Dedicated turbo bike - any pointers?

[SkipdiverJohn]

There's room for improvement on the simulator. Where's all the potholes and bumps that exist on our own real roads? - and they're riding on the wrong side of the road too. It's still only a virtual reality game for grown-ups, not real cycling.

 

[JhnBssll]

There's room for improvement on the simulator. Where's all the potholes and bumps that exist on our own real roads? - and they're riding on the wrong side of the road too. It's still only a virtual reality game for grown-ups, not real cycling.

It is absolutely just a virtual reality game for grown ups, but it's fun and if anything better exercise. Agreed about the potholes, I'll glue some rocks to my turbo trainers roller

 

[CXRAndy]

Don't knock it till you've tried, it can the hardest workout will ever experience on a bike. Just join a race

 

[Elysian_Roads]

*Since installing the screen wifey has decided that instead of going out for dinner and to the cinema for our wedding anniversary next week we're now going to make nacho's and sit in the garage to watch films If she'd mentioned this before instead of taking the p*ss I would have sourced a better projector

You could always buy Mrs Bssll her own turbo trainer and sit side by side as you watch the big screen. "Titanic" should be good for an introductory session.....

 

[fossyant]

How much/which projector did you get ?

I'm running off a 17" i7 laptop, and the companion app on a Samsung 7" tablet, oh and TWO fans. My garage door is already white.

 

[JhnBssll]

How much/which projector did you get ?

I'm running off a 17" i7 laptop, and the companion app on a Samsung 7" tablet, oh and TWO fans. My garage door is already white.

It's a BenQ MS506, £246 from Amazon

BenQ MS506 DLP Projector (3200 ANSI lumens, 800 x 600, 4:3) https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B015SJ3NI8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_taa_mM4RBbNGD2ASX

I read a lot of reviews of the cheaper mini projectors that are getting popular but the consensus was they're never as bright as stated and your money was better spent on a low range business projector which is what this one is. Low res but good brightness.

Is the door gloss or matte? If gloss it might be worth getting matte vinyl anyway.

 

[fossyant]

It's matt fortunately. Was looking grubby until I washed the interior side ! I've looked at the mini ones but, like you say, the brightness isn't good. The other option is a cheap large LED TV.

Good set up that. My road bike is a 653 Ribble that's on the turbo, so I do have to make sure I wipe it and squirt WD on the frame as sweat is very corrosive (found some rust on the underside of the top tube as I'd forgot).

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Don't knock it till you've tried, it can the hardest workout will ever experience on a bike. Just join a race

I don't doubt it can be hard work. A colleague uses a turbo trainer for fitness maintenance as he doesn't ride his bike to work over the winter months. He hates it though, says it's boring and gets far too hot & sweaty as there's less airflow than in real cycling even with a fan rigged up. I'd rather just accept not being able to ride on days where the weather is really crap or windy. You can always go for a good walk, even if it is only low intensity. In fact I prefer to walk on days when I don't ride a bike as I feel the alternating of different types of leg use is more beneficial that stressing the same muscles in the same way, day in day out.

 

[CXRAndy]

Each to their own, my turbo setup has evolved from a V1 Wahoo Kickr, to V4 Kickr, full rocker board, Kickr climb(bike elevation)
I keep cool with a 3ft fan and watch Zwift on a large screen monitor. I like to train 3/4 sometimes 5 times a week. I come off the road in September and won't return to UK roads until spring

I love indoor training

 

[si_c]

I don't doubt it can be hard work. A colleague uses a turbo trainer for fitness maintenance as he doesn't ride his bike to work over the winter months. He hates it though, says it's boring and gets far too hot & sweaty as there's less airflow than in real cycling even with a fan rigged up.

I commute daily, about 12 miles each way, so I get plenty of basic riding in, but the turbo allows me to focus what I'm doing, and the races are actually a lot of fun. My turbo bike is a 1972 Peugeot touring bike, with downtube shifters and a 5 speed block - 52/42 and 14-28, which works perfectly, and I have it set up in my office, so I can just spin the monitor around, open the windows and get on with it.

