Anyone have a bike trainer?

[Demo24]

With fall and winter quickly approaching I'm trying to find a way to extend my riding/cardio through the cooler months. Running/jogging not an option, the cool air hurts my lungs after awhile, and with it getting dark earlier it's cutting into my ride times once I do get home.

I was looking at this one: http://www.cycleops.com/en/products...ypage_images.tpl&product_id=168&category_id=3

Seems to get really good reviews most everywhere and pretty much exactly what I'm looking for. Would love for one to display power output, but on the other hand this is calibrated on a scale so I could figure out later roughly what the wattage was.

Thoughts?

 

[Nebor]

Running/jogging not an option, the cool air hurts my lungs after awhile...

Thoughts?

Toughen up? Do you live in Canada or something? The snow would be too deep for me to run in before I gave up due to cold air hurting my lungs.

 

[Dirigible]

Got a trainer from 1upusa.

It's boring as hell. I use it occasionally during winter when I'm too wimpy to face the weather. Better than doing nothing but its not something I could force myself to do on a regular basis.

On balance I'm glad I have a trainer.

 

[Demo24]

Toughen up? Do you live in Canada or something? The snow would be too deep for me to run in before I gave up due to cold air hurting my lungs.

Those were meant as separate bullet points, running isn't really an option in warm weather either.

For whatever reason cooler air and exertive exercise = quite a lot of pain in my airways after awhile. Enough so that I tend to try and avoid getting to that point if I can.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Cold air in Northern GA? Wow. I run year around in Boston.

Cycleops make the best fluid stationary bike trainers, so yes that one is recommended.

However, I'd recommend rollers. Forces you to concentrate and pedal with good form.

 

[arrfep]

Cold air in Northern GA? Wow. I run year around in Boston.

Cycleops make the best fluid stationary bike trainers, so yes that one is recommended.

However, I'd recommend rollers. Forces you to concentrate and pedal with good form.

Came in here to say this. Replicates the feeling of actually riding like no stationary trainer can. They're tough to learn but once you get it you'll love it.

 

[Fausto]

Cold air in Northern GA? Wow. I run year around in Boston.

It's totally reasonable to ride most days in the winter here in GA. You just have to dress for it. Once in a blue moon we get snow/ice, but usually it's just cold (and honestly not all that cold in the grand scheme of things).

Cycleops make the best fluid stationary bike trainers, so yes that one is recommended.

However, I'd recommend rollers. Forces you to concentrate and pedal with good form.

Both is really the way to go if you can afford it. Trainer for hammering, rollers for form and indoor base miles.

That said, there is no surer way to teach yourself to hate cycling than to spend a lot of time on the trainer. Spend the money on layers for winter and you will be a much happier person.

 

[KMc]

I use a Kurt Kinetic trainer.
http://www.kurtkinetic.com/road-machine-p-198-l-en.html

Same as the Cycleops trainer, it is calibrated to true road resistance, so there's no resistance adjustments, you just get on and ride - shifting gears as you would on the road to increase/decrease resistance. It's fairly accurate too, I spend January and February riding exclusively indoors and when I finally get outside in March, I find speed is pretty consistent with where I've been training.

The main thing I like about the Kurt is that the hydraulic unit is completely sealed - so it will never leak.

 

[Druidx]

Another vote for the Kurt Kinetic trainer. Get the normal road machine version not the rock and roll one because it's junk. I love mine with the extra pro flywheel.
http://www.kurtkinetic.com/kinetic-video-i-80-l-en.html

 

[Phanuel]

As others have said, prepare to set sail for "Holywtfbbq this is boring" town.

 

[Demo24]

I looked at rollers, far as I can tell there is minimal resistance there and its mostly spinning. I'd prefer to have resistance and train at specific speeds that i know have been calibrated to be within a certain range of what doing that speed on the road would be. And yes I know it could get boring, can't be worse than using a stationary bike and I used one of those for a long time before I got a proper road bike and started going out, besides better than doing nothing at all or only biking on the weekends.

Been looking at the kurts as well, guess I'll compare the two more closely. Both seem to have long warranties , so not too worried about things breaking.

Thanks for the suggestions!

---
As a final word on the cold thing, I know what cold is( have in fact left Georgia believe it or not) and I like it well enough, but not when exercising vigorously in temps below say 60ish. Many years ago the doctor suggested it a form of asthma, but I've learned how to work around it and I haven't bothered to track it down specifically.

 

[Druidx]

One last bit of information I forgot to add. You didn't mention what kind of bike you use. If it's a mountain bike with knobby tires, you'll want replace the back tire with a slick to greatly reduce the noise. In fact, if you're going to be using the trainer a lot over the winter, I would replace the back tire regardless with a cheapo because the trainer will wear a tire out much quicker than road use. So if you have expensive tire on your bike, change the back to save it for the summer.

 

[munchydoan]

Cool dry air jacks my lungs up too. I fried them so bad doing cyclocross that my pulmonologist made me quit for two months. Its a condition called exercise induce bronchodilation. You can read about it here:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/13/why-do-so-many-winter-olympians-have-asthma/

The trainer is boring as hell. I have a 1upusa and its one of the best ones out there. Very quiet. 1/2 hour on it feels like eternity. Last year I found the sufferfest videos and they help the time go by. Each workout is less than an hour and you get a lot done if you push through the intervals as hard as you should.