Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

Guys,

It is coming to the time of year for more and more indoor trainer sessions. Over the years lots of people have said in conversation that 1 hour on the trainer = 2 hours on the road. While on the trainer this morning due to fog I started thinking about this statement.

Obviously there are a number of variables regarding what you do with the time etc...however; any thoughts? Any idea where this comes from? Is it true?

I think it is just a reflection of psychological difficulty. You do spend a greater percentage of your time pedaling hard on a trainer though.

Traffic lights, chit chats, motor traffic, hazardous road surfaces, flats, downhills, freewheeling, lazy legs....

Certainly can feel like it sometimes!...but no...a HOP feels like a HOP no matter wear you do it .

Disciple wrote:Is it true?

No.

One or the other may be harder - it depends on exactly what you are doing/comparing.

wear=where ...my English is slipping!.

toolonglegs wrote:wear=where ...my English is slipping!.

it might wear out your shorts more quickly

Hmm,

I'll have to strap on the heart monitor and see what the heart rate peaks at and the calories I burn. When I commute to work (20kms) I peak at 186bpm and average 154bpm.

DRAD81 wrote:Hmm,

I'll have to strap on the heart monitor and see what the heart rate peaks at and the calories I burn. When I commute to work (20kms) I peak at 186bpm and average 154bpm.

I'd trust the HR numbers but the calorie number from any HRM will be a wild guesstimate at best.

DRAD81 wrote:I'll have to strap on the heart monitor and see what the heart rate peaks at and the calories I burn. When I commute to work (20kms) I peak at 186bpm and average 154bpm.

Peak and average may not describe the whole story, especially when being stressed by other road vehicles and events.

Heart rate comparisons may be misleading if you are doing short intervals

I went on the exercise bike the other night while it was gale force winds and pouring rain...looked at the timer and only 15mins had passed. it felt like at least half an hour. I can ride on the road for 1 1/2 hours without at all feeling like I have been out long.
Unless the weather is really bad and I havent been out on the bike for a couple of days I will always try and opt for the outdoor training. I have all the right clothing so it makes sense to me.

Although the last two night rides I have done I have nearly had two crashes, one 50/50 my fault and the other just hitting a rut in the road which I woudl have seen in the day light.

I covered the 20km on the exercise bike in 37mins. Average HR was 152 and peak was 172. I must say I felt like I was pushing harder training indoors but I think because you concentrate on your performance more than riding outside when you can get distracted by the scenery cars and people. Managed to burn just under 600cal too.

Nothing beats riding outside but the main purpose for me here is keeping active even when it's too cold/wet outside. I've been told before to HFTU but I'm happy to ride in the comfort of my home than outside in the elements

I brought a Cycleops roller 2 wks ago and have spent less than 1 hr on it so far. Due to road riding, no other reason.
I got the resistance unit with it as well.

So far......

I've not used the resistance unit (it has 6 settings; I have it on zero);
It was a shock as to how much effort it takes to push it;
it's easier to ride on (i.e. balance) than I thought (it's NOT easy though);
14 minutes on the rollers in cool air and I had sweat pouring off;
I turned the workout alarm off because it kept telling me to speed up.

I love it; it should do a great job of strengthening some bits (legs, stamina, cardio to name a few);
I should gain a huge improvement in balance and pedalling technique.

Would it be good for strengthening my weaker leg (by using one leg pedalling)?

You can still do spinervals/sufferfest vids or your own interval training but still...
1 hr on the rollers is pretty boring - lack of stimulation.

They are very hard to compare, but I find it is probably equivalent time wise... depending on how you ride when you are on the road.

ireland57 wrote:I brought a Cycleops roller 2 wks ago and have spent less than 1 hr on it so far. Due to road riding, no other reason.
I got the resistance unit with it as well.

So far......

I've not used the resistance unit (it has 6 settings; I have it on zero);
It was a shock as to how much effort it takes to push it;
it's easier to ride on (i.e. balance) than I thought (it's NOT easy though);
14 minutes on the rollers in cool air and I had sweat pouring off;
I turned the workout alarm off because it kept telling me to speed up.

