Trainer tells no lies
 

I finally got around to setting up the bike on the trainer and plugged in one of the training videos. I have to confess, my recent laziness has resulted in a significant loss of fitness as proven by my ride on the trainer this evening. It's a mag trainer with an adjustable setting of 1 thru 10, with 10 being the most difficult. Last winter I worked up from level 4 to 5, although 5 was tough. Tonight I rode at level 2. Yes TWO. Sigh ...

Still better than 1!

Also true for my rollers. After being off bike for 4 months I got out on a ride with some of my club members. One of them, an ex-racer, complimented me for my smooth pedaling. About two weeks later I got on my rollers and discovered that I was far from smooth. Reality check.

+1 AND much better that not riding at all.

Got me beat. My bike is clamped in the trainer... and waiting. Maybe tonight I will take the depressing first test ride: didn't ride it last winter ....this will be ugly...BUT, just think of all the room for improvement we have!!

Agreed and agreed!

DFL > DNF > DNS.
(Dead F'ing Last > Did Not Finish > Did Not Start).

The trainer may not lie, but it's not infallible.

Last January, when I realized that I was spending some significant time on the trainer, I bought a wired speed and cadence sensor, primarily to keep track of miles and average speed. On the road, I had been using Map My Ride through the iPhone pretty faithfully. I had been calculating speed and distance on the trainer by multiplying my road average and perceived effort against time. Once I had the sensors and computer installed, my results suddenly dropped by about 3 miles per hour. Rats.

The Bianchi, which is now my back up bike, went back up on the trainer a month or so ago, but the speed and cadence has not been registering since a crash in mid July. The other day, I started to fiddle with it to line it back up, but then stopped myself. The three miles/hour I had lost last January had magically reappeared, simply by going back to the old methods. All is well.

I mounted a spare computer on the trainer bike last winter to monitor cadence a little more accurately, and thought I'd be interested in the miles. The reality was that I wasn't riding near as far as it felt like I was. None the less, the workouts on the trainer were intense and well worth the effort come spring.

I'd done a lot of Km's on a Tacx Flow over a number of years. When it got to around 12K km, it gave up the ghost, so took advantage of a special offer and got a shiny new, new-generation Tacx Vortex. Reads power, and is supposed to be very accurate. Peddled through last winter at fairly derisory power levels, and following a stint this season with a Powercal (HR Power meter … highly recommended!), have upgraded to a Powertap wheel. In spite of doing everything I can in terms of calibration and adjusting of roller pressure, tyre pressure, who-knows-what, it turns out that the Tacx reads under. Way under. I've had to put in a manual override of the calibration of around 115% to get it to (more or less) match up with my Powertap.

Against that - though this is an established fact! - I can't even begin to get the power numbers indoor that I manage outdoors. Feel like I've lost 20 watts or so!

I'm not starting in on the trainer until Jan 1 but not for doing the resolution thing. I have to pace my boredom threshhold. 10wks is about all I can handle. It sure makes a difference that really shows for that first spring ride.