Finding the right turbo trainer setup

Posted by Mark on February 9, 2011 under training | Be the First to Comment

I hate indoor training.

I can’t imagine there are many of us cyclists who actually do enjoy it, although recently a club mate admitted that he can do an hour plus with no music, TV, etc. to distract him. And he described the experience as ‘fine’ (rather than ‘purgatory’ which is how I would’ve put it). Credit where credit is due, that is some will power.

Every winter I struggle to keep my motivation. I’m not a morning person at the best of times, so getting up in the cold and dark of winter never really appeals. The long rides go out the window, and my fitness with it. To keep guilt at bay I’ve tried for the last couple of winters to do some turbo work. I’ve tried to use the turbo in the summer too, to do specific workouts aimed at pushing my fitness. They’ve turned out to be even dafter ideas than using the turbo to hold on to my fitness though!

Finding the right ‘tool for the job’ isn’t just a case of buying any old turbo and getting on it though – or, at least, it’s not for me. I’ve tried the Tacx Fortius, and although there’s no disputing it’s a great device with lots and lots of ‘amusement’ in the form of 3D racing, real life videos, and stats for everything (and I do love my stats) I just found that none of that stuff really helped.

This winter I decided to give it all another go. Out went the Fortius, and in came a simple CycleOps Supermagneto Pro. The SuperMagneto has a wonderfully smooth rolling action (think of rolling down a freshly tarmac’d French road) and settings that permit epic wattages for interval sessions (600+ is easily attainable).

The first session didn’t go so well in terms of motivation. I knew my fitness was off the boil, but I was struggling so much to hold remotely like my former power (I was finding 30% off my summer FTP a struggle, and that’s just not possible. I think). So I appealed to the Twitterati.

A couple of very helpful suggestions pointed me at cooling. I was using a really old, cheap, fan that could just about push air around my training room like I could if I blew hard enough. So I stumped up some cash and bought a decent fan.

Test number two felt a lot better, my power output wasn’t quite so embarrassingly down. Cooling does indeed help.

But my real issue comes with motivation. Turbo training is just so boring! For this, I found a couple of answers.

Firstly – amusement. Unlike my club mate I need something to keep me interested with just sitting there. I think that generally cycling along roads keeps me amused – the moving scenery, chatting to mates, thinking about a destination (read: coffee and cake). I discovered a great distraction, which also happens to provide a structure to the session – The Sufferfest videos. These are getting slicker with each release, and they really do help with passing the time.

But then I came across the perfect combination. And the key to it all, is rollers.

I ‘grew up’ on rollers, as turbo trainers didn’t exist when I was first riding. Last summer I bought my first set in twenty years, and remembered how much fun they can be. The only problem with the Tacx rollers I bought was getting a decent workout – they were too easy. Even on 53×11 I was only seeing high 200s for wattage, which if I wanted to do some intervals (and I did – do) wasn’t enough.

A mate owns some Kreitler rollers. Kreitler do three different diameters for their rollers, giving a different spread of power. Check out the wattage section of their website for details. However, my mate’s were the 2.25s, apparently for the strongest riders. I certainly don’t fit into that band, but testing them out revealed they’re actually quite perfect for me. I’m able to do 100w cool downs and yet easily achieve 500w intervals if required.

When coupled up with a Sufferfest session, rollers are tremendous fun. Just as you’re reaching the end of the session and starting to feel tired you need to keep it together and maintain concentration else you’re going off the side. Plus, rollers encourage a much smoother cadence, else it’s not a pleasant experience.

I think I’ve finally found my perfect combination, that allows me to have a great workout, with amusement, structure, and fun at the same time.

Kreitler 2.25s, a good fan, and The Sufferfest. Indoor training nailed.