Some folk will be aware (indeed, are probably sick of hearing, I’ve had little else to post about recently) that I’ve had 3 heart attacks in the last 13 months.

The plan always was to treat myself to a ‘proper’ gravel bike to compliment or replace my somewhat weighty Swift and to keep on cycling.

The thing is that I’m understandably anxious about my heart health; now that I’ve had 3 angioplasties and work on all of my coronary arteries the consultant ‘hopes’ that I’ll be problem free for ‘many’ years – this seems neither terribly concrete or specific and I’m concerned about the possibility of yet another heart attack whilst I’m out cycling. I’m also now painfully susceptible to the cold and additionally suffer Reynaud’s syndrome (worsened by the beta blockers I’m on) that, even in chunky lobster claw gloves, leaves my finger tips feeling like they’re being crushed in pliers when it’s cold.

I would imagine that my life expectancy has taken a dive and I’m aware that I need to exercise to improve my chances (I owe it to my Wife if nothing else) and I’m beginning to think our money might be better spent on a home trainer to get me through the Winter and, if my heart decides to throw a wobbly again, at least I’ll be at home next to the phone rather than out in the middle of nowhere (although I’d probably aim to do some proper rides too). My Wife seems quite keen on this and I expect she’s pretty nervous too.

The thing is I know nothing about home training beyond being vaguely aware that it’s a thing and having heard of Zwift. We’re not well off but seeing things in the context of my life expectancy and long term health I suspect that we can fine some cash.

I suspect that the type of trainer onto which to attach a bike would give a better ‘feel’ but we’re a bit tight for space so I was thinking of a smart bike option – ideally something easily adjustable so my wife could use it too, but they seem scarily expensive. I don’t need an all singing all dancing, top of the range model; is there a useable smart bike in the £1000 range or is that unrealistic (there’s always second hand)?

What else do I need to know? I’ve only ever been a keen recreational cyclist (I’ve never trained as such) so I guess that I just need something basic to fill in the gaps when I can’t get outside on the Swift but it’s a bit of a minefield.

It could be worth looking into a Pelaton bike P-Jay.    A guy at work uses one and really likes it (not a cyclist though) and you can have a trial: https://www.onepeloton.co.uk/home-trial.

My home training set up consists of a semi smart Tacx trainer – circa £130, an old hardtail with slick tyres and a sub to zwift. I stuck an old telly in front of it to connect my phone or tablet to and away you go..!

Hope it all works out and DO take care 😀

Should have said although I leave mine set up in the cellar it is far more portable than the fully smart jobs

Get a couple of fans, good ones, something like the Cleva Vacmaster. Keeping yourself cool will help with HR issues. Also have plenty of water on hand to drink.

Then I’d check with your consultant about what level of stress he’s happy with you putting on your heart. Get a HRM so if he says keep your HR below 140 or whatever then you can monitor it in real time.

Good luck.

I do have a rusty old Inbred down in the shed that could be knocked into shape; it’s to big for my Wife but maybe we could bodge something to make it useable for her. Certainly seems a cheaper option than a full smart bike.

I have a heart rate monitor (Wahoo) that I use with my Garmin Oregon when I ride (bought after the first heart attack).

I’ve been signed up for another cardiac rehab. group in December so should get some idea there of my capabilities & aims.

A basic list.

A basic dumb turbo that your bike sits in using chunky qr skewers.
A smooth rear tyre.
Speed sensor for the rear wheel.
An ANT+ dongle for your laptop.
Subscription to zwift

That will get you online and be able to ride in zwift. It meant I could do 4 hours on the turbo instead of 45 mins.

Basic dumb turbos are hard to find at a cheap price, I spent 260 euros on a basic smart turbo (elite qubo smart b+ from mantel in nl), that gives you a power measurement which is more accurate to work out speed etc. Can work in Bluetooth so no need for the dongle (not sure if your HR monitor is Bluetooth).

After that, it’s nice to have a fan as opposed to a towel.

I tried Zwift on a dumb trainer. It felt really laggy, unresponsive and the sensors (via the Zwift smartphone app to pair) never worked correctly, I think the cadence just used to keep climbing, and would not come back down until I stopped.

So just bear that in mind, if you find it a bit sht upgrade the trainer or go full bike! It must be better when it feels like your pedaling effort actually results in an increase in speed!

Tacx flow seems to be one of the cheapest trainers that has reasonable Zwift integration capabilities.
I got mine for £180 but, like most bike related stuff, the COVID tax seems to have kicked in.

https://www.wiggle.co.uk/tacx-flow-smart-trainer

Stationary bike is a lot of money for something you don’t know if you’ll take to – I think a basic zwift setup on the inbred is a better approach. Zwift is the only game in town for racing, because of the user-base, but for general indoor riding there are other options which may be better.

