Originally Posted by carpediemracing

It helps to have a huge fan (I use an industrial type floor fan, the kind where the lights dim when you turn it on, and it will literally hold 1/2" of water in a flooded basement back about 5 feet when on high). I usually put it on low. If I wear any little headband or cap I'm usually okay for sweat. On harder or hotter days (I ride the trainer throughout the year) I'll bump up the speed to med or high and supplement with a standard "household" 24" floor fan on high.

DVDs - I like watching races or (new to me) action movies. The better movies have well timed peaks, and if I get into the movie, I usually end up doing about 15 mini-intervals (Bourne series are the best ones so far). Race DVDs are good too - stage races have automatic peaks (finish of each stage), and Classics have a lot of random attacks.

Also it's good to watch people do things they're good at - like pro cyclists riding a bike. Immersing yourself isn't a bad thing, so you pick up subconscious habits. Watching race DVDs is not bad.

Sprinting - trainers, from what I can tell, seem to be limited to about 1000 watts, maybe 1100. That's a pre-sprint effort for many folks. One of the selling points of a couple of the new power-stationary-bikes (where resistance is applied to a relatively large wheel, say 15" in diameter) is that you can do more than "what trainers limit you to". I read that as acknowledgment of the trainer's inherent limitation in allowing max efforts.

The Rock N Roll should be better, ditto the free-motion rollers with resistance. I have to imagine that you'll get tire slip on a sharp jump on the rollers, and a roller that's 2-3 inches in diameter will slip at some point no matter what.

cdr

Originally Posted by saratoga

I sweat like hell, so the mat is vitally important unless you want to ruin whatever floor covering (save concrete) the trainer will be parked on.

I can only get up to 80-85% of my max in a sprint... it feels too un-natural trying to do an all out sprint on the trainer to me, plus I'm sure the bike isn't happy about it either.