turbo warm up before road ride

elderone

As title says,is it worth doing a turbo warm up for 10 mins before setting off on a road ride.The reason i ask is because as soon as i get on to the road there are hills either way.One way is straight into a hill and the other way is about a minute away so basically im at full wack straight away with no time to warm up.
Does a warm up make a difference or should I just plod along as before,bearing in mind its a palava to get bike on turbo etc,or are the hills actually a warm up.
Any thoughts.

DavidJB

elderone wrote:

As title says,is it worth doing a turbo warm up for 10 mins before setting off on a road ride.The reason i ask is because as soon as i get on to the road there are hills either way.One way is straight into a hill and the other way is about a minute away so basically im at full wack straight away with no time to warm up.
Does a warm up make a difference or should I just plod along as before,bearing in mind its a palava to get bike on turbo etc,or are the hills actually a warm up.
Any thoughts.

In a warm up just stick it in the lowest gear and spin slowly up the hill...just because it's a hill you don't have to go at max effort! Warm ups are important but you can do it going up hill just go slow.

cougie

You're not Bradley Wiggins out to smash the final Tour tt ?

I'd just take it steady on the road. As you say it's a palaver to get the bike on and off the turbo.

This is unless some buggers set it as a strava segment. Then you can do the full wiggo warmup !

elderone

Im already in lowest gear for hill so that wont change.
yes its a strava segment,but im not woried about that.
This has only occured to me since getting a turbo and all the exercises begin with a 10min warm up before pushing hard.these hills are steep and hard going even when warmed up so just wondering if i am doing damage by pushing to quick.

napoleond

I'd just crack on, the first hill *is* your warmup!

thegreatdivide

I'm in the same boat as you. I live half way up a hill so it's gradient from the off and as above I use the hill as my warm up. Just start tapping away in a low gear and it'll warm the legs up.

saprkzz

It totally depends on the style of ride your about to do, if its out with your mates or on your own, casual just clocking miles, then no, warm up for 10 mimutes by riding gentle, and then build up, and use the first hill to brush the cobwebs out. On the 2nd hill you will be ready, and also on this type of ride it doesnt matter if you go slow to begin with.

However, On Monday night, a few of us meet up, and there are 2 Cat1's and 2 Cat3's and from the word go its straight into killer speed and hang on. When we meet up they have already riden 10 miles so have had a nice warm up, where I live a 30 second ride from the meeting place. So i sit on the turbo for 15 minutes to prepare to hang on for dear life!.

I

southdownswolf

If I am going to be riding in a group then I always prefer to do warm-ups outside at this time of year so that I can start off with less layers on. If I go straight into a ride, then within a few minutes I want to take a layer off, so why not do 10 min warm up outside before starting to cycle "properly"? If this means going the opposite way for a few minutes, so be it. If you are going by yourself, then as others have said, the hill is your warm up.

bompington

I could see the benefit if, like me, the first ten minutes of your ride are mostly downhill - doing that at about -4° this morning was no fun at all.

elderone

thanks for replies chaps.I ride alone so looks like ill just carry on and warm up as before using the hills.the ice today was to bad for any cycle,looked like a xmas card out side.

andyrr

I'd heard of someone benefitting from a short turbo/roller session prior to heading out. This person suffered from asthma - exercise-induced or not, not sure which - and on cold days getting warmed up prior to actually heading out in to cold air reduced their problem so it might have some value as a replacement or alternative to the simpler 'ride gently on the road' procedure.

MattyyP

saprkzz wrote:

So i sit on the turbo for 15 minutes to prepare to hang on for dear life!.

I

This sounds like fun!

andy_wrx

bompington wrote:

I could see the benefit if, like me, the first ten minutes of your ride are mostly downhill - doing that at about -4° this morning was no fun at all.

Same here.
I'm not at the top of a mountain, but all ways out are downhill.
Takes me at least 10 minutes to get warmed-up if it's really cold, hands in particular are freezing as I have a touch of Raynaud's.
So spending that 10 minutes on rollers or turbo before I go out is a good idea if I have time.

giant_man

Don't fart about on a trainer before you go out, just get out there man!

Herbsman

You clearly have reason to think it might benefit you, so why not just try it for yourself instead of asking for other people's approval?

IMO it is a good idea, and I would do it myself if I could be bothered to swap wheel, lock bike into turbo, ride, unlock, swap wheel back again. Luckily the hill I have to climb isn't too long or steep.

elderone

Herbsman wrote:

You clearly have reason to think it might benefit you, so why not just try it for yourself instead of asking for other people's approval?

IMO it is a good idea, and I would do it myself if I could be bothered to swap wheel, lock bike into turbo, ride, unlock, swap wheel back again. Luckily the hill I have to climb isn't too long or steep.

Firstly i wasn,t and never have looked for other peoples approval ,so what give you that idea,i dont know.
Secondly,what I do look for is peoples advice,as this can be useful.

Herbsman

Ok. But other people's advice isn't going to tell you whether or not it will work for you. From the looks of it the majority opinion was to use the road, and you've decided to go with that. OK so a turbo warmup could be a bit of a hassle, but how will you ever know whether it would have benefited you if you don't try it?

elderone

Herbsman wrote:

Ok. But other people's advice isn't going to tell you whether or not it will work for you. From the looks of it the majority opinion was to use the road, and you've decided to go with that. OK so a turbo warmup could be a bit of a hassle, but how will you ever know whether it would have benefited you if you don't try it?

Good points indeed.The general view as you say is just use the road so that answers my question.I thought it prudent to ask as im still on recoery rides after my accident and therefore at this point in time the wisdom off more experianced riders is useful to prevent any further delays in getting back upto speed.
Using the turbo first would be a pain so if not benificial then its time not wasted