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Trainer advice - riding hard enough?
I recently got a fluid trainer and have been riding it for an hour per day
in addition to my road riding. My question is, why am I not sweating? Heh, obviously, I'm not working hard enough. Normally I had ridden a cheap old flywheel stationary bike, and with a fairly minimal tightening of the strap over the flywheel, would work up a significant sweat in about 5-8 minutes. The stress on the quads was moderate. It was a different geometry to riding a road bike, but apparently close enough. Usually what made me stop was my butt hurting, sometimes feeling like I'm straining a ligament or tendon in my right leg, near the butt. I got the trainer because the stationary bike pedal straps had ripped off and it was getting annoying trying to duct tape my feet to the pedals, lol. Anyway, I was advised to ride the trainer in 'spin mode' and not to tighten the roller too tightly to the rear wheel. "Just enough to keep it from slipping", was the advice. So I did this and I'm riding at about 95-100 rpm in my middle chainring, at about 38x15, or 38x13 (it's a non-susp hybrid). This doesn't give a whole lot of stress to the quads, but it does feel like a reasonable workout. I'm not breathing hard by any stretch, but it's not super-easy, either. So what am I doing wrong? If I go up another gear to 38x11, the trainer starts making significantly more noise - not a big problem, but... Should I tighten the roller more, or ride in a higher gear despite the noise, or what? Obviously I'm willing to crank it up more, but worried a little about the effect on the bike and the trainer, concerned about wearing something out, or blowing out the fluid seal or something. What do most of you ride your trainer in, gearing-wise? At what perceived effort? TIA Hoff |
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#2
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Trainer advice - riding hard enough?
Hoffer wrote: I recently got a fluid trainer and have been riding it for an hour per day in addition to my road riding. My question is, why am I not sweating? Heh, obviously, I'm not working hard enough. Normally I had ridden a cheap old flywheel stationary bike, and with a ...... I always keep the resistance roller hard up against the rear wheel, just the opposite of what you are doing. If I want to spin I can shift to an easier gear. I have several trainer workouts (I've been doing this for a long time) and some involve mashing in a hard gear. Unless the roller is tight up against the wheel it will slip under these conditions. Speaking only from my experience, Tom |
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Trainer advice - riding hard enough?
Hoff wondered, re his lackluster trainer efforts:
So what am I doing wrong? Get a cheap HR monitor and read up on HR-based training. You will maximize your benefit. D'ohBoy |
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Trainer advice - riding hard enough?
On 22 Nov 2005 08:56:00 -0800, "D'ohBoy" wrote:
Hoff wondered, re his lackluster trainer efforts: So what am I doing wrong? Get a cheap HR monitor and read up on HR-based training. You will maximize your benefit. D'ohBoy It's not a matter of effort. It's a matter of the amount of stress the trainer will take - I was advised by the LBS not to be mashing and cranking the roller so hard that it deforms the rear tire. I was advised to spin at higher revs, and to adjust the roller to moderate tension just so the wheel doesn't slip. I'm quite capable of riding hard, and do very intense workouts on my road bike. What I asked was for experiences and perceived exertion level that people did on a fluid trainer. Do you ride a trainer? In what gearing do you ride? Is it a fluid trainer? How hard do you crank down the roller? If you crank it hard does this not wear out the rear tire? Thanks, Hoff |
#5
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Trainer advice - riding hard enough?
Hoffer wrote: It's not a matter of effort. It's a matter of the amount of stress the trainer will take - I was advised by the LBS not to be mashing and cranking the roller so hard that it deforms the rear tire. I was advised to spin at higher revs, and to adjust the roller to moderate tension just so the wheel doesn't slip. I'm quite capable of riding hard, and do very intense workouts on my road bike. What I asked was for experiences and perceived exertion level that people did on a fluid trainer. Do you ride a trainer? In what gearing do you ride? Is it a fluid trainer? How hard do you crank down the roller? If you crank it hard does this not wear out the rear tire? Thanks, Hoff I have a CycleOps fluid trainer. I really tighten down the roller against the tire. I have a cheap old tire that I use for the trainer. I vary the gearing a lot, but I frequently go up to 53x12 and stand up for a minute or two to simulate climbing. This has never caused any problems for me. I find that I have to put a fair amount of effort into riding on the trainer in order to get my heart rate up as compared to riding outside. This is probably due to the fact there isn't much wind resistance or elevation change in my garage.... I also find riding on the trainer horribly boring. A good playlist on the I-pod helps to pass the time. Peter. |
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Trainer advice - riding hard enough?
