I’ve just entered the world of turbo trainers. I’ve got myself a ‘dumb’ Elite turbo and I’ve been following some YouTube videos and experimenting with different uploaders to see which I like. So far I’ve tried:
GCN newer and older style ones
Turbo Tripping
CTXC
And a GCN one with Sufferfest guy leading it.

I’ve also spotted RI:ID on there which I will try.

I quite like the spin class style ones but they seem to be mostly short sprint max effort workouts and I fancy trying some more sustained effort workouts but it seems quite hard to find those.

Has anyone got link to any they use? Either short or long effort ones. I’ve mostly done about 30-40 minute videos but keen to try some up to an hour, but more than that and I’ll just get bored I think.

I know I could just get a timer and make up my own but I find the videos keep my motivation better.

Any advice or links would be great, thanks.

GCN 40 minute sweetspot video was my go-to for a while. They do two different versions.

They also do a 30 minute hill climb video up Sa Calobra.

Add in a 20 minute British Cycling warm-up drill and you’ll easily get a good hour out of those (I also ‘re-start’ the sweetspot video after tge first interval to make it a 3×15 session).

Ok, I’ll have a look at the Sweetspot ones.

Anyone got any others they use?

Just had a bit of a flick through the sweetspot sessions on GCN. They do look good. Thanks for pointing me that way

How do you use the sweet spot vids, do you need to set the turbo to a certain setting or something or just jump on and ride?

Initially I just experimented using a speed sensor until I found a pace I could maintain for the whole video. If you’re using a fluid trainer that might be somewhere around 26-30km/h. When I used a cheaper magnetic trainer it was max resistance and approx 35km/h

Remember to be consistent with tyre pressures, roller adjustment etc.

Perfect sweetspot is somewhere around 90%FTP but without powermeters or a fancier turbo I think ‘sustainable for 2 (or 3) 15 minute intervals’ is good enough.

I use http://www.netflix.com 🙂

I’ve got a smart turbo. Elite Zumo. Wondered if you need to be aiming for a certain power or something. Or just ride at whatever cadence they tell you to?

I’ve got a smart turbo

Ah, OK, I’ve never ridden a smart turbo so not sure how it would work if you chose to use it ‘dumb’ i.e. with the videos above.

I guess you could experiment trying to see what power you can maintain for the duration rather than speed. The two are broadly interchangeable anyway if you keep everything else the same. Maybe start at 200W sweetspot? (equivalent to an FTP of 225W).

You would still need to do an FTP test to figure out your exact sweetspot zone though.

Tried the gcn sweetspot with Si last night. It was good a definitely the sort of workout I was after. They have a couple of other ones like that too so will try those too. Think I need to up the resistance of the turbo as I was in the top gear on my gravel bike when doing the low cadence strength intervals and could have done with another gear really.