indoor training

[mtbN00b]

i have very limited time during the week to do any training due to work hours.

what will the best setup be to do some training at home.

 

buy a cheapish spinning bike, get a indoor trainer for a mtb (if you can) or buy a cheap road bike with a indoor trainer or just do not train (that just do not sound right)

 

please share some ideas with me

[Minion]

You can use a trainer with your MTB. You just need to get one of those yellow Continental IDT tyres.

[stewie911]

MTB would be a shlep to change tyres the whole time. You could get indoor trainer with extra cheap rear wheel. If I were you I'd get IDT with cheap roadbike. Then you can still ride the roadbike sometimes if you're not riding offroad.

[pite]

I spin at home during the week and can recommend that.

[Reeze]

If you can afford an indoor trainer that would be perfect. He is the expert in doing indoor exercises. People tend to be lazy when doing indoor tranings. If you have a trainer and you know that you are paying him that much you would keep on going. I'm sure!

 

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napoleon fireplace

hottubs

[lost frog]

I personnaly do some spinning classes. Very intensive training sessions of 45min or 90min. It worked like a charm for me. In 2/3 month of training (3times a week), I was able to race MTB marathons although I struggled to ride 40km before.

[fiasm]

Hi, get an indoor trainer and do drills. eg. 15 mins riding at a pace where you can talk easily (not panting), 15 mins harder (really hard to talk), 15 coming down, easier to talk.

[Bos]

Indoor trainers need major commitment... It gets relly hard. When youre out on your bike, you have the wind in your hair, the scenery the hill to overcome.. but on the trainer its you, the TV and the pain... I find it very difficult to do Hard sessions on my IDT, even with good Viewing..

 

So I try keep it short but Use it for recovery rides, or legspeed drills.

 

mostly 45mins to 80mins.

[mtbN00b]

what will the best setup be (eg cheapish and worth the money and still provide a good work out)

 

which indoor trainer etc?

[vanniri]

I have been using a trainer for the last two years using a mtb.

 

You might find the following tips usefull:

 

Buy a second rear wheelset fitted with slicks. A headache to keep changing tyres - especially tubeless.

 

Buy a second cheaper chain and use a cheaper cog for use on the trainer only.

 

Use normal tyres (not trainer specific), much cheaper and work just as well.

 

Use a fan/blower for cooling - blowing from the rear seems to work the best for me.

 

Buy a heart monitor

 

Visit:

http://www.turbotrai...er_sessions.php

for some excellent trainer programs.

[Minion]

A cheap second wheel with a cheap cassette and IDT tyre certainly makes life easier. You don't need a second chain, though. The wear you get on the IDT is insignificant compared to the wear you get on the trail since there's no dirt on the IDT.

[SwissVan]

i have very limited time during the week to do any training due to work hours.

what will the best setup be to do some training at home.

 

buy a cheapish spinning bike, get a indoor trainer for a mtb (if you can) or buy a cheap road bike with a indoor trainer or just do not train (that just do not sound right)

 

please share some ideas with me

 

IMO an IDT that you can use your own bike on or a dedicated training bike is preferable to a spinning type bike. I’ve had many years experience training indoors using both types and find that nothing beats riding a real bike, with real gears etc… Yes you can train and improve fitness on a spinning type bike but if you want to maximize the training effect rather get a good IDT that you can ride your bike on.

I still use a spinning type bike in winter, the main reason being is because it is quite and less noisy which is important for keeping the peace with my neighbors (I live in an apartment).

[madmarc]

I have a TACX IDT with an old TREK 470 permantly mounted. I use all my old road tyres (much cheaper than those fancy IDT tyres)the bike only has 6 speed but with the different levels you cn set on the TACX, it's more than enough to simulate different road conditions. I also use my POLAR in conjunction with the TACX computor, so i got all the info in front of me. More importantly, get a chaep MP3 player with some good pumping music on it, it helps kepp you in the zone.

 

I have down loaded different trainig programmes off the TACX site, - HILLCLIMB, POWER, ENDURANCE, SPRINT, CADENCE & RECOVERY. Each has 3 different levels - Beginner, intermediate and advanced. I then build my training regime around this.

 

Be carefull of the pitfalls

 

1. set up your IDT in a room where no one will disturb you - watching TV while training removes your focus from training to watching TV.

 

2. Base your training on mileage not time - EG plan to train 35 km and not 60 minutes for endurance OR 10 X 200m sprints instead of 10 X 1 min sprints.

 

3. An IDT can never simulate the road. If you feel very strong on the IDT, you will be half as strong on the road, because of rolling resistance, wind etc. So you need to train twice as hard on a trainer to get the same performance on the road.

 

4. Focus your trianing on one specific area per week. I do hill climbs for the entire week then Endurance then power etc. Then mix it up a few weeks before the race. Doing 1 hill climb session a week will not improve your hill climbing.

 

My 2 cents worth - use it; don't use it; use it; don't use it.

[Reden]

I also use a Tacx IDT with my MTB and cheap rear wheel.

Warm up for 7 minutes, do various disciplines for 30minutes and cool down for another 7 minutes.

I do sometimes watch movies on the pc but have to keep a eye on the HR and cadence.

 

Once watche a stage of TDF on tv while riding on rollers.

They went through a corner and so did I. Steered straight again just in time before going off the "cliff".

Never did it again.