Originally Posted by
ChrisO
I've actually got two trainers, a Minoura resistance trainer I bought for last winter, and a Nashbar roller trainer I got a few months back to try out this winter. I do use them both, but not nearly as frequently as I tell myself I should so I don't get nearly the miles in that I get on the road; don't know why, it just not as fun I guess, so it doesn't happen.
I don't think you
NEED the same number of miles, I use the trainer to keep the legs from losing their summer riding tone, and that means, for me at least, a short, intense workout that makes the leg muscles remember the bicycle. The idea is to keep it short enough that it doesn't get boring, and intense enough that it actually does something. This means pushing higher RPM or higher gears then I would in the summer. You need a good 5-7 minute warm up and 5-7 minute cool down, if your workout is 30 minutes, that leaves you somewhere between 16 and 20 minutes to make the most of it, like alternating between high gear sprints and low gear spinfests separated by normal pace riding in between.