indoor trainer

[trevorhough40]

i am training for the epic and not always able to get on road in daytime hours. Does anyone have info on usefulness of indoor trainer (rollers) or spin bike. Have heard 1 hour on trainer = 2 hours on bike but i really doubt this based on feeling in legs after both.

[wheelz]

its hard to say what the exact relationship is, as on the road you have external factors which will influence you, ie wind/air resistance, hills-up and down, robots, etc. on the trainer you dont have any of these however because you are not moving you dont have an air flow which does effect breathing and you are constintaly peddling so you dont have those short time periods of recovery like when you freewheel down hill or stop at a robot. but i honestly do think that the trainer (depending on the resistance) is slightly harder and a benifit is that you can control your heart rate/watts a lot better.

[Aquatic]

Its hard to compare the two due to the variables,but on an indoortrainer the best way to train is using a heartrate monitor,and training in certain heart rate zones..distance isnt the big factor on the indoor trainer,focus on cadence and heartrate,intensity,etc.

[tomic]

Did 2008 epic training Monday to friday indoor training weekends endurance rides.

worked of a simple philosophy 1 day fast ,1 day easy ,1 day hard monday recovery friday cross train.

this workrd a treat did all my climbing on the weekend targeted to do 10--12 hour a week which was managable.

hope it all goes well,pm if you want a hand with your indoor program ill be glad to pass on what I learned

[nickc]

Due to various constraints during the week I have to do most of my training on an indoor spin bike and if you can follow a good program it is a viable option.