ModeratedUser150120149

How Do You Ride A Spin Bike Outside Class???

Snow and ice. Decided it had been nearly a month outside the saddle. A trip to the States coming up in mid-November. I rode a Spin Bike a lot in classes last winter. Thought I'd give it a try. Pulled one out, fired up the iPod and started.

I lasted all of 30 minutes!! I wasn't hurting or particularly tired, although I did feel not being in the saddle for 3 weeks. I was just so bored I lost all motivation.

A friend lent me a low end trainer I can set up in my garage. So, I thought I'd just split my time between the spin bike at the gym and the trainer. Now I don't know.

What tips and tricks do y'all use?

xizangstan

Come on guys/gals. Tell us!

I'm one of those people who is out riding my bike in the heat, the cold, the wind, the biting insects, the dust and grit, the rain and the sleet. I would love to be content to get my riding done in a nice, indoor, climate controlled fitness center with big flatscreen TVs and pretty attendants. But nooooo... I can't stand the boredom. I seem to be programmed to need the changing scenery, the exploration, and the adventure.

How on Earth do you make yourselves happy sitting on a trainer inside a gym?

oilman_15106

The only thing I can think of if your going to the gym is pick a bike behind someone of the opposite sex.

billydonn

Due to the horrible weather last year I rode on a spinner about 3x a week for nearly three months. Never went much more than one hour, but they say that is a long time on a spin bike. I think the only way to tolerate it is to have a planned program to follow while wearing a HR monitor. So you focus on getting through your planned program three or four times instead of just pedaling.... and the time goes by pretty well. Just pedaling a spin bike without a planned program to follow would be deadly boring IMO.

M planned program included things like single leg pedaling, standing simulated climbs, 2 to 3 minute intervals and other stuff to induce high HR and suffering.

ModeratedUser150120149

Given my location riding inside is a necessity. Riding alone sans TV is what is available. So, ????

billydon posted while I was typing. So planning is your key and then for an hour? How does that work out when spring comes? Was that enough, although that sure is better than I did.

donheff

My phone streams Internet radio so I listen to NPR or Radio Paradise and the time passes fairly easily. The classes are better.

ctyler

Just set up a trainer and tried it out using my iPad and watching movies. Works great and 30 minutes fly by.

DnvrFox

There are DVD's/videos available from Carmichael Training Systems and www.Spinervals.com


They provide a variety of rather challenging variations in spinning at various speeds and cadences, standing and sitting, sometimes emulating an actual ride - the nemesis of of the training is Coach Troy of Spinervals - and make the time go much faster.

I would suggest ordering some and trying them.

They really do help.

Allegheny Jet

billydon summed up my methods of decreasing the boredom of indoor cycling. Verity and planning are the spice of life for indoor workouts. For those who wish to improve their cycling the indoor season is a good opportunity to do so, and since the conditions are constant, charting progress is easy.

Here is a sample workout I might do:

Warmup easy pedal for 15 minutes

High cadence spin-ups =+ 15 minutes- start out @ 95 rpm for 5 minutes in easiest gear 39/23, 110 rpm for 1 min, 95 rpm for 1 min, 115 rpm for 1 min, 95 rpm for 1 min, 120 rpm for 1 min, 95 rpm for 1 min, 125 rpm or 1 min, easy spin recovery for 4 minutes. Start out the season using 95 as the base rpm but move it up by 5 rpm every 2 weeks (if you can) until your base is 115 rpm and move the faster rpm's starting at 120-125 and work your way up into the 140's and higher. In a cycling class I do I have topped out at 175 rpms for 30 seconds. Once we are hitting 155+ the instructor will drop the high cadence to 30 seconds with 90 second recovery at 115. This drill works on the firing sequence of a nice round pedal stroke. If you are bouncing on the saddle, work on staying relaxed and on the saddle via the pedal stroke. You may need to adjust the rpms to get the right mix of balance/speed. Once you can top out the drill while keeping a smooth pedal stroke it's time to move up 5 rpm's at the top end.


Isolated leg drills = 16 minutes, Clip out one foot and put it on the bar or on the trainer back by the rear skewer. Put the bike in a bigger gear 53/17 that takes some effort. Ride single leg for 2 minutes then switch legs. After the first cycle, drop a gear and ride 2 minutes with the right leg followed by the left leg. After the 2nd cycle drop another gear and do both legs for 2 minutes. After the 3rd cycle drop into an easy gear for a 4 minute easy spin recovery. In his drill think about constant pressure on the pedal by using all 4 parts of the pedal stroke. Keep the cadence between 55-60 for the first cycle dropping the cadence by 5 rpm everytime you drop a gear for the next cycle. As you get better at the drill drop gears (resistance)rather than cadence.

Zone 3 intervals = 16 minutes. In a gear that will begin to tax you (maybe 53/19) begin riding @ 95 rpm for 2 minutes building the HR up. After 2 minutes drop a gear and begin riding in Z3 for 10 minutes (adjust gearing at first to maintain Z3 HR). While riding the interval concentrate on a round fluid pedal stroke. Every 2 minutes move your hand positions from the tops to drops to hoods to get the body comfortable in all three positions. After the interval take a 4 min easy spin recovery. As the indoor season progresses extend the Z3 interval to 20 minutes. You may become uncomfortable riding the Z3 interval but that is what it is supposed to accomplish. This will make your [B]average speed faster[/B.]

