Sufferfest on a Spin Bike ?

redjeepǃ

I'm working away from home and it looks like I'll be away from my beloved pain cave each week from Mon - Thu evening for the foreseeable future. I've been fighting the Couchlandrians who were offering me tea and biscuits this evening, and want to stay true to my Sufferlandrian values. The only way that I can see me being able to do this is by using the spin bikes in the local gym.

Has anybody used the Sufferfest videos on a spin bike ? I realise that there'll be no feedback but reckon that I could still follow a video if I download it onto my tablet and do the intervals.

Finally, has anybody figured out how to temporarily mount a tablet to a spin bike ?

cgfw201

I used to do this a few years ago.

Used a gorillapod (think that's what it was called) and mounted that on the bars and just used RPE for efforts.

Could use a Bluetooth hrm now for a bit more feedback.

AK_jnr

RPE, always good to go back to riding by feel rather than becoming a slave to the numbers

redjeepǃ

cgfw201 wrote:

I used to do this a few years ago.

Used a gorillapod (think that's what it was called) and mounted that on the bars and just used RPE for efforts.

Could use a Bluetooth hrm now for a bit more feedback.

That seems a great idea. I actually have a gorillapod lying around somewhere. I'll give that a go. I agree with the comments about RPE as well. Might be nice to simplify things a little.

Ah, nostalgia for old skool turbo sessions....

I think that I could use my current hrm as I can connect the ANT dongle to my tablet.

Vslowpace

Just have a large towel draped over the bars, you should be able to nestle the screen in there.

RPE is the way to go, it works pretty well.

markhewitt1978

When sufferfest first came out it was designed to be ridden by perceived effort rather than any numbers etc, so that would be perfect to use on a spin bike! That said you could at the very least still have a heart rate monitor connected to your phone so you could see how hard you're working that way.

bsharp77

One very interesting feature I tried out last night was cadence feature on the TickrX heart rate strap.
I was at a spin class (while I patiently await my Tacx Flux!) and I have to say the cadence was quite accurate - may be very useful on a spin bike (if it doesn't have a digital display) when following a sufferfest video.

redjeepǃ

bsharp77 wrote:

One very interesting feature I tried out last night was cadence feature on the TickrX heart rate strap.
I was at a spin class (while I patiently await my Tacx Flux!) and I have to say the cadence was quite accurate - may be very useful on a spin bike (if it doesn't have a digital display) when following a sufferfest video.

The spin bikes I saw in the gym had no display of any kind. They actually looked like they may have pre-dated electricity.

Thanks for the suggestion, My original thoughts were that I didn't want to have to invest in yet another platform, but have just read DCRainmaker's (who else ? ) comments about the same subject, it looks like just buying the RPM unit would allow it to work. I'll check if the Sufferfest can recognise that sensor and the Garmin HRM sensor at the same time and if it does it's probably the way to go.

https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2014/01/rec ... ation.html


I'll download a couple of the Sufferfest videos to my tablet and see how I get on.

redjeepǃ

I've just seen that Amazon are doing a flash deal on the speed and cadence sensors. Both sensors for £38 or £29 each.

bsharp77

Redjeep! wrote:

I've just seen that Amazon are doing a flash deal on the speed and cadence sensors. Both sensors for £38 or £29 each.

Thats a great deal on those sensors, although what I was suggesting is the TickrX heart rate strap.
You don't need to install anything on the spin bike at all - it somehow can calculate your cadence just from the strap - its pretty damn cool, and means you can send HR & Cadence to the sufferfest app and off you go on whatever spin or exercise bike they happen to have.

The TickrX is quite a bit more expensive though, but has a few other nice features for running too if you happen to do any.

redjeepǃ

bsharp77 wrote:

Redjeep! wrote:

I've just seen that Amazon are doing a flash deal on the speed and cadence sensors. Both sensors for £38 or £29 each.

Thats a great deal on those sensors, although what I was suggesting is the TickrX heart rate strap.
You don't need to install anything on the spin bike at all - it somehow can calculate your cadence just from the strap - its pretty damn cool, and means you can send HR & Cadence to the sufferfest app and off you go on whatever spin or exercise bike they happen to have.

The TickrX is quite a bit more expensive though, but has a few other nice features for running too if you happen to do any.

That's pretty clever if it doesn't use any other sensors. Amazon are doing it at their regular price of £38. I do a lot of running, more actually than I do cycling, so it might be worth looking at it (but I've already got a Garmin running watch and a 520 Edge).

I might just buy the cadence sensor (but then for an extra £8 I get all the extra features...),

bsharp77

That's just the standard Tickr at that price though, you want the TickrX, which is closer to 60 quid on amazon now (still a lot cheaper than I paid!).

If you run as well then definetley give it some consideration as it has some advanced running tracking like smootheness and running cadence too.

A dear, but very clever little bit of kit.

Hope this has been of help, best of luck whatever you go for....nothing makes the pain of the sufferfest videos any easier!!! :-)

redjeepǃ

bsharp77 wrote:

That's just the standard Tickr at that price though, you want the TickrX, which is closer to 60 quid on amazon now (still a lot cheaper than I paid!).

If you run as well then definetley give it some consideration as it has some advanced running tracking like smootheness and running cadence too.

A dear, but very clever little bit of kit.

Hope this has been of help, best of luck whatever you go for....nothing makes the pain of the sufferfest videos any easier!!! :-)

Thanks for your help. I realised after I posted this that it was a different item. It seems very good and I expect that I could use it on the rower, which is probably going to be the other piece of gym kit I'm going to use. I may hang on a little and see if it gets discounted any more as I'm not really going to start using it much until after Christmas anyway.

I know what you mean about nothing making the sufferfest any easier, but at least it's nice to have some technology to distract yourself with !