I love it; it should do a great job of strengthening some bits (legs, stamina, cardio to name a few);
I should gain a huge improvement in balance and pedalling technique.

Would it be good for strengthening my weaker leg (by using one leg pedalling)?

There's about 15 pages of debate on all the questions there .

Short version:
It's all about right mix of intensity and duration.
You need high quality cooling (such as an industrial fan) for stationary bike training, otherwise training will be sub-optimal
Cycling does nothing for strength (nor does strength matter)
Riding on rollers will make you better at riding on rollers
Forget the one legged work, unless you are using a counter weighted non-drive side pedal.

[quote="Alex Simmons/RST] There's about 15 pages of debate on all the questions there .
Sorry; not intentionally.
Short version:
It's all about right mix of intensity and duration.
You need high quality cooling (such as an industrial fan) for stationary bike training, otherwise training will be sub-optimal
Cycling does nothing for strength (nor does strength matter) I don't understand this bit; can you explain it please? What does it take to push bigger gears at higher revs......apart from more riding?
Riding on rollers will make you better at riding on rollers
Forget the one legged work, unless you are using a counter weighted non-drive side pedal.[/quote]

ireland57 wrote:Cycling does nothing for strength (nor does strength matter) I don't understand this bit; can you explain it please? What does it take to push bigger gears at higher revs......apart from more riding?

Strength is the maximal force you can apply (by definition at zero velocity). The forces on a bike rarely, if ever approach anything close to maximal, to the extent that strength is almost never a limiter. You would have to be exceptionally frail for that to be the case.

We are limited by the power we can sustainably produce for the durations of most importance to our key events. For durations > 60-90 seconds, the limiter is our aerobic metabolism.

That is developed through training in such a manner to increase our sustainable power, mostly achieved through use of progressive overload in our training (both in terms of duration and intensity) with appropriate recovery. Training should be done at sufficient intensity to induce the primary adaptations required.

Thanks Alex; got it now.

ireland57 wrote:Thanks Alex; got it now.

not meant to be complicated. you said besides "more riding". without actually knowing how much you do now - that may well be what you need, or at least including more hard riding.

Alex Simmons/RST wrote:

ireland57 wrote:Thanks Alex; got it now.

not meant to be complicated. you said besides "more riding". without actually knowing how much you do now - that may well be what you need, or at least including more hard riding.

I need more riding. It's on the way........again.
Upped the ante bigtime a while ago 'cos it felt good......then sick, no riding.

Most of the rides I do now are what I call hard....I'm focked after most of them and barely hang on in mid-week group rides.

Not sure about 1 = 2 but read somehwere - this would be a better story if I could find the article about it being 75%

He uses power created joules(?) and says that he sees his riders produce the same amount of power in about 75% of the time that they do on the road on average.

This to me seems plausible due to some of the things listed above about road riding especially in the gorup - chatting, freewheeling, drafting, traffic lights etc etc...

Of course it is also the quality of the time you are doing on the trainer be it measured by HR or Power that matters you could just bludge on the trainer - not sure why you would I don't mind my trainer but just getting on for fun is a bit nuts even to me and I am doing 3-4 sessions a week in the garage.

Forget the one legged work, unless you are using a counter weighted non-drive side pedal

- Alex

Can you explain the above a bit why a counter weight?

The pedals have a solid connection there by requiring the same force to turn it whichever side you are pushing?

Thanks,
Steve

steve-waters wrote:

Forget the one legged work, unless you are using a counter weighted non-drive side pedal

- Alex

Can you explain the above a bit why a counter weight?

The pedals have a solid connection there by requiring the same force to turn it whichever side you are pushing?

Thanks,
Steve

because that's the only way to do one legged work that simulates the inertial load of the opposing leg. otherwise it's a totally different pedal action, which means you aren't training in the same way you actually ride a bike.

This is what I mean: