Trainer - I'm cooling off after 2:45 just now. Right now a normal ride on the trainer is 1-1.5 hours. Long is anything over 2.5 hours. Record, I think it was last year or the year before, 5.5 hours. Tonight I felt pretty motivated - when I felt like stopping it was 2:43 into the ride so I went easy to round it to 2:45.

Last bunch of trainer rides - 3, 1.5, 1.3, 1, 2.5, 2.5, 1.1, 1.5, 2, 1, 1, 2.75 hours. In general I feel pretty motivated on the trainer. I don't do any real power work, not like intervals or anything. I do a lot of 170-220 watt riding (my 20 min max is about 250 right now), work on pedal elasticity (lower and higher rpms), and work on form (faster pedaling while in the drops for example). It sounds like JRA and it kind of is, but I find it really helps. Mentally I can't do efforts very well, so I let the legs fly when the urge hits me. Preplanned sessions are no good.

I prefer to listen to music on earphones while watching bike races I've already watched, but for races I don't know I listen to the commentary the first few times. I'll also watch new-to-me movies (watched 2 of them in my 5.5 hour trainer ride).

Rollers I really don't like. I get mentally tired after 45-60 minutes, and after 30 I have to ease the saddle every 5 min. I'd try motion rollers but I don't have any right now.

I tried browsing the net, typing, even playstation stuff, but I can't. I feel most comfortable on the bike on the hoods or the drops, and sitting more upright really kills my back. At the same time I need to support my weight on my hands so I can't be typing or anything down in the drops.

I really want a trainer that rocks and work on actual high power stuff but that's kind of a fantasy for now.

And yes you can get a base on a trainer. I do all my base work in the winter (duh, of course) and train not very much otherwise. This year I started training lightly in October, and I'm still training relatively lightly until end of Jan. I can sometimes do 10-15 hours on the trainer a week in the winter. More normal is 5-7 hours. I rarely train outside around here in the winter, like a few days a winter.

Right now, since I'm on a relatively limited diet (typically 1800-2000 cal a day, with an 1800 cal goal), I've been riding easier than normal. If I'm tired I don't ride. My main goal is to lose weight, a secondary goal is to set a decent base. For 10 days in late Jan-Feb I'll do some more intense riding, then revert to the trainer again until I race in March.

cdr