Spin bike training

alphacharlie

Due to working 140 miles away from my road bike or MTB I'm stuck with using a spin bike in the gym for any sort of cycling training.

I started off doing the preset programs as its got a virtual trainer built into it and upped my time on the bike from 30 min, through to the full 1hr program and built up my distance from 16.5km to 33km.

The other week I got bored of the same old routine and decided to go for the distance marker rather than time and did 40km in 65-70 mins over a few sessions, last week I upped it to 50.2km and managed that in 1 hr 28 min with an av HR of 102 and RPM of 91, today I pushed a little harder and managed 50.3km in 1hr 19 min with an av HR of 112 and RPM of 102.

When I'm home I try and get out on the road bike if I'm on my own or the MTB if its a ride with the kids and I know I'm benefiting from the Spinning training as my ride times are coming down or the distance I achieve is going up.

I'm hoping to change job in the next few months so will be living back at home full time, It'll probably be nearly winter by then though so the opportunity to ride after work will come on the turbo trainer along with a couple of Sufferfest video's Ive recently purchased.

I'm guessing if I can manage an 50km/88min slog on the spin bike I should be able to do something similar on my own bike on the trainer?

Having reread this I'm not sure why I've typed it.
Cheers
AC

Kubotai

I'm sure glad you typed it as I've been thinking about a spin bike. I already have a Tacx trainer which both my wife and I use, but we found the vibrations to be annoying. It resonates through the house from the attic down to the living room. Now we're thinking about getting a spin bike for the winter to cut down the noise. I didn't know if it would provide a good training, but by the sound of it, it will. Have you found that you can put your position on the bike roughly similar to that on the road bike?

phreak

That's impressive to average 38km/hr with an average heart rate of just over 100!

alphacharlie

Kubotai wrote:

I'm sure glad you typed it as I've been thinking about a spin bike. I already have a Tacx trainer which both my wife and I use, but we found the vibrations to be annoying. It resonates through the house from the attic down to the living room. Now we're thinking about getting a spin bike for the winter to cut down the noise. I didn't know if it would provide a good training, but by the sound of it, it will. Have you found that you can put your position on the bike roughly similar to that on the road bike?

Its a Tacx Flow trainer I have but only ever used it downstairs or in the garage, yes I have found it pretty easy to replicate a road position on the spin bike, the gym have these;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UA8-_srFjz4

Cheers
AC

alphacharlie

phreak wrote:

That's impressive to average 38km/hr with an average heart rate of just over 100!

I've always seemed to have a low heart rate, so much so its sometimes hard to get it up to a target area and when compared to alot of my younger colleagues or gym mates who are 10+ years younger than me I'm at 110-115 and they are 150+ on the same machine and program.
Cheers
AC