Originally Posted by
Carbonfiberboy
I should also mention that the main purpose of a trainer should be to do stuff you can't do on the road. For instance pedal for a solid hour at a high moderate pace without stopping. On the road one has to stop all the time for lights, signs, etc. and there are hills which allow you to coast instead of keeping a steady effort. Or work on high cadence pedaling, say 40 minutes at a steady 115-120 cadence in a very low gear. Again, can't do it on the road. Or do one-legged pedaling. Ineffective on the road because of all the inertia. Very effective on the trainer. Etc., etc. Call it "out of the envelope" cycling.
For me, the main purpose of the trainer is to be able to still get my workouts done even if the weather precludes it or I've travelled to a locale in which I can't get my workouts done on the road.
I like the trainer for cadence work because you can stay on it with zero pauses for traffic or a stop light or whatever. But ultimately I want to be able to produce whatever cadence on the road, with all it's undulations and imperfections and I need to be able to spool it up & down if I'm trying to hold that number- because I race on the road, not the trainer. So either road or trainer has its benefits, I'll work cadence stuff in both 'venues'.
I also like how on the trainer you can make perfectly shaped intervals in your power data. But the point is to deliver that power target on any given piece of road- learning that kind of control on the road is important to TTing. So even though the trainer is more precise, the road better replicates race conditions, so I try to do as much work as possible on the road.
I don't do any one-legged drills so can't comment there.
My secondary purpose for a trainer is race warm ups. Helps to keep me in one place a set distance from the start- less chance I'll miss my start time!