TURBO

[goose11]

i have not been out on road on bike since end of noveember. i bought a turbo trainer before christmas and have used for 45 - 60 mins per day. i went fro spin thismorning at 8 am but had to turn back because road to icy. what i have found amazing is that i felt ok when back on the road and not wasted after 15 minutes . so my impression of the turbo training is good in maybe it is keeping up the fitness levels. i only started cycling last summer again after 10 yr break. the biggest danger was at the moment was to give up cycling again

. i am only 2 or 3 weeks from buying a trek 2.5 so i need to make sure i aint on the verge of quitting.
i am on the bike essentialy to lose weight , hope to shed 3 stone this year. what motivates you all to keep going, especially someone looking for weight loss like me ?

martin

I have in the last week or two being toying with the idea of getting one of these - something I can collapse and store as only a small flat to use it in.
Primary objective is to increase ability and endurance - ASAP. I'm noticing on my weekend rides that some of the chaps I ride with a starting to make some distance on me - and I'd like to catch that up. From what I understand this is pretty much as efficient a way to improve as any? martinarchtech sounds like you've had some excellent success - any pointers on an 'essentials list' to get going with? Sorry - not intending to hijack the post.

 

[goose11]

i have not been out on road on bike since end of noveember. i bought a turbo trainer before christmas and have used for 45 - 60 mins per day. i went fro spin thismorning at 8 am but had to turn back because road to icy. what i have found amazing is that i felt ok when back on the road and not wasted after 15 minutes . so my impression of the turbo training is good in maybe it is keeping up the fitness levels. i only started cycling last summer again after 10 yr break. the biggest danger was at the moment was to give up cycling again

. i am only 2 or 3 weeks from buying a trek 2.5 so i need to make sure i aint on the verge of quitting.
i am on the bike essentialy to lose weight , hope to shed 3 stone this year. what motivates you all to keep going, especially someone looking for weight loss like me ?

martin

I have in the last week or two being toying with the idea of getting one of these - something I can collapse and store as only a small flat to use it in.
Primary objective is to increase ability and endurance - ASAP. I'm noticing on my weekend rides that some of the chaps I ride with a starting to make some distance on me - and I'd like to catch that up. From what I understand this is pretty much as efficient a way to improve as any? martinarchtech sounds like you've had some excellent success - any pointers on an 'essentials list' to get going with? Sorry - not intending to hijack the post.

 

[Garz]

Try getting someone to take a photo of you bare chested, just wearing shorts. Stick it on the wall and write fat bastard under it. I did this a quite few years ago now and it was the best motivation I ever had.

 

[Garz]

Try getting someone to take a photo of you bare chested, just wearing shorts. Stick it on the wall and write fat bastard under it. I did this a quite few years ago now and it was the best motivation I ever had.

 

[lukesdad]

I hadn't done any turbo training this year until last week. I was sick of having to set it up and then clear it all up afterwards so I set it up in the greenhouse last week. My missis thinks I'm terribly sad....I suppose she's right, but I had no other easy option.

martinarchtech - try to have it set up premanently if you have the space in your house, just get an old bike and keep it there for good. Many times before I've been put off turboing due to not being arsed to set the whole thing up.

Mines in the garden shed I wouldnt worry

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

I use a turbo as part of my physiotherapy, recovering from the knee injuries. I started off in screaming pain after 5 minutes on the lowest resistance and progressed from there.
The maximum I ever do is 30 minutes with decent music to ward off the boredom. Anything more and I think the blood will never go back to my numbing nether bits again.

I've started and built to 10 mile rides on the road now, and I was amazed how easy things were. So I definitely think the turbo is very relevant.
It's been a godsend for me, even if I do think that compared to getting outdoors it's like locking out the girlfriend and reading playboy instead :-)

 

[GrumpyGregry]

any pointers on an 'essentials list' to get going with? Sorry - not intending to hijack the post.

I was guided by the (dated but nonetheless accurate) reviews here plus an article I read in Cycling Plus not that long ago.

I'll say in addition to your turbo you'll want

Essential
a towel to cover the cockpit of you bike (see below)
another old one to put under the bike to catch the drips of sweat - boy will you sweat.
a means to drink water whilst on the turbo

Desirable
A bloody great fan 16" minimum
An HRM and a bike computer with a rear wheel speedo and cadence
iPod or similar, or TV/DVD in line of sight or something to distract you

 

[Fiona N]

I think how you find a turbo as a regular training device depends on your mind-set. I can stick anything if I can make it competitive so I wouldn't stand a chance if it was just sitting on the thing and twiddling in front of the telly. But give me a challenge like:
- 1000 kcal in a hour, make it really challenging by including a compulsory 5 or 10 min warm-up period so you only have 55 or 50 mins to really get the work done (= 1 hour of killer-dom - practice for it and cool down well afterwards)
- fartlek-type work, e.g. maintaining >90% HRmax for alternate tracks of some good music (this is good if the track lengths are fairly variable/random so you can get a 7 min track for effort followed by a 3 min track for recovery and then 5 /5 or 3/6 so you don't know how long you're going hard for - just grit the teeth and keep going)
- keep improving the time on a, say, 5 km TT interval - aim for maybe 10 mins for the first, 9-50 for the second, 9-40 and 9-30 for the next two - requires some concentration (shorter intervals are good too but up the speed and number with plenty of recovery between)

With these sort of work-out I find an hour three times a week is plenty to maintain fitness and 4-5 times is great training.

 

[Bill Gates]

I was guided by the (dated but nonetheless accurate) reviews here plus an article I read in Cycling Plus not that long ago.

I'll say in addition to your turbo you'll want

Essential
a towel to cover the cockpit of you bike (see below)
another old one to put under the bike to catch the drips of sweat - boy will you sweat.
a means to drink water whilst on the turbo

Desirable
A bloody great fan 16" minimum
An HRM and a bike computer with a rear wheel speedo and cadence
iPod or similar, or TV/DVD in line of sight or something to distract you

A few things missing. Check out:

http://www.cyclechat.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=49150

 

[GrumpyGregry]

A few things missing. Check out:

http://www.cyclechat.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=49150

A good (better) list Mr Gates but I'm not at all sure about the headband!

 

[ASC1951]

I have in the last week or two being toying with the idea of getting one of these - something I can collapse and store as only a small flat to use it in.

There are loads of them secondhand, generally with very little use...

 

[mr Mag00]

too noise for a flat i would guess.
i use mine every day for at least 45 mins. far less washing at this time of year. i consider it my commute.

 

[Bill Gates]

A good (better) list Mr Gates but I'm not at all sure about the headband!

The headband is the most important bit of kit. No sweat dripping in your eyes, the bike or the floor. I've got 2 x nike headbands so one is always clean and available. Who cares what it looks like or if it's naff? There's no one in my kitchen to impress.

 

[Garz]

Shamefully I agree with BG, I searched high and low for the wifes old running headband however I found one of her 'do my hair in the mirror' bands which is extremely similar but more serious looking and it works well for the first 30 mins on training.

 

[goose11]

Thanks for the advice all - unfortunately my frame was stolen this evening...so that goes top of the list to sort...

Really down on this one. Major bummer.