How do you use your trainer?

[topjimmy ✓ supporter]

Posted this over on sorba.org as well. Figured it can’t hurt to post it here as well. Not sure if these are stupid questions but I am gonna ask anyway. With the cold weather and the Holiday Season here I haven’t had much time to hit Blanket’s Creek. I set up my trainer with my hardtail Fuji in the bedroom. Went to Outspokin’ and got a smooth tire after all the noise. Got a "speed o" set up for the back tire and all. Just done 4 miles on the thing and built up one heck of a sweat and thought of these questions while I was pedaling nowhere.

My questions:

When you are on your trainer do you pay attention to mileage or time?

Do you try and keep a certain speed?

Do you stay in one gear or change?

I have a heart rate monitor so is it best to just get the heart rate up for a set time?

Just trying to figure out what is best so I don’t lose all my strength during the winter months. I don’t have a climbing block to "simulate" climbing as they advertise because I don’t believe a block or anything can simulate gravity. When I ride Blanket’s now I usually ride all five trails once and hit Dwelling Loop a second time(roughly 18 miles).

[fleetwood]

I don’t have a trainer, so I’m not much help. If I can’t ride (for whatever reason), then I don’t ride (and get depressed). To me, a trainer seems like a treadmill and I’m not sure I could take it. I guess if you are training for something specific, a trainer is better than nothing, but I’d rather get out on the trail. It sounds like you get some good mileage under your belt when you are riding. If it were me, I would just wait until I could ride again. A few rides and you’ll be back in the saddle, so to speak. That’s the way I approach it anyway. But, who am I, right? I’m pushing myself to ride (and run) more when it’s dark, cold, wet, inconvenient, etc. I’ve got a ways to go, but I’m working on it. Good luck to you though.

[crossroads]

I bought one (Kinetic Rock & Roll) this past summer thinking I would spend alot of time on it this winter. I’ve been riding trails in the cold & snow and having fun but still hit the trainer when work doesn’t allow for driving to trails. I have an old wal-mart bike on it with a slick tire and usually ride it a couple of times per week. I track my time, 45 min to an hour, and estimate my milage based on the gears I’m using, don’t have a computer on it yet. Usually I stay in the higher gears and keep between 16 and 18 mph changing gears when the legs burn, ride easier for a while and go back to higher gears. It came with a workout dvd (road bikes) that I previewed and they alternate from higher to lower gearing at set intervals to maximize your "training zone" over a 60 minute period. Gonna try it soon to see how out of shape I am 😀 But just like fleetwood mentioned, I’d rather be on a trail 😃

[TheWVPedaler]

I ride on a trainer a good bit during the winter. I dont ride my mountie on the trainer though, I ride my roadie. I pretty much just keep track of my time on the trainer and do intervals between the highest 2 gears. I would love to ride the trails here inb the winter but a lot of them close down and it tears up the trails real bad. I like riding the trainer but I am not sure if I would ride it with my Titus. I also have a kinetic trainer. They are nice.

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