On Tue, 22 Nov 2005 12:10:50 -0500, wrote:
Do you ride a trainer? In what gearing do you ride? Is it a fluid trainer? How hard do you crank down the roller? If you crank it hard does this not wear out the rear tire? Thanks, Hoff Yes, it ****s the tyre. The roller only needs to press on the tyre hard enough to prevent slip, the resistance is provided by the hydraulic brake in your "fluid". Don't worry about breaking anything - those things are built for elites to do workouts in the 500W+ range at 40mph (that's 110rpm on a 56x12 gear) Kinky Cowboy* *Batteries not included May contain traces of nuts Your milage may vary |
#7
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Trainer advice - riding hard enough?
On 22 Nov 2005 09:39:11 -0800, "Peter Van Buren"
wrote: Hoffer wrote: It's not a matter of effort. It's a matter of the amount of stress the trainer will take - I was advised by the LBS not to be mashing and cranking the roller so hard that it deforms the rear tire. I was advised to spin at higher revs, and to adjust the roller to moderate tension just so the wheel doesn't slip. I'm quite capable of riding hard, and do very intense workouts on my road bike. What I asked was for experiences and perceived exertion level that people did on a fluid trainer. Do you ride a trainer? In what gearing do you ride? Is it a fluid trainer? How hard do you crank down the roller? If you crank it hard does this not wear out the rear tire? Thanks, Hoff I have a CycleOps fluid trainer. I really tighten down the roller against the tire. I have a cheap old tire that I use for the trainer. I vary the gearing a lot, but I frequently go up to 53x12 and stand up for a minute or two to simulate climbing. This has never caused any problems for me. I find that I have to put a fair amount of effort into riding on the trainer in order to get my heart rate up as compared to riding outside. This is probably due to the fact there isn't much wind resistance or elevation change in my garage.... I also find riding on the trainer horribly boring. A good playlist on the I-pod helps to pass the time. Peter. Excellent, Peter. This is just what I was hoping to get in a reply. I've also thought about trying to stand and pedal, glad to hear it's working for you. Oddly I don't find riding the trainer that boring - I actually enjoy it. I usually watch tv, sometimes even watch the exer-babes doing a workout on Fit-TV, lol. Next time I ride I'll increase the roller pressure and up the gearing. Appreciate it! Thanks, Hoff |
#8
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Trainer advice - riding hard enough?
On Tue, 22 Nov 2005 17:40:54 +0000, Kinky Cowboy wrote:
On Tue, 22 Nov 2005 12:10:50 -0500, wrote: Do you ride a trainer? In what gearing do you ride? Is it a fluid trainer? How hard do you crank down the roller? If you crank it hard does this not wear out the rear tire? Thanks, Hoff Yes, it ****s the tyre. The roller only needs to press on the tyre hard enough to prevent slip, the resistance is provided by the hydraulic brake in your "fluid". Don't worry about breaking anything - those things are built for elites to do workouts in the 500W+ range at 40mph (that's 110rpm on a 56x12 gear) Kinky Cowboy* OK, great. Thanks a lot! Hoff. *Batteries not included May contain traces of nuts Your milage may vary |
#9
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Trainer advice - riding hard enough?
On Tue, 22 Nov 2005 11:25:56 -0500, wrote:
I recently got a fluid trainer and have been riding it for an hour per day in addition to my road riding. My question is, why am I not sweating? Heh, obviously, I'm not working hard enough. Add a heart monitor, keep your heart rate close to outside rides. --- Bob Anderson*Bitwisebob Eugene Oregon |
#10
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Trainer advice - riding hard enough?
Hoffer wrote:
On 22 Nov 2005 08:56:00 -0800, "D'ohBoy" wrote: Hoff wondered, re his lackluster trainer efforts: So what am I doing wrong? Get a cheap HR monitor and read up on HR-based training. You will maximize your benefit. D'ohBoy It's not a matter of effort. It's a matter of the amount of stress the trainer will take - I was advised by the LBS not to be mashing and cranking the roller so hard that it deforms the rear tire. I was advised to spin at higher revs, and to adjust the roller to moderate tension just so the wheel doesn't slip. I'm quite capable of riding hard, and do very intense workouts on my road bike. What I asked was for experiences and perceived exertion level that people did on a fluid trainer. Do you ride a trainer? In what gearing do you ride? Is it a fluid trainer? How hard do you crank down the roller? If you crank it hard does this not wear out the rear tire? I have a mag trainer (Blackburn). I don't ride that often on it, so I haven't had a concern with tire wear. I can work arbitrarily hard by setting the resistance/gear. I usually sweat very heavily, even with a fan. I find it hard to sustain the HR that I can when I road ride, but I think that's a matter of motivation more than a limit of the trainer. My favorite bike to ride with it is a fixed gear. I have to dial in the resistance with the trainer exclusively, but I can also pedal backwards, which is kind of fun. I was surprised to find that I can maintain the same output either way. I stand a little to stretch every so often, but I am careful, I don't think the loads on the dropouts are the best thing for the frame. |
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