Trainer Vs Actual Ride

[vikramranna]

Hi All,

Only recently I have started riding and am immense let enjoying it. I just completed my first 75Km ride and am hoping to gradually increase it so that in the next few months I can do a 200Km ride.

As part of my training I am following Scody 3 peaks challenge training that is available on their website. As per thier training plan it has 2 days of riding on indoor trainer and 2 days actual ride on weekends. Due to time constraints I can only do 1 actual Ride on the weekend but do squeeze in the indoor training in weekdays.

The question to other riders is, are there any advantages of training on a trainer or should I actually go on the road instead of indoor training.

Any feedback, suggestions would be great.

Vikram

[slian]

Great question, I've been wondering the same!

If I can add another one, is it possible to do the workouts from the plan on a roller or must it be a turbo?

[neild]

I think it's because the indoor trainer allows you to go harder with intervals. On the trainer you can close your eyes, put you head down and go all out. It's a bit hard to do that sort of training on the road.

Cheers

[you cannot be sirrus]

An hour on the trainer is worth two on the road IMO. No coasting, no stopping for lights, no distractions, no downhills.
As boring as batshit but a very useful tool if time is an issue.

[nickobec]

An hour on the trainer is worth two on the road IMO. No coasting, no stopping for lights, no distractions, no downhills.

Depends on where you ride, my commute has 18km of relative flat uninterrupted shared path ( no cars, no pedestrians, (except 500m a few km from end) so that is my training section, great for threshold session and intervals.

It is all a case of finding the right roads and building training plans around them.

As boring as batshit but a very useful tool if time is an issue.

+1 I am stuck on a trainer at the moment, broken clavicle, and find it boring and mind numbing, at the moment it is all threshold and VO2 intervals as I do not want to stay on the bike than absolutely necessary. So no endurance sessions.

I have a decent trainer, lots of entertainment and I avoid the trainer unless absolutely necessary (like now).

Pros of trainer:
Easier to ride planned training sessions
Avoid bad weather, riding at night
Still ride if time poor or commitments requiring you to be at home

Cons
Boring
Not exactly like the road,
I sweat heavily and down about 5% in power in comparison to the road.

[foo on patrol]

So long as you have/can ramp up the resistance on it, it will a good tool for your riding. Even if you can't turn the resistance up, they are good for just spinning and riding soreness out of your legs or wet weather use for keeping your legs moving.

Foo

[macca33]

A couple of very good riders I know swear by the trainer for quick, hard and worthwhile workouts. I use mine for intervals and for some very low HR long, boring rides watching movies when I have to and have a fairly good set-up, but still prefer it outside.

cheers

[Xplora]

Trainer is better than nothing, but if you wouldn't want to drop your road rides to do it. I did some spinups to 180rpm last night on the trainer, can't physically look at the GPS and balance the bike at the same time; but I actually have noticed that I do have some balance issues sprinting on the bike. You only get those balance issues sorted out on the road.

Welcome to cycling. The trainer is a necessary evil, like nuclear weapons and chain cleaning.

[vikramranna]

The issue is that I am not too sure which one i should be doing....trainer or actual ride. I dont have any time constraints that force me to do the trainer rather than to go on a actual ride. But are there any advantages and should i continue it or should i do trainer once a week and go on a ride on the other day.

Also on a trainer i seem to get pretty tired within 20 mintues even though i am only doing recovery rides (about 90rpm's) but if i go on a road ride i seem to be able to do longer rides without feeling like i am about to die . Is this common?

[g-boaf]

The trainer is harder because you don't roll the same as you would on the road, you don't get the cool breeze (unless you use industrial fans). It's also extremely boring - even with a computrainer and a big screen in front of you.

I'm thinking of fixed rollers and not the ones like Xplora is talking about.

[RonK]

Only recently I have started riding and am immense let enjoying it.

Want to take the enjoyment out of cycling and demotivate yourself - just jump on a trainer.

[Xplora]

Only recently I have started riding and am immense let enjoying it.

Want to take the enjoyment out of cycling and demotivate yourself - just jump on a trainer.

Yep, you REALLY need a good reason to get on the trainer to make it worthwhile.

[vikramranna]

Thanks for all the responses guys. Looks like i will ditch doing the trainer and go on actual ride. Might use the trainer once a week to do interval training.

[thearthurdog]

If you are brand new at this, you don't need to do intervals. You don't need to ride a trainer either (unless there are weather issues or whatever and you are desperate for a ride). All you need to do is ride your bike, ride your bike and ride your bike. Just enjoy it. If you end up progressing to racing later on, then you can consider intervals and some specificity in your program, but for now, just love it.

[toolonglegs]

^^^ yup

Moi, je deteste le home trainer!. Actually it is painful not in a good way to ride my trainer... Maybe the flywheel needs to be bigger, I am not sure but it injures my hammies.
Much prefer rollers... Time passes quicker!

[zill]

I found riding on a trainer so boring that I use to say that I will only use a trainer after I die.

There are some realistic feeling trainers out there but I have realised after using trainers that it's the sensation your brain and face (and the rest of the body) feels when you move about on a bike that really make riding enjoyable.

[trailgumby]

I found riding on a trainer so boring that I use to say that I will only use a trainer after I die.

There are some realistic feeling trainers out there but I have realised after using trainers that it's the sensation your brain and face (and the rest of the body) feels when you move about on a bike that really make riding enjoyable.

+1. But I still have a trainer, and I use it.

[toolonglegs]

Riding rollers actually feels like riding a bike instead of some torture contraption!.

[sambo3]

I'm also on rollers, 3.5 inch Kreitler as part of my preparation for long climbs.
I agree with toolonglegs, they are much more like the road having come from trainers but I still get bloody bored on these.
You do have to concentrate and you have some movement but in the end its still a roller to nowhere.
I find setting up the laptop connected to a big screen works best.
I have been using these for intervals and simulating long climbs.
45 minutes though and I'm pretty much done. I need to extend this to an hour plus.
For more resistance I use a folded towel under the rear rollers.

[Derny Driver]

I must admit I had to be desperate to get the indoor trainer out. 4 or 5 days of rain would force me onto it. Mind you it was a crappy mag trainer.
Young DD has one the same as this in the garage. He uses it almost every night. Even when he does a road ride he jumps on it for a warm down.
In my opinion, no factory produced trainer goes close to these for feel. Unashamed plug for this, the last of 3 which my mate built.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/321375503796 ... 1423.l2649" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[g-boaf]

I must admit I had to be desperate to get the indoor trainer out. 4 or 5 days of rain would force me onto it. Mind you it was a crappy mag trainer.
Young DD has one the same as this in the garage. He uses it almost every night. Even when he does a road ride he jumps on it for a warm down.
In my opinion, no factory produced trainer goes close to these for feel. Unashamed plug for this, the last of 3 which my mate built.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/321375503796 ... 1423.l2649" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Weather will get me on the trainer at home, or if I'm told to do 1 hour, I'll do it. Otherwise I'll use a computrainer with perfpro studio down the road from where I work for convenience of getting good training done quickly. It's the only way I can get that done with the time limits I have.

Trainers are harder than road riding I think - no coasting. It's just hard work. On a road ride, you get interruptions like traffic lights, traffic, etc. It's amazing what kinds if torture some people can inflict on you with a computrainer.