Clifton CC Discussion Board

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by Jon G Tue Feb 26, 2008 3:13 pm
I know its coming to the end of the 'indoor' cycling season but really looking ahead for next year to try and releive the boredom. I'm not a big fan of the turbo but was wondering does anyone have any tips other than listening to music or watching DVD's to improve the session to try and make the most of say 45 mins on the turbo. Interval traing is the most obvious for example but does anyone do anything else? I have a Tacx Flow Ergo Trainer for the record but its not the flash ones that you can hook up to your computer compete in a pretend Tour de France.
Any tips would be great!

Jon

by Andy J Tue Feb 26, 2008 8:29 pm
Hi Jon,

Have a look at purple www.purpleextreme.com at the bottom of the home page there is a link to 12 turbo trainer sessions.

Regards Andy

by Jon G Tue Feb 26, 2008 8:38 pm
Thanks for that Andy, gives me something to pin to the garage wall. I will give them a try for this last month before the clocks go forward. It might just keep my motivation up.

by PhilBixby Wed Feb 27, 2008 8:57 am
I've been using a turbo the last couple of years, not just for winter but for specific interval sessions during the race season too. I use a three-pronged strategy to avoid slipping into terminal boredom:-

-Make sure each session has a very specific purpose. I've been using Joe Friel's Cyclist's Training Bible, so every session I do fits into an overall training programme, which I've planned ahead. Nerdy, but hey, that's me.

-Distract yourself during the bits where you don't need to focus. So, turbo gets set up in my office and I either stick a DVD on the computer or watch archived races from cycling.tv, which makes the warm-up, warm-down and recovery bits fly by.

-Give yourself something to focus on during intervals. Since there's no road, scenery or rival cyclists this means watching the bike computer and making sure it's showing the HR / speed / cadence figure I'm after for that specific workout. Recording it all for download afterwards is an added incentive, since there's no fooling yourself then.

Most of my sessions are 90mins or so including warm-up/warm-down, and I've stayed as sane as the next teapot!

by Arthur Wed Feb 27, 2008 9:16 am
That's 30 mins longer than I find I can stay on a turbo for. An hour is plenty for me.

by Rob Wed Feb 27, 2008 9:19 am
I'm with you Jon, roll on British Summer Time. I got on the turbo the other week for the first time in 5 years, not the highlight of the year so far. The damn thing is at best a necessary evil or a useful addition to a programme. My strategy for coping, for what its worth:

If you have it planned out like Phil says then you can get yourself into a sort of hypnotic trance an hour or so before the session (your family probably won't notice!) and this allows you to bluff your body onto the saddle without it realising - no procrastination.

If you are simply riding on a pulse for x mins or at a constant perceived effort then it is possible to distract yourself enough to make it all tolerable. I find listening to (non music) radio good as it sucks you in. Even if you're not into football, listening to the commentary passes the time really well. Late night debate in the House of Commons even..... well maybe there's a limit.

If its intervals you are doing then you really need to concentrate and the best you can do is listen to some music. But console yourself with the fact that the session will prob be much shorter. Although time does seam to go backwards sometimes.

I was much distressed by a previous thread that compared riding a turbo to climbing an Alpine col! Now I do understand what you were all getting at, but come on! One is the ultimate, most rewarding cycling experience. Something that lifts the spirit and inspires. Its something you can do in company and learn a bit about the world around us. The other is a slightly tawdry affair that should come wrapped in plain brown paper; not something for polite discussion. Put it another way, when you're in your dotage with great grandchild on your knee saying "tell me about when you used to be a cyclist", you won't be saying "ah, now I remember doing a great session in early 08 of 5 x 8mins at 113% threshold. Now that was an experience." But you might glaze over and talk of the mighty Galibier, The Bonnette, The Stelvio, Sella Ring, Tormalet......

by PhilBixby Wed Feb 27, 2008 12:09 pm
...ahhh, but your great grandchild will probably glaze over too, either way. Let's just hope that by then they're not saying "What's a bicycle?"

by Rob Wed Feb 27, 2008 1:31 pm
But don't you think *the* golden age of the bicycle is still to come?

by Jon G Wed Feb 27, 2008 1:45 pm
I'm getting a bit of deja vu here. Last time I started a thread I generated some banter between Rob and Phil. Keep it up guys. By the way Thanks Phil for the Turbo Tips and i think you deserve a medal for being able to stay on a turbo for 90 mins. most ive ever done is an hour and i can count them sessions on one hand and I've had the turbo for about 5 years or so.

Jon

by Rob Wed Feb 27, 2008 4:22 pm
Well, I'm all out of banter on this one....

But back to the original question about making turbos more bearable - maybe we need to be a bit more innovative? Was thinking (while out on the bike this morning, proper cycling that is :wink: ) that I've often amused myself blowing beads of sweat off the end of my nose across the garage. Now this could be developed with targets - maybe cups arranged on the floor? We could award points for each cup - maybe more points for those further away? What do you reckon?

Anyway, this is true: some of you know Pete Lumb, lifelong Clifton member - the older guy you seam to pass *every* time you go out on the east side of York. He told me he had a quiet year on the bike last year and *only* did 12,000 miles :D - I think he's 77. He’s ranked about 23rd in the 300k club with 480 odd thousand recorded lifetime miles despite not recording any mileage between ’54 and ’85. The last day he failed to get out on his bike was in July 2000 due to his granddaughter’s graduation and before that he missed a day in ’96 when he was knocked out by a pheasant on Garrowby Hill…….. Anyway, legend has it that he once connected his rollers to a generator and used it to power an immersion heater in his hot water tank. He even calculated the expected temperature rise for a 60minute training ride! We could try to do that calculation while riding the turbo - that'd pass the time eh?

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