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Backpacking Light

Pack less. Be more.

Anyone use a bicycle on a bike trainer?

Home › Forums › Off Piste › Bikepacking & Bicycle Touring › Anyone use a bicycle on a bike trainer?

Viewing 13 posts - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)
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    Posts
  • Nov 1, 2016 at 2:36 pm #3433779
    rubmybelly!
    BPL Member

    @sleeping

    Locale: The Cascades

    Curious if anyone actually uses their bike on an indoors bike trainer. If so, what kind of trainer?

    Nov 1, 2016 at 2:58 pm #3433784
    Franco Darioli
    Spectator

    @franco

    Locale: Gauche, CU.

    nm

     

    Nov 1, 2016 at 9:47 pm #3433843
    Jordo _99
    BPL Member

    @jordo_99

    Locale: Nebraska

    I have done krietler rollers and a nashbar brand fluid trainer.

    I’m extremely happy with both but the rollers are more fun (challenging) to ride and drastically improved my handling skills.

    I rode the trainer for hard workouts like intervals…rollers can get dicey if you lose focus.

    Nov 2, 2016 at 3:59 am #3433860
    Bob Moulder
    BPL Member

    @bobmny10562

    Locale: Westchester County, NY

    I used to do a lot of road cycling and found indoor trainers boring as hell. Maybe they’re better now with the video accessories and the biofeedback gizmos, but those units are pretty expensive, I’d imagine.

    A good floor fan is a mandatory accessory.

    Nov 2, 2016 at 6:44 am #3433864
    IVO K
    BPL Member

    @joylesshusband

    Locale: PA lately

    An old Minoura resistance trainer, and Nashbar rollers here. Both circa ‘2001, holding up well.

    Long winters in PA unlike my previous locale in Asheville NC.,,, can’t always ride outdoors.

    The rollers are much more fun, and I vary their resistance by dropping a rag or a towel to contact the rear one underneath.

    +1 for the floor fan.

    Nov 2, 2016 at 9:58 am #3433884
    Mark Ferwerda
    BPL Member

    @mnferwerda

    Locale: Maryland

    I have a Kinetic Rock and Roll Trainer that I dutifully get on every winter. You have to have a workout plan to make it worthwhile though, otherwise it is boring. I have an assortment of training videos that I use.

    A lot of my friends are moving to smart trainers with connectivity to the internet where they will hook into Zwift or something similar and ride with other people. It seems to be the latest and greatest thing, but I’m too cheap to spend the $$ for that…

    Nov 2, 2016 at 1:08 pm #3433925
    David Thomas
    BPL Member

    @davidinkenai

    Locale: North Woods. Far North.

    I’ve got my hybrid road/mountain bike on a wind-trainer stand in the garage loft.  I can set the garage thermostat for 60F which I prefer to being in the house (70F) or at the gym (70F) or outside in winter (-10 to +20F) unless I’m skiing or walking the dog or hiking.  And I have a box fan pointed at me that I often kick on after the first 15 minutes.

    For the boredom factor, the easiest is to wear ear buds or perhaps noise-canceling headphones and listen to podcasts.  What works better for me is to work on my laptop, read what you yahoos wrote, watch youtube, etc on a narrow desk I built across the front of the bike.  A friend up here is more virtuous and he set up a small flat surface in front of his treadmill and watches free classes out of MIT, tracks local political issues and technological developments as he walks along.  He calls the set up his “iPlod”.

    My wife has tried the virtual races against other people on her computerized, collegiate-level rowing machine (Concept 2), but what works better for her to get more hours on it each week is to listen to books on tape while she rows.

    Nov 2, 2016 at 1:17 pm #3433926
    David Thomas
    BPL Member

    @davidinkenai

    Locale: North Woods. Far North.

    Not this particular model, but this sort of thing:

    Spinning the fan increases the work with the square of your speed, like riding on the road and the fan blows a little bit of cooling air up your skirt.  You have all 10-18 gears on your bike to adjust the level of effort.  I have a simple $20 speedo on the handle bar connected to a Hall-effect sensor on the rear wheel so it tracks miles pedaled.  That’s a helpful metric for me, if I commit to doing XX miles today.

    Also, as I get older, getting back into any activity definitely goes better if done gradually.  So starting a program of an easy 2 then 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, etc miles each day may be wiser than getting overly ambitious the first day, doing a 20, and regretting it.

    Nov 2, 2016 at 1:29 pm #3433927
    rubmybelly!
    BPL Member

    @sleeping

    Locale: The Cascades

    “He calls the set up his “iPlod”

    That’s funny. I’ll be using that…. :-)

    Nov 19, 2016 at 9:08 pm #3436454
    Kentz Willis
    BPL Member

    @kentz_willis

    “I have done krietler rollers and a nashbar brand fluid trainer.

    I’m extremely happy with both but the rollers are more fun (challenging) to ride and drastically improved my handling skills.

    I rode the trainer for hard workouts like intervals…rollers can get dicey if you lose focus.”

    +1…though my fluid trainer is a kinetic. fwiw, the kreitler 4.5 was too little resistance for me, I prefer the 3.0.

    Apr 7, 2018 at 7:00 pm #3529278
    A Scott O
    BPL Member

    @asoverfield

    I just can’t handle an indoor trainer. It’s boring, hot (even with a fan)… I live in an area where you can bike year round on the road. I use backpacking and hiking for cross training and when it’s raining, when traveling, and from November – December. They are great off the bike strength training. The cross training  helps with being able to sustain a higher pedal force. I can surge my power output to keep up  with my racing cycling buddies or to put the hammer on them. It’s also nice to have a different activity than cycling psychologically when you are putting in upper 4 figures or lower 5 figures of miles each year.

    Apr 7, 2018 at 11:49 pm #3529344
    Joe McNair
    BPL Member

    @bamadawg999

    Wahoo Kickr combined with Zwift makes indoor training bearable.

    Apr 7, 2018 at 11:55 pm #3529346
    rubmybelly!
    BPL Member

    @sleeping

    Locale: The Cascades

    I did buy a Wahoo Kickr and really enjoy it. I don’t use Zwift, I use The Sufferfest instead, and for a short time I used FulGaz, which was fun.

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