At least according to some, when interval training it’s more consistent than the open road, isn’t interrupted and therefore is “better” and shouldn’t just be a winter thing.

Sounds like common sense, But has anyone experienced this?

A certain G.Obree certainly rates turbos for the consistency. Must admit, as much as I hate them, it’s hard to do 20m sweet spots without coming across a red traffic light, speed bumps, tailback etc!

It’d be a brave soul who got the turbo out in summer though.

What are the best turbo trainers?

I have a power meter on my road bike. I can’t generate anywhere near as much power on the turbo as I can on the road. I’ve no idea if it’s psychological, physiological or some kind of measurement error caused by the turbo. But it’s real.

Best thing they are for is mental toughness. 24 hours on a muddy course is a cinch compared to 2 hours on a turbo.

I have a power meter on my road bike. I can’t generate anywhere near as much power on the turbo as I can on the road. I’ve no idea if it’s psychological, physiological or some kind of measurement error caused by the turbo. But it’s real.

Best thing they are for is mental toughness. 24 hours on a muddy course is a cinch compared to 2 hours on a turbo.

I need some mental toughness, so that is good.

By the way Molgrips you owe me £100. I had to buy some new, smaller jeans today because my old ones literally slide off over my arse/hips :D. It’s all you fault…. 😉

….2 hours on a turbo.

I’ve recently restarted turbo (ish) training and **** me, I’m getting the most awesome ball/cock numbness it’s unreal!! 4 hours on the same bike outside is no problem.

I used mine all year round at the moment. If I go for a ride outdoors it’s enjoyable, I’ll meander a bit and look at the scenery and generally have a rare old time. If I get on the turbo it purely about exercise and pushing myself until the computer says I’m finished. In my head they are quite different activities and I like it that way, neither makes me want to do the other any less.

What are the best turbo trainers?

http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/10/2013-trainer-recommendations.html

Certainly use mine all year, but I can’t say if there is any real advantage as I’ve never not used them!
If I want to concentrate on figures for 40 minutes I’d be happier doing it on turbos rather than out on the road where there are more important things to worry about.

Use a spin bike I got on ebay all year round and have just started using rollers. Made a massive difference to my MTBing.

Pal writes sessions for me. HR monitor and a lot of hard, hard work.

ipod or similar required mind…..boring ain’t the word until you master the ‘zoning out’ technique

Outside I use natural features to train. So on the MTB I have to keep going flat out to clear a steep climb and if I slacken off it’s over. On the turbo my power can drift down gradually in an interval. I find I have far more motivation to really bury myself on real world climbs.

But then I do have plenty of climbs like that near my house, which helps.

What would be better, a turbo or a spin bike? I dont have a road bike to use with a turbo so a spin bike seems like a good option?

I use my rollers all year round, even in the middle of summer when its a lovely day (just take them into the garden). I think you get more out of it in terms of a 1.5-2hour session is constant pedalling whereas outside you’d have traffic lights/change of pace in traffic and so on. I don’t know if the intervals themselves are more consistent or not – but will get a better idea when i switch to power 😀 I think you learn more doing them outside though, even if the intervals aren’t 100% consistent.

I had a chat with my coach recently about indoor training. I had some 20sec sprints to do and just couldn’t judge how long that was on the turbo/rollers without looking at my garmin, whereas outside i can judge roughly 300m or whatever. He said outside we do small things without thinking about it which can = more power / an easier perceived effort which made sense to me.

Chris just put the fat bike on rollers 😉

Ha ha Gibby, hard at it i see 😉 Ross says you nearly killed him last night 🙂

3 Months ago Ross would’ve been fine, he’s slowed down a bit! We took a fairly easy pace home I thought (although he did have an extra long route to meeting up too).

Would the 29er with some cheap slicks not make a good roller bike?

Yeah it would, but you can get a spin bike for less than a turbo, would it not be better?

Never really looked into any of this so not got a clue! Are you not getting out enough already?!

Yeah it would, but you can get a spin bike for less than a turbo, would it not be better?

If I had the space I’d get a spin bike, much better than a turbo and far more robust (IME – though I’ve only tried one model of turbo, the one I’ve got…)

I got a £800-ish spin bike for £200 on ebay.
‘Lack of space forces sale’ the advert said, although the bloke she lived with told me it was lack of use when I picked it up 😉
Absolute mint condition. NordicTrak.
Solid as a rock (I’m 14.5 stone), never shifts even when you hammer it. Plenty of adjustment.

PM if you want to know more Mogrim

“I think you learn moregain more realistic intervals doing them outside though, even if the intervals aren’t 100% consistent.”

Unless of course you have resistance rollers

PM if you want to know more Mogrim

Cheers, but not me asking! I’m already sold on the advantages of a spin bike!

trail_rat – Member
“I think you learn moregain more realistic intervals doing them outside though, even if the intervals aren’t 100% consistent.”

I would agree on the bike handling front, and perhaps for Sportives and real world MTB riding. But not for Circuit racing.

I attended some BC coaching the other day and they were quite vocal about the advantages of using a Turbo or Rollers for consistency and maximising uninterrupted effort throughout the year, particularly during bad weather.

There’s plenty of video’s about showing our top cyclists working themseleves to passing out on Turbo’s and Rower’s doing the same to prove that this machine based workout principle should work. If its good enough for them…

why do people say turbo or rollers like they are interchangable.

different tools for different things.

oh and by circuits i take it you mean crits or on the boards ?

road racing youll be wanting to do some resistance intervals as hills are where you get attacked for the most part

Crits.

Any yes, I’m using a specific training plan for crits which using my Turbo engages intervals at higher resistance levels.

a turbos the right tool for the job i agree.

it was more the use of rollers instead of just riding your bike – rollers like weight lifting – without weights 😀

Rollers with resistance will give as good a work out as a turbo, not least cos its pretty hard to stay on pushing a big gear at low cadence on rollers 😉

So this is interesting – becuase I’ve started a new Training cycle, I’ve just done the same workout based on HR intervals as last july but this time on the Turbo:

July (on the road) = average 168w, 899 calls, 36k 1:17
Today (on the Turbo) = average 88w, 412cals, 28k 1:07

Although todays intervals are very consistent, I appear to not be working as hard on the Turbo? Or is there some science/common sense I’m missing?

Verging on thread resurrection! Do you actually have a power meter or is that estimated/virtual power? 88w is very low. I’d have a real job to average that on a recovery ride, let alone an interval session.

Ah. I had this discussion elsewhere.

Those are strava numbers so the road one is not worth much, the Turbo not worth anything as the Strava calcs take into account distance and gradient – of which there wasn’t any. Seems that 88w was calculated by random
GPS movement around a 5m radius of my house 😀