So I’ve got myself a turbo to use.
Lookinf for some user tips really. Having never used one before, or even riden road bikes for fitness, don’t really know whats the best way of using it.
Just get on a cycle for as long as I can? follow a set plan? if so what one?!
I don’t have any other fancy items such as HR monitor or gadgetry, just a turbo and a bike ( albeit not the most suitable!)

Ultimately this is to gain and keep fitness going through the next few months for when the better wheather and race season starts.

Do I need to sign up for any thing else?

Thanks

A fan makes it much better as you will get hot very quickly and this will restrict your performance.

Also you will need to ease the boredom with films or music. Focus on using it for quality and intervals rather than duration.

You will bore yourself to death if you just get on it and ride.

I find the best use for a turbo trainer is interval sessions.

Get a pedestal fan (you will sweat like a pig).
Get some music on, or other entertainment – laptop or whatever.
Make sure your front wheel is raised a bit to match the rear wheel – you can buy an overpriced block for this, or just tape a couple of phone books together.

Can’t remember the name of it off-hand, but I found a turbo training book on the Kindle for about £3. It’s mostly common sense, but has 20 sessions to do in the back. Might be worth looking for something similar to that?
A HRM might be helpful You can get them pretty cheap now.

Check out TrainerRoad (big thread here).

For the sake of your sanity I’d recommend following a plan (TrainerRoad has a few you could follow). Sessions that are varied help.

A fan is essential, and a big one too. You’ve no idea what sweat means until you try turbo training without one. You’ll overheat and not be able to cycle well.

And not a crappy desk fan either – one of these:

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/shop/product/details/clarke-cff18c-18-high-velocity-chrome-floor-f

I’d recommend googling for some workouts.

Try and find out if any of your local clubs, cafes or bike shops run weekly turbo evenings, Much more fun with company and someone at the front giving the workout some structure and having a set meeting time and place means you’re more likely actually do the training regularly rather than losing interest after the first 2 weeks.

Re fans. I have this one from Screwfix. Similar to the Machine Mart one but a bit cheaper. Big fan is essential.

Recently got some bluetooth headphones too that are really handy for keeping the noise down (need a lot of volume to hear the telly over the turbo and fan.)

If you want gadgetry then really check out TrainerRoad. HR and a Speed/Cadence sensor are worthwhile purchases (get bluetooth and ant compatible if you can.) If you are feeling flush then get a power meter too (virtual power is ok but quite variable.)

Cheers guys, the turbo is outside on my flat balcony, so pretty chilly at the moment! But will source a fan from somewhere too.

Whats the idea behind raising the front wheel? just comfort I guess.

Mounting the bike on the turbo raises the back wheel so lifting the front wheel makes the bike level again. A largish book will do.

A quick google throws up some cheap HRM’s £35 for a basic one, is it worth getting one then? what functions are handy what are unnecessary then?

Trainer road app dosednt seem to be available for the ipad air 2? Anyone using it on one?

According to this http://www.trainerroad.com/ios it is available (or should be) – see table at foot of page.

Have a look at the sufferfest vids too.
They keep the boredom at bay but can be pretty brutal

TrainerRoad only has an iPhone app at the moment. It does also work on the iPad but not optimised for the iPad. I think that’s on the way.

Are there any apps that are as good as trainer road that work with Android? I mainly use a Sony z1 phone

I searched the itunes app store on the ipad but didnt list anything at all for the trainer road

If you don’t want to do the full TrainerRoad thing yet you could try one of the Sufferfest videos, they work off ‘perceived effort’ and will provide some focus to keep you interested for an hour.

Once you’re into that you might start wondering if you’re slacking with your perceived effort, sign up to TrainerRoad at this point and the little green bar will give you nowhere to hide.

before i got trainer oad i used to make a playlist on the ipod.

Something along the lines of
10 mins warm up –
10 mins fast (maybe prodigy, d&b or similar)
3 mins easy spin
10 mins fast
3 mins easy spin
10 mins fast
10 mins easy spin. – maybe some chilled hip hop aim, or similar.

you get the idea….
above is about an hour – not the most scientific but pretty cheap & easy to follow.

I searched the itunes app store on the ipad but didnt list anything at all for the trainer road

Maybe only viewing iPad only apps?

Can you set your turbo up in front of a computer? That’s probably a better bet if you want to go down that route. I usually run trainerroad overlaid on some video.

While you can train on a turbo with nothing more than your bike, it’s pretty mind numbing and as has been said just getting on and spinning away for twenty minutes will guarantee that you’ll do a session or two then give up.

Some form of variety is essential, how you achieve it varies on how much you wish to spend. At the simplest having some music playing out and doing an effort for one track, ease off for the next and so on will work (providing you aren’t doing the effort to Tubular Bells!), using the random facility on an MP3 player keeps things a bit more interesting and is similar to the randomly spaced efforts whilst out on the road/trail. You could do things like sprint during the guitar solo or chorus as variations.

Next up are the workouts that you can set up on GPS units like Garmins. Depending on what extra kit you have (HRM, cadence sensor, power meter) then you can create a workout based on levels using the values returned by those devices.

Trainerroad really does rely on power readings and while you can get away with virtual power, a dedicated power meter is best. TR then gives you a series of workouts as part of a longer term plan.

I find I need to build up the time spent on the turbo – you are sat in one position for the time on the bike and there’s no coasting.

I keep it very simple myself, turbo is in the garage so doesn’t need a fan except on a warm night, mostly I stick a TV program on and do medium intensity, so the legs get on with the pedalling and the head can do something else. Not the best use of a turbo, but it’s a good balance of effort/unpleasantness and means I do it more often.

Wahoo fitness app will feed into strava if that’s your thing and it has a better readout for turbo sessions. As you have an iPad get a bluetooth HRM for about £25 or less from amazon/ebay. Probably worth getting a cadence sensor as well.

Definitely get a plan or otherwise it’ll be awful. Loads here: http://lwcoaching.com/mountain-bike-training-plans/ that you can try the two week samples of or join up to the forum, tell her what you want to achieve and she’ll suggest the best plan. Worth the money imho.

Sign up to net fix or similar and enjoy all those brainless films that swmbo would never watch with you in front of the TV.

Global Cycling Network has a bucket load of free training videos on YouTube.

Definitely need some telemetry. Cadence is more important than HR imo as Sufferfest, Global Cycling Network, etc all use cadence and perceived effort rather than heart rate.

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Would something like this be any use?
Says it does cadence and heart rate. With it being ant+ comatable could it link to trainer road program on my laptop?

Decathlon do a good cheap cadence and speed sensor. You’ll need music or video or someone will find you outside on your balcony slumped over your bike cos you died of boredom!

Would that pair with the trainer road then through my laptop?

Garmin Ant+ USB dongle

This receives data from sensors and sends to PC

Probably better than the wahoo ipod dongle as you only have mobile apps.

Golden cheetah is good and free but not on mobile platform.

So i’ve got all the bits now, arrived this morning, a mini garmin usb ant+ and the speed/cadence sensor.

Now time to set it up and go for a peddle!

I find squarepusher’s Port Rhombus EP helps a lot. I can’t do more than a bout 25mins without exploding with boredom so it’s perfect.