Help Building Pain Cave

[Tin Pot]

I need to train a lot. I'm not a strong cyclist, and I have two Ironman events next year. Hence I'm setting up some indoor home trainingnext week.

Location:
Front room - dismissed, too hot, too noisy, too much hassle.
Garage - could make space, has power, boiler, uneven concrete floor, potential for hassle as wife chucks shoot in there randomly.
Shed - would have to empty, has no power, not sure of wifi signal.

1 Probably garage?

Kit
2 Which and which Type of trainer?
3 Which power meter?
4 What does trainer road add/cost?
5 iPad or Xbox one?
6 Anything else?

7 Is releasing the bike always easy?
If something is hassle I won't do it. I've heard you need turbo wheels/tyres.
If it isn't easy to get the bike out and go, I won't ride outside. I'm expecting an hour or two per week on it, depending on the weather until February.

8 So, buy another bike and plug it into the trainer, or use existing bike on non-race wheels?

9 Is the turbo a good place to practice the aero tuck?
10 What the hell is the bill for all this crap going to be..?!
11 Or, screw all that and use a watt bike at the gym and spin classes?


Cheers,

TP

 

[LocalLad]

Interested to know where you end up.

Some will no doubt post and say "just go out and cycle", but I can see some advantages of a choice.

I'm sorting out my garage tomorrow as it's a bit of a tip, and was wondering if I'd end up with space for something similar...will have to be ruthless with the crap that's in there

 

[oldfatfool]

TACX If you want to spend the cash and are serious. You will also need a reasonably powerful computer to run the system. A large fan or two is a must as well. Not sure why you want ipad/ xbox/ power meter. I have a cheap ally bike sat permanently on mine with a turbo tyre. If you don't want the expense of a seperate bike just buy a spare cheap rear wheel, two minutes to change over, if you have an expensive bike though I wouldn't personally want to use it fixed into a turbo for long periods especially if you put a lot of power through the cranks, as the rear wheel as very little scope for latteral movement.

 

[400bhp]

TACX If you want to spend the cash and are serious

Wouldn't a wahoo kickr or a watt bike be a better option?

 

[DCLane]

Alternatively, find a local bike club that runs turbo sessions; they're intense activities and much cheaper.

I use a set of rollers as does my 11yo and SWMBO's ... slowly ... getting used to us in the living room, clad only in shorts, riding the rollers. He's better than me as I tend to fall off.

 

[Tin Pot]

TACX If you want to spend the cash and are serious. You will also need a reasonably powerful computer to run the system. A large fan or two is a must as well. Not sure why you want ipad/ xbox/ power meter. I have a cheap ally bike sat permanently on mine with a turbo tyre. If you don't want the expense of a seperate bike just buy a spare cheap rear wheel, two minutes to change over, if you have an expensive bike though I wouldn't personally want to use it fixed into a turbo for long periods especially if you put a lot of power through the cranks, as the rear wheel as very little scope for latteral movement.

I can't see the value in £765 just for the trainer. I only use tablets, phones and consoles these days - no old fashioned desktop computers for me.

iPad/Xbox for training videos, training games and other boredom avoiding activities.

Power meter to measure power. It's pretty much needed for the event, and outdoor training, so using it indoors rather than buying a trainer that can do it. I think Stages are amongst the cheapest but a Campag crank may not yet be available or at a reasonable price.

I'm not sure whether I will upgrade to a "cheap" TT bike yet, or stick with my Cinelli Experience, but either way I'd need to get it out and go without changing wheels/cassettes/bone marrow.

 

[Tin Pot]

Alternatively, find a local bike club that runs turbo sessions; they're intense activities and much cheaper.

I use a set of rollers as does my 11yo and SWMBO's ... slowly ... getting used to us in the living room, clad only in shorts, riding the rollers. He's better than me as I tend to fall off.

Hmm, I see this as a time and weather saving setup, I'm not sure why I would ride to somewhere to use a turbo..? Comradery?

 

[Crandoggler]

I use Motivo app on my Cycleops Fluid 2. You need a heart rate monitor, cadence sensor and if you have the money, a power meter, otherwise it uses a virtual wattage for you. It has free plans which you choose and stick to the zones, via your sensors/monitors. I use my all weather bike (my only bike) with the skewer being the only item I change over. A fan is preferable, but when it's chilly in the morning, I can use it without.

This setup cost me £75 for the trainer second hand, £50 for heart rate monitor and I still haven't for a cadence monitor, as I'm able to judge it quite well from years of watt biking. Sensors/monitors need to be Bluetooth/ant+.

It's dull, hard work and morally, it's extremely unrewarding. However, the workouts are hard as nails! My ability to hold a high effort for a period of time has hugely increased, which in part has been helped by the trainer.

If you want to spend loads and have a virtual game or watch videos, then go for it. Personally, I'd prefer a structured hour on the trainer than a ride round a fantasy island. But I can see the appeal.

 

[slowmotion]

Find some very steep hills, some very long flat roads, and get out on your bike.
A lot.
Save the techno cash for some cake.

 

[jowwy]

The pain cave - fitted with elite realtour turbo, 42" lcd screen, pc, android tv box, 2 fans, wireless keyboard and specialized shiv TT bike.......

Cushioned flooring, sweat mat and shelving and racking for my other bikes and equipment

Cost = priceless

 

[theloafer]

View attachment 105500

The pain cave - fitted with elite realtour turbo, 42" lcd screen, pc, android tv box, 2 fans, wireless keyboard and specialized shiv TT bike.......

Cushioned flooring, sweat mat and shelving and racking for my other bikes and equipment

Cost = priceless

now that's what you call a SHED ....

 

[LocalLad]

But I wanna see inside!

 

[Tin Pot]

Find some very steep hills, some very long flat roads, and get out on your bike.
A lot.
Save the techno cash for some cake.

I'll still be doing the hills but there are no long straight roads. I need to do a lot of short / hard sessions over the next two months or so to build speed - to keep this up, I need alternatives to the open road.

I don't work nine to five, which makes regular road riding hard. And I can burn calories while arguing in SC&P

Im not hearing much justification for the more expensive turbos, so I may get an Aldi special £50? And a Stages power meter ~£600? And sell the power meter after the event.

My HRM died so I need a new one anyway.

 

[Crandoggler]

Seems they're way under your £600 estimate by the way.

 

[Tin Pot]

Seems they're way under your £600 estimate by the way.

I can't find any crank power meter Veloce compatible, so I'm assuming it's out there but expensive...

Maybe I should buy a new bike to fit a £350 FSA Stages crank ..?