Turbo trainer milage

[XG332]

Recently got myself a turbo trainer and i would like to see what distances im doing.

Could i setup a cheap cycle computer on the rear wheel?
Like this?
http://www.lidl.co.uk/cps/rde/www_lidl_uk/hs.xsl/o...

[upsidedownmark]

Yes but..

Mileage on a turbo trainer is a bit irrelevant - just set it to the easiest resistance and do lots of miles at insane speed - if you see what I mean!

[XG332]

upsidedownmark said:

Yes but..

Mileage on a turbo trainer is a bit irrelevant - just set it to the easiest resistance and do lots of miles at insane speed - if you see what I mean!

I understood that, purely out of interest really.

[IroningMan]

Mileage notwithstanding, the speed reading that you get is the only real indicator you have of how much work you're doing.

[crikey]

Yep, that's what I've done on mine.

[Rocksteadyeddie]

Intervals are where you want to be on a Turbo:

1) Less boring
2) Much more beneficial
3) Time passes more quickly
4) You'll feel the benefit when you get back on your bike
5) You may well vomit.

Sitting there spinning for hours on end will ruin your arse, and be of limited effect on your fitness.

[okgo]

Unless you can force yourself to ride at a hard effort for a long time. Ultimately the turbo is best for everything really because you cannot slack off, but as Ed says its a killer mentally, and intervals are easier to manage. I've done around 6-7 hours on the turbo this week, all at 80% or above of threshold, and its taken real concentration to make myself do it.

[Rolls]

Sufferfest baby!

[Furry Exocet]

Rolls said:

Sufferfest baby!

Agree with this, using sufferfest makes the turbo bearable ..... Just

A 60 minute sufferfest is hard work

[okgo]

Nah, when I am on there and going for it I cannot concentrate on anything other than the watt readout.

[anonymous-user]

Rolls said:

Sufferfest baby!

Have to agree. Sufferfest broken up with the odd recovery and longer specific intervals are the best things to do on a turbo.

[NitroNick]

Rocksteadyeddie said:

Intervals are where you want to be on a Turbo:
Sitting there spinning for hours on end will ruin your arse, and be of limited effect on your fitness.

I agree with the arse bit but with regard to fitness it is a brilliant tool.
When I compare outdoor training spins with turbo sessions: the turbo session always have a higher avg power because there is no freewheeling downhills etc.
Even to sustain the same power indoors takes a much bigger effort as you have no wind to cool you down. Also its easier to work on cadence, specific power zones etc when there is no variation in terrain/resistance.

I f*ing love my turbo. ~130 hours so far this year on the turbo.
4 hours at 240 watts has to be doing some good, granted my high end is not where it should be (because i haven't done specific training on it yet) but my endurance is the best its ever been.

[okgo]

We would all be fitter cyclists if we had the ability to endure the time we spend outside, on the turbo I'm sure of it.

I hurt my shoulder so was on the turbo only this last week and the sessions were great quality, and although apparently the training stress was far lower than my normal I felt it more, which to me shows up the issues with using normalized power to calculate training stress.

So I am going to adapt my training to incorporate less commuting but more time on the turbo. Instead of riding to and from work, I will be doing probably 1 way and then turbo when I get home/before I get on the train, I just feel like its much more worthwhile.

[TKF]

4hrs on a turbo?!

The most I've managed is 90 minutes and if the sheer boredom didn't get to me then the saddle did. I've done 5hr+ outside rides on the same saddle with no drama but the relentless pedalling on the turbo really did my sit bones some trauma!