I have two fairly big fans as well for airflow, which work really well, as they push between 3000 and 5000cfm each, I never run them at full power as I just get cold.

 

[JhnBssll]

My setup is working well for me. I did an ftp test on Friday and signed up for the beginner ftp builder training plan yesterday. Ive done two foundation rides so far and plan to do the first power ride tomorrow but have a few tweaks to make first.

The saddle needs some adjustment as im getting some numbness - I didn't realise you could pause workouts so the first two got quite uncomfortable towards the end

The front mech needs adjusting too, I'm getting an annoying rub when on the top half of the cassette and in the big ring. This seems to be magnified by a frame that seems to flex more than I'm used to

One question I still haven't been able to answer is how my commute rides will affect the training plan. They're fairly low intensity but will have an effect on my energy levels I guess...

Anyway as I said, overall it's great I feel like it's going to help me a great deal to build my fitness over the winter

 

[si_c]

One question I still haven't been able to answer is how my commute rides will affect the training plan. They're fairly low intensity but will have an effect on my energy levels I guess...

That's something I've been trying to balance. I've started some of the training plans previously, but never completed them, in part because the cumulative effort of 5 days commuting plus the workout sessions can be a bit much as my base commute is about 100TSS per day.

This winter I'm planning on changing my approach, and running the commute as my base training sessions, and then put in 1 threshold session, one hour + 90% effort and one higher intensity session. In practice this means that whilst I may follow a training plan, I'll do no more than two of the sessions - so if I was following the 4 week booster plan, I might do the Day 2 and Day 5 of week one in the first week, and then day 2 and day 6 in the second week. Plus say an ascent of Alpe Zwift as a free ride.

If I'm doing a longer weekend ride, I'll probably skip all the sessions for that week so turn a 4 week plan into maybe a 10 week plan.

 

[JhnBssll]

Crikey yeah my commute is probably nearer 70TSS I would guess but I don't ride in every day. I've got a 40 mile mountain bike ride in Wales on Saturday, I suspect that will score a few on the TSS scale haha. I guess I'll just play it by ear. I haven't found out what happens if you fail a segment or miss a workout yet but I'm sure it won't be long

 

[<Tommy>]

That's something I've been trying to balance. I've started some of the training plans previously, but never completed them, in part because the cumulative effort of 5 days commuting plus the workout sessions can be a bit much as my base commute is about 100TSS per day.

This winter I'm planning on changing my approach, and running the commute as my base training sessions, and then put in 1 threshold session, one hour + 90% effort and one higher intensity session. In practice this means that whilst I may follow a training plan, I'll do no more than two of the sessions - so if I was following the 4 week booster plan, I might do the Day 2 and Day 5 of week one in the first week, and then day 2 and day 6 in the second week. Plus say an ascent of Alpe Zwift as a free ride.

If I'm doing a longer weekend ride, I'll probably skip all the sessions for that week so turn a 4 week plan into maybe a 10 week plan.

I agree with this

It’s better to embrace your commute as part of your training rather than seeing it as a hindrance. From my own perspective I found it better to create my own training plan which incorporated the basic principles of the things I wanted to achieve.

I would say that using this principle I completely avoid attacking strava segements or targeting pb’s in general. Some days on the commute I’ll feel better than others but to maintain consistency in the rest of the training plan I’ll generally use the commute as base miles or recovery time.

 

[si_c]

I would say that using this principle I completely avoid attacking strava segements or targeting pb’s in general. Some days on the commute I’ll feel better than others but to maintain consistency in the rest of the training plan I’ll generally use the commute as base miles or recovery time.

Yeah. I'm in a weight loss phase at the moment, so no point doing anything particularly demanding, but when I'm out of that in a month or so I want to start rebuilding power - so that'll be over/unders and max effort intervals.