows you to train whilst babysitting!

Okay, 2 pair of shorts, liberal amounts of sudocrem, bit of vaseline smeared across forehead above eyebrows, sweatband above this with 4 spare to swap, biggest fan you can get hold of,couple of liters of water, some form of measuring device such as power meter,heart rate monitor,and or rear wheel operating computor, motivating music via I pod or similar,and most important of all, a plan, what do you want to get out of the session, and what do you need to do to get it. Plenty of online resources to help you with this, Those that say turbo is boring have just not prepared properly for what they are doing.

Sometimes I use the sufferfest, sometimes I watch a dvd of House MD, or watch the 'ski jumping' or 'cross country skiiing' on eurosport while listening to music at the same time. Nothing beats getting out on the road!

Jimmy, how much battery life do you get out of your cam?

I've got one on my lid for when I do short commutes across London, but the advertised battery life of the cam (90 mins) would make it way too short to cover one of my weekend rides.

That's brilliant. Rerunning the summer! What we need now is a hydraulic piston to lift the back of the bike when the video shows a downhill run, and the front to lift you out of the saddle (and increase the friction) going uphill.

I have enjoyed taking footage from my handlebar cam all summer and am now using that to play back and keep me entertained during those long winter hours in the garage.

Oh with regards to the wireless computer, just mount your cycle computer on your top tube with selotape, works a treat.

Get a DAB radio, or TV, with a remote control. I like voice radio and, depending on your tastes, there is a huge range to listen to. Better than TV. The words are more important and you don't have to keep looking in one direction. Podcasts are also useful. You can catch up on things you missed.

I agree with the posters about heat. I have a very cold shed but, except for when it's still zero outside, Iusually take my top off. There's no breeze to evaporate sweat so the usual cooling doesn't happen.

You'll probably need a wireless computer. Wired ones don't usually stretch far enough to put the sensor on the rear wheel. Some wirelesses don't either so ask in the shop so you can take it back. People I know in flats say that the whirring and rumbling can cause complaints from neighbours. They explain in advance and stick to the times they say.

Turbo training is so boring it makes you want to cry, having got one on Tuesday I've done a 1:30hr sesh and a 1:15hr sesh I can confirm it's the worst thing of all time.

Gonna try sufferfest.com tonight, last night I just put some music on and closed my eyes to try to imagine I was outside; didn't work.

Oh it also gets super hot; was 2 degrees last night in the garage ended up with just shorts on.. Enjoy

its also good to have a cadence sensor on the bike. helps with any traing plans you might use

Cover your bike frame with a towel or similar as the sweat is not good for it! :). I find it incredibly boring and will only use it if I really really have to when conditions are so bad that I can't go out.

Hi,I set my trainer up in front of the telly put a dvd in and ride , usually for about 1hr 30 mins or so, (depends on film).
Then what I do is to ride slow when music is fast;ie:car chase or simular; and to ride fast when not;ie:dialogue or simular.(or visa-versa)
This makes you concentrate on whats going on and what is happening around you(as if you were riding on the road).
Well it works for me!!

There are lots of resources out there. HRM is very useful if you want to do some structured training, otherwise you won't know what effort levels you're working at. Aimless riding on the turbo must be the worst kind of tedium.

Have heard many great recommendations for http://thesufferfest.com

Lots of useful info here: http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=12661884

I am nue to a Turbo this year

I have downloaded from i tunes a couple of spin classes so you have someone shouting at you as just spinning the legs without any structure just seemed a bit of a waste of time and it stops me getting board.

I manage an hour then can take no more!

turbo training is essentially boring, no substitute for the real thing. So my big tip would be to find something to try to make it more interesting.

There was a post on here a month or so ago where one poster recommended http://www.thesufferfest.com who do training vids at low prices. That may help.

I'm assuming you didn't buy a VR turbo? Doing stuff through the computer improves the experience - I can load up my (Garmin) saved routes and ride them again with the help of Google Earth - but that's an expensive option.

On a more practical note you'll get very hot very quickly so putting the thing someplace ventilated would be good. (Beware sweat on expensive carpets, mine lives in the garage.) Also I find that the whole experience is more "concentrated" - I can happily ride for four or five hours on the road (enough to complete your average sportive) but the most I can do on the trainer is around 90 minutes. But that could be me...

One last thing - if you do leave it someplace like the garage make sure you lock the bike after use in case some f*cker decides to break in and steal it. Voice of experience.