Busy lives + bad weather + winter illnesses = not much cycling. Well that’s certainly true for me. As a mountain biker I’m used to mud, but once it reaches a certain depth (somewhere around the axles) progress becomes painfully slow. Afterwards, time spent cleaning up the bike becomes excessive for a half-hour evening blast.

On paper a turbo trainer should be the perfect answer. And to be fair my cheap-but-not-too-cheap Cycle-Ops Magneto seemed perfectly well made and rides better than I expected. However I soon remembered that what motivates so many rides is the terrain: the steep climbs, the fast flat runs and the feeling of freedom. Being able to escape – being somewhere that isn’t my home or office – is part of the reason for riding. I cycle to get up real hills, not imagined ones.

I tried to bring out my inner gym bunny and set myself a routine which was moderately successful. Whilst I didn’t take to the training DVD packaged with the turbo trainer, I set up my laptop nearby and watched films and the BBC iPlayer. TV programmes became my training routine and I developed my own pace – warming up through the news, then sprinting through stages of Masterchef.

What it still lacked was a sense of having been somewhere or done something. You certainly get sweaty, especially without the howling wind cooling breeze, but it didn’t deliver achievement. The partial solution came from my heart rate monitor which gives some measure of effort. So at least now I can motivate myself to push just a little harder.

If you buy a turbo trainer remember that the biggest problem may be motivation, so you need to be creative to keep training!