If you did want to commit to a stationary bike then concept2 make one for around a grand – given they have built a reputation over decades for making THE indoor rower, you’d have to assume it is at least decent at minimum (not used it myself).

Thanks, I’ve been rather scared by the prices of the smart bikes so knocking the Inbred into shape and getting a decent trainer is looking much more affordable (although there’s still a bewildering amount of products & price points available).

I haven’t decided on anything yet but I’ll keep an eye out to see if there are any decent Black Friday deals (although with the demand for all things cycling going through the roof, I doubt it).

There is a lot to be said for the quietness of a wheel off trainer, I can shut the door and not be heard in the next room on my wahoo core, not sure if they are all quite so quiet, but there is a massive difference to a wheel on trainer, where it really isn’t acceptable to be in the same building as someone using one.

My Thoughts,

I satert with a Tacx Bushido, their wireless wheel on trainer, after a year it made some weird noises, i contacted Garmin who replaced it FoC with a Tacx Flux S. I got the Bushido for £230 and the flux S retailsa t £500 or so, teh Bushido is also no longer made.

Wheel on was ok, a bit more noise and with big changes up in power the wheel sometimes slipped. the Flux S is quiter, and so far seems good. I’d happily recommend the Flux S after a few rides on it. it is heavy at 20KG and doesnt fold down though.

I can only comment on Zwift and Trainer road. Zwift is good if you want to ride around with other people in a virtual world. Trainer road is good if you can find the motivation to follow a graph with ‘motivational’ text thrown in for good measure.

oh and buy a fan

For recovering from a heart procedure I would lean heavily to zwift, there you can ride at your own pace while listening to an audiobook without getting too carried away. Sufferfest, peleton ect tend to push you hard.

As someone with a smart trainer bike thingy in my house, I can guarantee that a bike+turbo trainer is a much more convenient set up. the set-up I have takes up as much space as a bike+turbo but is much harder to move around. It’s also 3x the cost of a decent turbo (but arguably better for it).

Get the inbred set up on a decent (wheel off) turbo if you can 👌

Maybe Fulgaz/Rouvy worth a try if you’re just trying to do a steady workout, watch a video of some nice scenery as you ride, no imperative to do intervals or race anyone. All the platforms have free trials.

Is your wife a cyclist or would she be keener on a more spin studio experience?

If the latter I would recommend a Kaiser M3 bike (second hand c£800) plus a Digme At Home / Digme On Demand subscription for c£30.

Easy to adjust the bike to each person.

Great spin classes (the perform classes are more training focussed) and also access to the HIT and Yoga.

I’ve got a smart trainer and zwift but it’s a pain in the backside to take the bike on and off (even tho it’s a direct drive one) and have to make sure the bike is super squeaky clean after every outside ride. Basically if it’s on the trainer, it’s a disincentive for getting out for a short unplanned ride if there is a good weather window, and if its off the trainer in readiness for a weekend ride, it’s a disincentive to jump in on and having a quick zwift.

I’ve just set up my wife’s hybrid as a Zwift bike, instead of using my road bike. I got a 400mm seatpost and an old saddle I found comfy enough, and a QR seat clamp so we can swap saddles in a jiffy. I think I am going to fit drops on it so she can ride using the tops and I can use the hoods for some more reach – although to be honest the reach isn’t a big issue as whilst it is a little short with the original bars on it’s not really a problem.

My trainer is an Elite Direto I got from Halfords before the original lockdown for £420 and tbh hardly used for ages as the weather was lovely. It’s basic for a smart trainer but spot on, and absolutely loads better than a traditional tyre turbo.

It’s a great idea for someone suffering from heart issues as if you feel yourself getting into trouble you can simply stop, rather than having to get home.

I might not recommend Zwift for someone in your position – it’s really focused on racing, and training hard. If you just want to ride at your own pace I would suggest Rouvy, which has thousands of real-life climbs and general rides from all over the world in video form. I love doing the long Alpine climbs but also random rides from some far flung location, and the quality is good enough that you can spot the local flora and see views and ambience of wherever you’re riding. And you can dial down the realism to enable you to make it up the Tourmalet in a reasonable time frame 🙂

Don’t get a Peleton bike. It’s just like Zwift with all the good bits replaced by someone shouting platitudes at you. If you have tons of cash by a Wahoo Kickr bike and you’ll have a choice of riding apps – and it goes up and down and other better features.

I started with a tacx flow, an old iPhone SE with a dongle connected to the telly, running Zwift. Worked spot on, had another old smart phone on the bars to control the app.
I’ve switched to a laptop now but I was surprised to discover it’s not much different GUI wise

Maybe Fulgaz/Rouvy/BigringVR worth a try if you’re just trying to do a steady workout, watch a video of some nice scenery as you ride, no imperative to do intervals or race anyone. All the platforms have free trials.

