Melem2007

Hello all I am pretty new to Cycling. My wife and I have picked up cycling last summer. We both went to dicks and bought bike trainers (Blackburn tech mag 1). The question I have is how much tension do I need to have? When I ride on the street and stop pedaling I cruise. When I am on the bike trainer and I stop pedaling my back wheel stops in about 7 seconds.

I normally ride in the big gear on the crank and the wheel i ride on the 2nd or 3rd lowest gear on the trainer. When I am pedaling I am rolling at about 18 mph on the trainer. Is that normal. I want to have as close as the same ride on the road to the trainer. Is that possible with the trainer I have?

caloso

Enough tension so that the tire doesn't slip. If it slightly indents the tire, that's good enough for me.

You can use whatever gear you want on the trainer.

You are not going 18mph on the trainer. Your speed is zero. Track time and effort (power, heart rate, or good old fashioned rate of perceived effort).

Drew Eckhardt 

Enough the roller doesn't slip accelerating.

Yup. You'll need a better trainer with more flywheel mass if you don't want that. The stock Kurt Kinetic flywheel is 2-3X the size of others at over 6 pounds, and optional Pro upgrade adds another 12.

There's usually no relationship between dumb trainer "speed" and how things work on the road.

The Kurt Kinetic resistance curve simulates a 160 pound rider on a 1% grade, although nearly all real-world cycling situations are different.

You'll need a better trainer for that. Fluid with power requirements increasing with the cube of speed is more realistic than magnetic. Inertia from additional rotating mass is more realistic than less. Computer controlled trainers can vary resistance in a more realistic way and allow "coasting."

Kurt Kinetic with pro flywheel add-on on left vs. Performance Travel Trac fluid on right

Carbonfiberboy 

It's called a "trainer." It's supposed to be hard. I figure a trainer ride will be at least 25% shorter than a road ride for the same training effect. If you coast a lot, maybe 50%. So in a way that's a good thing. Who wants to spend 2 hours on a trainer? Get your workout, then get off and do something useful.

I wouldn't get a heavier flywheel or even think about complaining about it. A lighter flywheel actually is better for improving your pedal stroke. Yes it's harder, but like I said, that's a good thing.

One thing I suggest is changing how you ride. You shouldn't be in the big ring much out on the road. If you don't already, get a computer that will show cadence and try for a cadence in the 90 range on the trainer. Because of gearing, it won't be exactly that, but within 5 rpm say.

caloso

And get a big ass fan. Or two.

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.

bobwysiwyg

Ha, I wish.

Carbonfiberboy 

Wishing won't do it. Start by doing 15 minutes at just below your bouncing point, whatever that is. Use a really low gear, maybe your lowest. You want pedal effort to be very, very low. Gradually increase cadence and time. No breaks. If you do this once a week year-round, faithfully, in a couple years you'll be amazing yourself. It's just neuromuscular coordination, implanting it in your spine. Plus you'll see real improvement out on the road.

Heathpack 

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!