Bike Forums - Help me decide on a trainer

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Quote:

Originally Posted by rms13 (Post 20621318)

Thanks. I did actually buy the Cycleops Magnus and have been testing it with free trials of Zwift and Rouvy for the past week. My initial thoughts is trainer miles are much harder then I thought they would be. I've never owned a power meter and it's humbling to see how low my power output is compared to say friends and club members I follow on Strava. Not sure if I end up paying for Zwift but I'll probably pay for Rouvy, Trainer Road or something cheaper for a few months that just has training work outs without the immersion. I want some app that makes use of the interactiveness of this trainer but I think some short focused interval training is what I need. One of the main reasons I got the trainer is I'm strapped for time so just getting 45 minute completely optimized minutes on the bike is what I want right now. I also believe that short, hard sprint type work outs are better then long easier paced work ( I believe in that exercise model for everything not just cycling)

I personally use Today's plan + Zwift with a side of Xert. There are many different training methodologies out there, one of the big ones is periodization, where you use winter months to acclimate your body to large amounts of TSS (training stress) that would otherwise prove quite challenging to achieve with weekly events during spring/summer/fall. One of the big components of winter is "Base Training", traditionally this was spent with 20+ hours of riding at low intensity, and since, you, or I, and many other people don't have that kind of time, it was discovered that "Sweet Spot Training" has similar benefits. I'd recommend reading this article (it sums it up better than I can) regarding sweet spot.

I say this because, well, sprints are awesome and all, especially if you're a track cyclist, but if you're looking to boost your FTP into the 4.0 w/kg or 5.0 w/kg range you might want to consider some longer workouts near threshold.

"Don't buy upgrades. Ride up grades."

Eddy Merckx

Quote:

Originally Posted by roadwarrior (Post 20627927)

"Don't buy upgrades. Ride up grades."

Eddy Merckx

That's what I'm working on! The funny thing is that I live in an area with a lot of hills and mountains. Since I've gotten into road cycling I have been riding up a lot of grades slowly followed by long 40 mph descents coasting my way down. My average "long" ride was in the 30-40 mile range on weekends and I've quickly found that 10 miles on the trainer is killing me because I have to keep pedaling. Now I feel like all of the road riding I've done in the past was completely inefficient as far as actual training goes

Quote:

Originally Posted by rms13 (Post 20630317)

Good observation. If you are going for a joy ride, that's one thing. To get better at climbing, doing outdoor climbs, climbing repeats are awesome. Do some at a slower cadence, others at a higher cadence. That builds strength and the high cadence repeats teach your type II and IIa muscles how to adapt. High cadence is a learned skill. Armstrong worked with Indurain for a long time to learn how to ride an easier gear at 110+ rpms.

Sprint work running-wise also helps tremendously.

Enjoy. Ride with a plan and purpose to learn how to do different things.

My trainer has a power band strictly to simulate climbing. In the same gear and cadence as the easiest one I go about 10mph slower. Two front wheel blocks tips the bike up to engage lower back more and works core.

Have fun

I have a wahoo kickr snap. Its a smart trainer, works great with zwift, its relatively quiet, its sturdy. I bought it for $600 at REI....was worth it. I think you want a smart trainer - even if you dont go for zwift, the wahoo fitness app will add alot of functionality to your machine. Its just a better investment, I threw my old mag trainer in the dumpster and havent looked back.

Zwift is currently in beta for android... so you may end up getting to play with it anyway.