I might not recommend Zwift for someone in your position – it’s really focused on racing, and training hard.

Completely disagree. It’s focused on whatever you want from it. I’ve also been recovering from a heart issue (got my hole fixed over a year ago) and I’ve used it for gentle recovery bimbles while watching Netflix or listening to podcasts. I’ve been working my way through all the route badges – I’ve done all the ones that take less than 2 hours now – and I can ride at my own pace and effort. I’ve also done a few of the organised rides and club meet-ups too.

I’ve raced on there in the past and I have friends that race 3-4 times a week and love it, but there’s plenty to keep you interested without races.

I have a Tacx Flux S set up in my garage.

I bought a cheap/old Pinnacle hybrid to use as a station bike a couple of years ago – but I despise riding on the road so it rarely got used. It’s a permanent fixture on the turbo trainer now. It’s set up a bit like a mountain bike – wide bars, wide range cassette – but has a 44t chainring.

I use Zwift and it’s mind numbingly dull compared to being outside. But it’s a damn sight better than not using it. I can manage an hour, but that’s enough to give me a bit of mid-week cardio once or twice a week (plus a real ride at the weekend). I use it with an iPad mounted on my bars and my Apple Watch as a HR monitor.

I did attempt to use Zwift with a dumb trainer a couple of years ago but it wasn’t really doing it for me. At least with a smart trainer there’s some variety in the effort you have to put in and it does feel ever so slightly like proper riding. Plus it’s a lot quieter.

I need to try the Zwift off road section soon – maybe that will inject some fun into the whole thing. Here’s hoping.

Headphones/music and a big fan are a must.

I honestly think if you are going to invest in a stationary bike for this, it needs to be one of the proper smart bikes (Wahoo/Tacx/Wattbike). Whatever you choose, you really need your setup to do just two things – report power, and change the resistance automatically (whether for % gradient in a simulated ride or for power in a structured workout / erg mode). Other stationary bikes – including peloton – do neither of those things, so you end up with the worst of all possible worlds. You’d need to add sensors (either speed/cadence which is cheap but inaccurate, or a proper powermeter, which is accurate but spendy) and still have to adjust the resistance yourself as you ride etc. A proper smart bike is an expensive option though.

But more importantly, any stationary bike will take up more space than a turbo won’t it? So your space comment is surely a reason to avoid, not to buy, a stationary bike. Get a turbo. Choose one which folds nicely.

You mention £1000. That leaves change from a direct drive trainer with the Inbred on it (and a cassette). If you are unsure, if you shop carefully a smart wheel-on trainer will probably hold its value for a couple of weeks while you try it out. (I don’t understand people, but there are used tacx flows on ebay selling for more than the wiggle price linked above at the moment.)

I’d go for a bike-on trainer, rather than a dedicated smart bike. They take up less space. They are also cheaper, plus you get to have a bike that can be used in the real world too.

I second

molgrips

advice.

Wheel on is worth a bit extra. Having a dedicated bike on it is better still!

Another Elite Direto user here, and it’s excellent.

Zwift is great, but as above, Rouvy or the Garmin one that uses real life routes are more suited to dialling things down a bit. That said, I’ve done a solo 100km Zwift ride and found it perfectly engaging.

Once you get the trainer, you’ll need something to run the software – laptop or iPad probably easiest and cheapest. If you have one of these already, bonus! I think Zwift is the only one to run from an ipad, but I may be wrong.

Hopefully your HRM will connect to the computer / pad without bother, saving some more £.

As all others say, get a fan.

That’s all you ‘need’ so could come in well under £1k if you have the laptop already.

In the meantime – all the very best in getting your heart health back up there!

molgrips

I might not recommend Zwift for someone in your position – it’s really focused on racing, and training hard.

It’s really not. I used Zwift for well over 3 years before doing a race of any sort.
I used it to alleviate the boredom of riding on the turbo trainer in the winter when the weather was too poor to get out on the bike.
Back when it started, you were really limited by the amount of places you could ride & the routes you could do – now you can access 3 locations at any one time & there are tons of routes.
There are also masses of group rides you can join in on if you fancy that kind of thing.

I started with a really old Tacx trainer, which I used for a full winter before deciding if I wanted to stump up the cash on a smart trainer. The trainer wasn’t on their recommended/calibrated options, so I just used the profile of one of the basic Tacx trainers & it seemed OK.
I went for a Tacx Flow Smart because I didn’t want to spend a fortune. It’s fine for ‘just riding about’. I have noticed lately doing the STW race series that it lags badly compared to others so can be hard to stay in a cluster or react to a sprint etc. But, from the sounds of it that isn’t really gonna be a concern for you.

