Standing while on a Turbo

zardoz

I was following a Turbo schedule the other night from the TACX website and there were a couple of points where it said to stand on the pedals. Now I have no problem standing oin the pedals while on the road but on the Turbo it just felt a totally unnatural thing to do. Do others have a similar problem or is there a technique to doing it on a Turbo.

If it feels so unnatural I wonder at the benefit of even attempting it and just stay sitting.

Alan

sadlybiggins

I do it a lot on my Tacx Satori, particularly 2 minute bursts standing with one minute break sitting, but it does feel weird to me and not the same as being out on the road. I don't think there's any particular technique to it, but you obviously can't rock the bars. I find that doing this makes a big difference when back out on the road because I feel that I can power up shorter ascents while standing without tiring myself out. I also find it's a good use of turbo time as I get a pretty exhausting session out of one hour.

sungod

yep, it's nothing like on the road

this is supposed to be a lot better, pricey though...

http://www.kurtkinetic.com/rock-roll-p-112-l-en.html

FergySteve

I tried this the other night and found I wobbled a bit. :? Got to be careful not to be overly enthusiastic!

jgsi

It probably depends as much on your turbo as on your technique...
The satori can withstand the abuse, but it is unlike on the road as the fixed nature of the turbo locks you more into an unnatural position - it is a lot harder to keep form and you do need your turbo to respond with appropriate hard resistance to help you keep form.
With a bit of technique you can actually punish your legs to spin up hard and sprint.
Sufferfest Blender has 18 short sprint bursts that test technique and whether your shoes are done up nice and tight
In normal workouts, a few seconds every so often out and up is enough to keep comfort.

elderone

I do this to try and build standing endurance,but I find I can only do it sprinting in the hardest gear I have.50/11
but im a short arSe so that may help.

FergySteve

Was only the first go on my trainer - hopefully I'll get used to the differences. It might also have something to do with the mat I got to dampen the noise/vibration (live in a first floor flat) as the back section which the turbo sits on is quite thick and spongy (12mm), so probably has a bit of 'give' and doesn't help the standing stability thing.

zoltansocrates

wouldnt bother standing, fear of bending stays etc
i just sit and tap it out for 90mins

sadlybiggins

I forgot to mention that, as others have posted, I put the resistance on full when I stand, otherwise I find the pedal stroke is very "lumpy" and the potential for doing myself a mischief on the bars is quite high. Equally I find that if I flex the bike involuntarily when out of the saddle it can make the resistance vary slightly for the downstroke so I try to keep as still as possible. I only use my old alu hybrid on the turbo don't worry too much about strains on the frame.

jgsi

zoltansocrates wrote:

wouldnt bother standing, fear of bending stays etc
i just sit and tap it out for 90mins

gawd sakes.. you aint going to break your bike on a turbo, end of.

Juantwothreefour

I had this when I first started on a turbo and also feared that my bike might break. I've found that as long as I don't rock the bars overly it's fine. But I can understand your initial worries.

cougie

Standing is fine. Just don't rock. It's not good to stay in one position for a long time. Things go numb.