Lactate Tempo Ladder 12 minutes of hell! This drill will test you and your resolve. With the bike in a moderate gear (53/25-23) Begin riding @ 95 rpm for 55 seconds then 115 for 5 seconds, then ride @ 95 for 50 seconds and 115 rpm for 10 seconds. Continue riding each minute with a 5 second switch between the 95 and 115 rpms. It should look like this: 55 off /5 on, 50/10, 45/15, 40/20, 35/25. 30/30, 25/35, 20/40, 15/45, 10/50, 5/55, and 0/60. That's right, once you do the 5/55 interval you just keep going the last minute at 115 rpm. If you are able to do the drill the first time drop gear the next time. This drill will seem easy at first then get hard really quickly. (I strive to do this drill in the 53/21-19 with a cadence of 100/120. I have yet to complete it in the 19 tooth cassette gear but will make it this years goal)

Easy spin for 5 minuted to get the HR down.

Other drills to add during the season are low cadence hill intervals. Sprint intervals. Out of the Saddle drills. Zone 4 intervals etc...

Sorry for the long post, but felt this may help some of us.

ahsposo 

I find riding a trainer or a gym spin bike very boring. I've done a couple of spin classes with a very good cyclist as the lead and it was intense but my schedule was such that I couldn't do it regularly.

When my career dictated a lot of time in hotels I discovered two devices I like OK.

The first is sort of a spin bike but a little different. I'm not sure what the resistance comes from in a Lifecycle but it's fairly well modulated.



You can select a program from a menu of a variety of intensities and types. There are warm up and cool down cycles built into the programs. What I like about this machine is the display shows the up coming effort or the relief. It really can simulate a good workout on a hilly road. There is a HRM built in to many of the models. You can also manually program a work out.

I also like a Concept II rowing machine. Very smooth action and a full body work out. The monitor shows your level of intensity, "distance" rowed and a HRM can be attached to many monitors.



And like the oilman noted, a member of the opposite sex as a workout partner helps with, ahh, motivation.

MinnMan

I hate the gym, but I go, I go, I go. The other day I was having trouble getting through the last couple of intervals of my workout and I just thought about getting dropped on a hill and powered through them.

I can only stand 50 minutes, in part owing to boredom. For the harder workouts, it's because I'm spent. I get through the time by having a structured workout. A definite plan each day and a menu of different plans over the course of the week, including alternating easy and hard days.

Intervals are good for a number of reasons - one of which is that you dearly want the time to pass during the hard part and kind of wish it would go slower during the easy part.

I listen to music, but I can't read or watch TV during my harder workouts - if I do, I lose focus and the intensity of the workout goes down. On my easy days (sometimes on an elliptical trainer), I can read while I workout.

One part that I haven't solved is that workouts are good for getting the heart rate up and (I hope) building CV stamina. But they don't try my leg muscles like a hard bike ride. Even pedalling an upright stationary bike or a spin bike, it's somehow not the same. I've contemplated adding some very hard intervals and also perhaps to do some weight lifting. But nothing in the gym compares to trying to keep up on a hill after 3 hours in the saddle.

lhbernhardt

I ride rollers instead of a stationary bike. I would otherwise be riding, even in the Pac NW rain/sleet/snow, but I'm in a neck brace for the six weeks after some spinal surgery. The doc has said I can walk or ride a stationary bike, so I've been doing ten to fifteen minutes on the rollers each day. The rollers require some steering activity on the rider's part, and after a while you can get really good at riding these things. I was once able to change t-shirts while riding.

I'm usually on the fixed gear, but you can vary resistance just by going to a higher gear. You can also use rollers that are smaller in diameter (these are also easier to get on and off of).

I'm usually listening to CBC radio on my fake iPod while I ride. It's usually a good idea to be outdoors, because you get warm real fast!


L.

Cone Wrench

Once the snow comes, cross-country skiing becomes the new bicycling.

Pat

I used to go out predawn and ride. My wife makes me go to the "Y" and work out. I get on a spin bike and work out. I don't like the classes. I usually read a magazine when seated and out of the saddle, I just work on intensity.

leob1

Spin, it's all about the instructor, the class I usually go to the instructor raises the room tempature just by walking in the room, if you know what I mean.
The trainer, get a dvd set of a favorite tv series, work your way through old times.

stapfam

The instructor makes or ruins a spin session. Had one that used to visualise rides in the locality so everyone used to be able to relate to the Session. And she also had the music tape set up to cadence through the ride.

"So you have just started up windover hill and the ground is rocky so stay in the same gear and add- 10rpm to the pedals-- Smoothed out now but it is getting steeper so wind up the pressure 1/2 a turn and grind it out---Right- tough bit ahaead as you are about to hit the 15% so full turn on the pressure and out of the saddle to get up pedal speed and then sit down and grind-"

The lesson went on like that for 45 minutes and a different ride each week. When I went down to the gym and went on the spinning bikes- I tried this out. Imagined a ride that I do and gauged pressure and cadence to the ride that was running in my head. Didn't help though as without the instructor screaming t owork harder- It got boring.

ModeratedUser150120149

Thanks for the hints. Take home message seems to be that indoor cycling is akin to taking cod liver oil when we were kids. But, with some planning, distraction and an exceedingly high level of discipline it can be done. I'll get cracking on that. Thankfully my two riding partners when I go to Denver later this month are both into it for fun and won't beat me up.

bobbycorno

...and don't "just ride" on the trainer or stationary bike. You'll be miles ahead (literally) come spring if you have a specific goal and workout in mind every time you get on the trainer. Build climbing strength? Long, low-rpm, big-gear intervals. Increase cruising speed? Tempo intervals. Recover from last night's killer workout? Easy spin. There are plenty of specific, carefully-choreographed indoor cycling workouts available online and in books at your local library. And IME, these workouts won't let you get bored.

SP
Bend, OR