Thanks for all the input, there’s bags to think about. It sounds like a turbo trainer is the way to go (possibly the only affordable way too) although nothing seems to be in stock at present (Garmin are stating the first quarter of 2021 for theirs).

I’ve got an old Pipedream Sirius frame (that’s in better shape than the dirty old Inbred) and enough spares to fit it with a 3×9 drivetrain (it could then stay on the turbo). I assume that most turbos will work with a QR (135) wheeled bike?

I doubt that I’ll be racing, even back when I was in good shape (over a year ago now) I was never more than a keen pootler!

It sounds like there are lots of options on the software front too; hopefully my old desktop PC will be up to the job.

I’ll keep an eye out for Black Friday deals and on the classifieds.

First day back to work today after the 3rd attack; fingers crossed it goes smoothly and, if it does, I might consider a gentle pootle around the block over the next few days.

Can you rent Wattbike or similar? Now that Wattbike Atom NG is rolling out there might be some good deals on the original model too.

When comparing the a smart bike and trainer + bike space requirement is worth noting that smart bikes actually fit in smaller space length-wise and do not have moving sharp pointy things and dirty chains.

This is possibly a silly question, but I’ve looked at a few options and all of the turbos I’ve checked have mentioned that they work with 135mm QR axels (and a variety of other standards) but there’s no mention of wheel sizes.

Direct drive turbo trainers seem to have the freewheel at a fixed height, will I have any issues using an old 26″ wheeled bike (is it just a case of raising the front wheel)?

I’ll keep an eye out in the Black Friday sales to see if anything comes up.

You need to do strength training for heart health. Don’t take my word for it, Dr Doug McGuff will explain:

(He’s a keen BMXer, if that helps)

Direct drive turbo trainers seem to have the freewheel at a fixed height, will I have any issues using an old 26″ wheeled bike (is it just a case of raising the front wheel)?

You will want to raise the front wheel – many trainers come with a block (a plastic wheel holder thing), but you can buy them separately. I guess that if you are on 26 you’ll want to stick something under it. Or get one that has different heights.

Also, strength training of some kind is a good idea for everyone. Especially as you get older.

How about rollers, much cheaper ( some currently in classifieds ), easy to store and the time flies because you have to stay focused or you fall off!

And British cycling have loads of training plans

If you go for a wheel on trainer, most of them have enough adjustment for 26″ & 700c wheels.

My old Tacx has some adaptor plates you had to swap about, but the Flow Smart I have now has enough adjustment built in, I think.

Thanks, I think that part of the problem is not really knowing what I need. I’d still prefer to be out cycling but I think that, with my ropey heart, something indoors based would be a good supplement.

I use to do lots of strength training in my younger days but haven’t for a long time. The Cardiac Rehab. group I attended was totally aerobic type stuff (I’m starting another one, at a different hospital, next week).

I think that I’m just going to have to work out what I can afford and see what’s available. I was hoping that Black Friday might result in some deals but I haven’t seen anything yet (Wahoo have stuck a Black Friday logo on their products but the prices seem the same). I’d guess that the demand for this type of stuff is still sky high, so deals are unlikely.

I was hoping that Black Friday might result in some deals

Demand for gym kit has been through the roof all year, so no need to discount anything as it sells out pretty much the minute it arrives.

Thanks, I think that part of the problem is not really knowing what I need.

Someone must have put together some cardio rehab programs…..

I find it a worry spending money, but I’ve pressed the button on a Wahoo Kickr Snap (one of the last on CRC) as the reviews seem really good and it’s more affordable; it should give me what I need. I need to build the old frame up now and hope that my heart behaves itself!

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Oh poo! The order’s been cancelled and refunded by CRC; they’ve not given any info. as to why but I guess it’s out of stock.

Wiggle & CRC have a stock alert email thingy that’ll tell you when it’s back in stock – it still took me a few attempts before I got my Tacx one as they seemed to sell out again in a matter of minutes.

I’ve been looking around at options and had settled on the Wahoo Kickr Snap due to it’s price (we’re not flush with cash) but then I notice something like the Kickr Core (not currently in stock) or the Tacx Flux 2 for a couple of hundred pounds more (£699 is a shed load of money but equally, in terms of my long term health over years is probably affordable).

The problem is that there’s always something ‘better’ for just a bit more, and before you know it you’re looking at a two grand smart bike.

Is something like the Kickr Snap a good place to start for an aging man with a dicky ticker? I’ve an old frame and enough in the spares bin to turn it into a usable 3×9 bike to use with a trainer. The plan would be to do proper riding in the real world once I’ve pushed myself a bit and gained enough confidence that I’m not going to have another heart attack.

I’d probably need to factor in the cost of a reasonable tablet for the online stuff.