Trainer Time

[Geeeewiz]

With it being dead of winter and me doing all of my riding inside. I am curious, WHAT IS THE LONGEST TRAINER OR ROLLER SESSION YOU HAVE HAD THIS WINTER?

[92degrees]

Anything over 2hrs is a waste of time for me. I'd rather keep the time tight, do my intervals and then go outside and snowshoe or xc ski if I need more time @ an endurance pace.

[dekindy]

I do 20-minute Sprint 8 interval sessions. It addresses my biggest cycling weakness and is difficult to implement during outdoor, group riding. I don't think I could stand the trainer for longer durations. I have done some High Intensity workouts that last 75 minutes on the average but they did not improve my cycling nearly as much as interval training.

[don'TreadOnMe]

1 hour 45 minutes.

[xjoex]

I have done 1:30 on the spin bike, aided by the iPad and a subscription to neetflix... Did 1:00 of intervals this morning.

-Joe

[Ti Designs]

4 hours on the Spin bike yesterday. That included one 45 minute and two 30 minute out of the saddle climbs. I'm kinda serious about returning to my old climbing form...

[mandasol]

I gave up on my trainer a few years ago, and finally had enough of the rollers this winter. Sold them both along with my treadmill and got the Tacx Bushido. I'm absolutely loving it. I actually look forward to getting on it and doing an hour or two just about every day.

I had thought about getting a computrainer for years but that thing looks like a physics lab experiment and the software looks like its from the 80's. Tacx on the other hand has a bad reputation for their quality control, buggy software, and absent customer service, so I was really hesitant. However, the bushido is totally wireless, has one of the highest braking capabilities of any virtual trainer, and the software has been improved a lot, so I pulled the trigger. At first I did have a couple things to work out but everything's fine since.

I'm not really into the real life videos or the virtual reality, as I'd much rather ride courses I'm familiar with. That's why I love being able to use the integrated google earth to plot my local routes and group rides, and just hop on and ride the courses. It's a blast to ride. Since I know the rides I'm able to tweak the elevation and slope profiles so the effort seems as close as the real thing as possible. The braking force is strong but smooth and gives a great workout. On the computer screen there's a little 3D avatar of a guy on a bike that's tracks along google earth with all the profile and other data. After you've ridden a course you can ride against your previous saved work outs. It's like a group ride against a bunch of other guys like you.

The other day I was able to ride a course I used to ride in college. It's been more than 15 years since I've ridden those roads, and I thought I'd never be able to ride there again. A couple days ago the temps got into the 40-50's, plenty warm enough to ride without winter gear, but I chose to ride indoors cause there was another route I wanted to try out.

If you can't tell, I'm actually enjoying this winter.

[BobbyJones]

I just worked my way up to two hours and will hold steady there.

30 warm up
30 spin
45 targeted workout
15 cool down

Using some specific training tools, so even the spinning is "work" Can't wait to get outside though, I'm running out of Netflix movies.

[false_Aest]

Ed,

Take a vacation. Come to Los Angeles. Lets go climbing:

I have several routes that'll give ya anything from 450' in less than 1/2 mile to 5000' in 50 miles.

[Likes2ridefar]

4 hours on the Spin bike yesterday. That included one 45 minute and two 30 minute out of the saddle climbs. I'm kinda serious about returning to my old climbing form...

I used to race endurance mtb on a single speed and even then never climbed standing up for 45 minutes:)

Maybe a few times I came close to that in Utah, or perhaps it was Colorado. I forget which state I was in during that 17 hour journey with 28,000+ ft climbing when I had to stand that long.

[dancinkozmo]

...i just banged out 32 minutes on the rollers.....I RULE !!

:beer:

[Ti Designs]

I used to race endurance mtb on a single speed and even then never climbed standing up for 45 minutes:)


Off-season training and in-season riding are two very different things. I will never understand the reasoning behind trying to do the same thing in the winter that you do all summer. Let's see, I've been riding all summer and there's a decline in my fitness come September - maybe I should keep doing the same thing and see if I get stronger??? Not me! I break down cycling to it's individual components and work on each element harder than I could by just riding. I'm pushing 850 pounds on the leg press, I couldn't put that much force on a pedal. My spin closes in on 200 RPM, I never do that on the road. Climbing out of the saddle is technique work, like any other technique work it's practice, practice, practice. In season I don't have to think about things like this, it all just works.

Climbing out of the saddle is one form of technique work I've added back into my program this year. In the past few years I've noticed I struggled with form for the first few months, which probably had a lot to do with never getting out of the saddle during base mileage. Next year the serious climbing starts early...

[godfrey1112000]

Put in the Disc push play, one hour usually

focused on climbing and the pedal pace

this thing kicks my butt

http://www.competitivecyclist.com/product-accessories/2011-cycleops-300-pro-indoor-cycle-8514.48.1.html

[doofus 2.0]

most mornings start with 2hrs on the rollers

i train while my wife sleeps

keeps the evenings mellow around here

[znfdl]

five hours and fourteen minutes. I did a repeat of an ergvideo...

[Likes2ridefar]

Off-season training and in-season riding are two very different things. I will never understand the reasoning behind trying to do the same thing in the winter that you do all summer. Let's see, I've been riding all summer and there's a decline in my fitness come September - maybe I should keep doing the same thing and see if I get stronger??? Not me! I break down cycling to it's individual components and work on each element harder than I could by just riding. I'm pushing 850 pounds on the leg press, I couldn't put that much force on a pedal. My spin closes in on 200 RPM, I never do that on the road. Climbing out of the saddle is technique work, like any other technique work it's practice, practice, practice. In season I don't have to think about things like this, it all just works.

Climbing out of the saddle is one form of technique work I've added back into my program this year. In the past few years I've noticed I struggled with form for the first few months, which probably had a lot to do with never getting out of the saddle during base mileage. Next year the serious climbing starts early...

Guess it's different strokes for different folks. I just ride a lot and seem to do OK.

[KeithS]

It was -22 on Friday, 25 degrees warmer on Saturday. Did 45 over lunch on Friday and 1.25 hours on Saturday. Cold can get oppressive sometimes around here. Days are getting longer, birds are singing, snow will melt someday.