Cycling training indoors
Training on an indoor turbo trainer during winter. Good reasons to train on a turbo and how to make the most of your time on a turbo.
If you ask any cyclist his/her opinion about training on an indoor turbo trainer, you will get a mixture of response. Some will tell you it is pure torture, others seem to quite enjoy it. I know of one top cyclist [1] who often spends 6 hours at a time on his indoor turbo.
These are some good reasons to train on a turbo.
- Avoid the winter weather. Cycling in icy wet conditions can be dangerous, turbo training avoids all these problems. This is especially useful in winter the alternative to training indoors may be training in the dark.
- Avoid road rage. It is a sad fact that cyclists seem to get an increasingly rough treatment on the road from other users. Getting cut up by a four-wheel drive can often spoil a good training session.
- You can control the environment. Many of the top riders like to do their interval sessions on an indoor turbo because they can scientifically monitor their interval sessions. On roads it may be difficult to follow a certain training plan because you have to stop for traffic. Also if you are doing very high intensity intervals you don’t want to have to be thinking about other traffic on the roads. A really hard interval should take you to the limit. At time your may begin to feel light-headed.
- Avoid punctures. An obvious reason, although it is possible to puncture on a turbo as well if you use the wrong tyre.
- You can watch TV and listen to music at the same time as training. How many cyclists have set through several hours of the Tour de France feeling guilty that they would be better off training themselves. A TV next to a turbo can enable you to multi task and get the best of both worlds. Similarly a great way to pass the time whilst training on a turbo is to listen to your favourite music. If it is the right kind of music it can inspire you to train.
How to make training on a turbo more tolerable.
- Give yourself goals. Get a computer that works on a rear wheel so you can see how far you have gone. Setting fixed targets in terms of time and distance can help you to stick it out when it gets boring.
- Use turbo for mainly high intensity training. A lot of modern training techniques concentrate on quality of training rather than quantity. Unless you a pro, it is not necessary to spend hours every day. Training session of 1 hour can be very beneficial if you train in the right zone.
- As mentioned about listening to music or even watching cycling videos may help.
- A good fan is a must. Training indoors can make you uncomfortably hot. If you train inside you must have a very good fan. In summer 2 fans may be necessary. It best to have enough cooling wind to need 1 base layer to wick away the sweat. If you are too hot you will not last on the turbo at all.
- Make sure your riding position is comfortable, it should also match the position of your usual riding position, otherwise you can become susceptible to injury when you switch between the two. It may be advisable to use the same bike, but just switch the rear wheel. Make sure you use something to catch the sweat though. You don’t want your new top of the range bike to start rusting.
- Remind yourself of what the great cycling legend Fausto Coppi said when someone asked him for advice on becoming a great cycling champion. “Ride a bike”.
[1] Michael Hutchinson says he can spend upto 6 hours at a time on a turbo, probably why he’s a multiple national champion in UK time trials.