Turbo trainer - comparison to the road

[livpoksoc]

Hi,

I'm in training for a Lon-Par cycle ride & completed 53 miles on my turbo trainer yesterday, it's the longest I've been on the turbo trainer & only really stopped because of a sore bum!

What I wanted to do was have a comparison to what sort of work out I actually got from that, compared to the road. My average speed was 16-17mph over that session & I need to be able to do 12-13mph average on the ride itself, however I need to complete 80 miles a day in the Lon-Par.

I'm aware that the turbo trainer is different to the road, but wanted to know if there were any guidelines/anyone with experience who could say how close that was to the road etc.

 

[Rob3rt]

Depends on the turbo trainer.

 

[livpoksoc]

Depends on the turbo trainer.

It's a cycle ops one, classic wind i think it is

 

[zizou]

Depends so much on what resistance setting you are using.

When i've used one i've not really paid much attention to what speed it said i was doing and instead paid more attention to what heart rate i was at and the perceived level of effort. Turbos are best for some sort of structured interval training - something which is more difficult to do on the road due to having to deal with other factors - traffic, junctions, traffic lights, hills, wind etc.

 

[livpoksoc]

Depends so much on what resistance setting you are using.

When i've used one i've not really paid much attention to what speed it said i was doing and instead paid more attention to what heart rate i was at and the perceived level of effort. Turbos are best for some sort of structured interval training - something which is more difficult to do on the road due to having to deal with other factors - traffic, junctions, traffic lights, hills, wind etc.

Yeah pretty much what I thought, I had to get out and do some form of training ride this weekend as the ride is on Wednesday & my summer training programme was cut short by a knee injury at the start of the summer & a big cold 3 weeks before the event. I wanted to do an 80 mile road ride on Sunday (as each day of the ride is 80 miles or so), but of course...it rained all day & I'd just had the chain/cassette replaced & didn't fancy getting it covered in rain & grit straight away. So I wanted t odo 80 miles on the TT, but couldn't...after 53 miles @ 16.5mph I had to stop because I was uncomfortable in the saddle, my legs weren't tired but I just hate sitting in the saddle on a TT because there's no ascent/descent, wind in your face to cool you down, or any ability to stand & rock the bike.

Hopefully I'll manage, but I'm a bit concerned now as the ride is quickly catching up with me.

 

[livpoksoc]

Thanks for the feedback, I managed the cycle OK & the only really difficult parts were the climbs ont he first 2 days but this is because I didn't really practice many hills in training. I think I'll stick to the TT for shorter training rides in the future.