Cold garage

drfriend1978
drfriend1978 Posts: 3
edited July 2019 in Indoor training and turbo forum
Hi.

I am planning for my post summer training. I am in the UK. From September/October most of my training is on the turbo in a garage which is detached from my house. I usually have the doors open and a fan on in the months up until around November. By then it is often cold enough not to always have the fan.

I have been considering getting a smart trainer and using it with trainerroad but a bit of research has thrown up a few results about cold weather use like this:

viewtopic.php?f=40121&t=13085049&p=20225262&hilit=garage#p20225262

This has made me have a rethink and wonder if a power meter (probably a powertap hub) and the existing turbo would be better.

Does anyone have any helpful advice on this please? I'd prefer not to heat the garage as I get hot pretty quickly as it is.

Also, my iPhone battery dies within minutes in the cold garage. Do any trainerroad/zwift users have any recommendations for phone/iPad/laptop use/battery life in cold condition please?

Thank you in advance.

Comments

  • diamonddog
    diamonddog Posts: 3,426
    edited July 2019
    Hi
    When I lived in the UK I used my smart trainer and iPad in the unheated garage year round with no battery problems at all, I used to warm up with a T-shirt/sweatshirt on then ditch it as I started the training session.
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    If you have a fan there - you have power ? Or am I missing something?

    And you need a new phone battery.
  • diamonddog
    diamonddog Posts: 3,426
    cougie wrote:
    If you have a fan there - you have power ? Or am I missing something?

    And you need a new phone battery.
    This^ If you have power in the garage then you have options for running iPad or iPhone from the power source.
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498
    The only issue I saw was a consideration on condensation - best way to combat condensation would be to ventilate the area concerned ...

    I've not had an issue with my smart meter outdoors (under cover) - although I do find that it's more comfortable to put it in the conservatory when it gets really cold (motivation more than anything).

    If you don't want to replace your phone or take a power charger for it - then you could always suplement it with a battery powerbank - it's a solution, but does add the faff factor as you'll have to recharge the powerbank too.

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