Turbo training

sbbefc

I was thinking of buying a turbo in the £90-150 price bracket.

Is it possible to replicate training for the Alps with a fairly basic model? How would I go about doing that?

Is it also possible to turn a fairly basic magnetic tubro into a virtual reality trainer?

I don't have a power, cadence or hrm monitor

Thanks

JayKosta

If the trainer can be adjusted to a resistance level similar to hills and allows you to get into your typical 'riding position', then it will be adequate for training.

Get a large fan for cooling, and some motivational music to set the pace.

Ride long and hard, rest and recover, repeat.....

Jay Kosta
Endwell NY USA

davidof

sbbefc wrote:

I was thinking of buying a turbo in the £90-150 price bracket.

Is it possible to replicate training for the Alps with a fairly basic model? How would I go about doing that?

The simple answer is you need to be able to grind out your threshold power for about 1 - 1.5 hours to replicate an alpine col. You can do that on a turbo. However that wouldn't be the best use of your time if you are training for alpine rides.

Be careful to get a model with enough resistance for the training you want to do and one supported by the software you want to use.

Is it also possible to turn a fairly basic magnetic tubro into a virtual reality trainer?

I don't have a power, cadence or hrm monitor

Thanks

If by that you mean riding pre-recorded films with playback speed linked to your power, yes it is. You'll need an ANT+ dongle, you can get them for about a $10 on eBay and as a minimum a speed sensor plus some software to tie it all together.

diy

To be honest I find watching youtube vids of other peoples rides pretty good and then trying to keep pace with their performance using my own data. I'm only using HR, cadence and resistance as a rule, but I can relate my HR fairly accurately to performance on the road. If you don't have a computer with HR and cadence for the bike, personally I'd go cheaper on the turbo and invest in a computer I can use both indoors and outdoors.

cougie

Get a turbo that's compatible with trainerroad. Lots of options there. And riding uphill is just the same as riding with extra resistance on the turbo.

phreak

Most of my training for Alpine style riding has been done on a turbo over the years. I have a Tacx Flow (one at Evans for £200 - http://www.evanscycles.com/products/tac ... lsrc=aw.ds), and whilst I know the power reading isn't comparable to real power, it is at least consistent, so I try and maintain a steady power output for an hour (or longer depending on the kind of climb I'm training for).

That's done me fine thus far. As has been suggested, the key really is to be able to do ~1 hour at a steady pace without interruptions. That's hard out on the road as you have traffic lights, cars, different terrain and the like.

I've downloaded a good library of pro races from cyclingtorrents and tend to stick those on whilst I'm riding.

sbbefc

Thanks for all the replies.

I've already purchased the turbo, tacx blue motion, it was at a reduced price so I went for that one. I still do a lot of training over the winter in the dark so I don't really see the need to spend too much on one.

At the moment I've got a cadence sensor which I link up to my android phone and a cheap hrm which only links to the watch provided with it. I've ordered a ant + dongle for the computer. The garmin edge 200 I have doesnt link to anything.

So im just thinking of the best way to use the equipment I currently have and to mix up training if possible. The main target is to get better at climbing but I don't just want to be slogging it out for hours at a constant speed.

Id also like to ask if anyone uses any decent android apps for turbo training?