Indoor Cycling pt 2

Here’s the final part of the topic indoor cycling which I started last week. With the weather still very unpredictable, like when weather.com says 80 percent chance of rain and it don’t rain or 20 percent chance of rain and its muggy, there’s a very good chance that you’ll be spending most of your saddle time on your turbo trainer.

As I have mentioned last week, Matt Hayman, the 2016 Paris-Roubaix winner, spent the last eight weeks of training for the event on the turbos due to a broken arm. During the Baybay Fiesta road race last month, I rode like 80 percent indoors and I finished 8th. So training indoors can be very

efficient except that some find it boring. It’s just a matter of preparation. So here are additional tips to make it enjoyable!

Traditionally, there are three types of trainers– wind, magnetic and fluid. Wind trainers are the noisiest while the fluid trainers are the most silent, magnetic trainers are inbetween. Wind and magnetic trainers can be very, very noisy and training at 5 a.m., you can not just disturb your sleeping wife and kids but also the whole neighborhood without getting a whack in the behind. So either get a fluid trainer or train in a soundproof room.

Unless your name is Matt Haymen, don’t train for two hours. It’ll make you throw up. A good program usually is about 60 minutes tops but I would say that 45-90 minutes routine would be fine.

9- Raise the front wheel.

Your bicycle should be set up like you are riding on the road but for some riders, racing the front wheel by 1-2 inches can spell the difference between an amazing training session and a sore back. You can buy front wheel blocks at the LBS or just any solid and stable object will do the trick.

10- Warm up and cool down

Don’t just hammer right away. Start with the lightest gear that you are comfortable with and spin. Your warm up can be between 5 to 10 minutes depending on the type of WO you have in mind. Rule of the thumb: If your WO is short and intense, do a longer WU and CD. If its like 60 percent of your maximum heart rate, then you can do a shorter WU.

11- Use a heart rate monitor or get a powermeter

Its usually a good idea to know how your body is reacting to the activity. A bicycle computer is not good anymore. A heart rate monitor is OK but if you can get a powermeter, and more importantly, if you know how to use and analyze it, then it is the best training companion than you can ever have. Have you ever wondered why Chris Froome constantly looks down while racing? Well, you know the answer!

12- Use a smart trainer

Smart trainers are different from the traditional trainers in that you can pair with with a computer application. For example, there is an app called ZWIFT, win which you can train and race virtually with other cyclist who are also on ZWIFT on the other side of the world! The only drawback is that smart trainers can be very expensive but if money is not an issue, then you have to have one.

But even with the most expensive smart trainers, nothing beats riding outdoors. That’s what bicycles are for.