First Turbo Trainer session last night
First Turbo Trainer session last night
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Discussion

Kell

Original Poster:

1,708 posts

237 months

Thursday 12th March 2015
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I hadn't realised that you needed a front wheel rest until I went to use it last night. It's amazing how much of a tilt it feels you're on.

So I propped the front wheel up on an old tool box which was fine - and ordered a proper front wheel stand in the meantime.

But my question is...

Do you bother rigging up a speedo to the back wheel? Not for distance necessarily as it's clearly not comparable, but more so you can see that you're keeping the same pace, upping your pace or whatever you need to do.

I'm guessing some higher end Trainers have the speedo built in, but mine doesn't and I wondered if getting a cheap one with a long lead might be good idea.

Edited by Kell on Thursday 12th March 16:03

SixPotBelly

1,925 posts

249 months

Thursday 12th March 2015
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I use a Decathlon ANT+ combined speed & cadence sensor (£17). I also use a generic ANT+ USB stick from Amazon marketplace (£12). With that and a £6 per month TrainerRoad subscription, I train using their pseudo power-based programs which I've found very, very effective.

MC Bodge

29,628 posts

204 months

Thursday 12th March 2015
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For the full masochistic effect, you need to use the turbo trainer in a dark garage with white noise playing loudly through headphones, whilst your wife occasionally throws buckets of cold water over you.

Kell

Original Poster:

1,708 posts

237 months

Monday 16th March 2015
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SixPotBelly said:
I use a Decathlon ANT+ combined speed & cadence sensor (£17). I also use a generic ANT+ USB stick from Amazon marketplace (£12). With that and a £6 per month TrainerRoad subscription, I train using their pseudo power-based programs which I've found very, very effective.
I did have a look for some of that stuff, but I had no idea what any of it meant.

I do think though, that a heart rate monitor, might be a better training tool than just having a speedo.

Herman Toothrot

6,702 posts

227 months

Monday 16th March 2015
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Another excuse to get a Garmin, regular normal garmin package / setup will give you cadence, heartrate and speed.

Clinton Baptiste

657 posts

211 months

Monday 16th March 2015
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Herman Toothrot said:
Another excuse to get a Garmin, regular normal garmin package / setup will give you cadence, heartrate and speed.
This, get a garmin and upload all your sessions to strava wink

scubadude

2,619 posts

226 months

Monday 16th March 2015
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I have a cheap Cateye computer which does speed at the rear and (IMO) more importantly Cadence, frankly since I've had it I rarely look at the speed- cadence is king, even that now I have learnt where the sweet spot is.

Kell

Original Poster:

1,708 posts

237 months

Monday 16th March 2015
quotequote all
Clinton Baptiste said:
Herman Toothrot said:
Another excuse to get a Garmin, regular normal garmin package / setup will give you cadence, heartrate and speed.
This, get a garmin and upload all your sessions to strava wink
Which model should I be looking at?

Kell

Original Poster:

1,708 posts

237 months

Monday 16th March 2015
quotequote all
scubadude said:
I have a cheap Cateye computer which does speed at the rear and (IMO) more importantly Cadence, frankly since I've had it I rarely look at the speed- cadence is king, even that now I have learnt where the sweet spot is.
Was it something like this?

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/cateye-strada-cadence-cycl...

Bear in mind that my bike is SH and only cost me £130. Just had a look at some Garmins and they'd be more than the bike.


blade runner

1,118 posts

241 months

Monday 16th March 2015
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I have the wireless version of that one on my turbo trainer bike and it works very well once set up. Also mainly use cadence for my sessions, but speed is also good to know if you are doing something like a time-trial session. I do one of these every couple of weeks and try to go a bit faster on average speed than the previous week.

idiotgap

2,113 posts

162 months

Monday 16th March 2015
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If you have a smartphone I don't think you need a garmin for showing real-time info on Turbo training sessions (since weather and battery life wouldn't be an issue). You'd just need bluetooth sensors for the information you want. I would suggest that heart-rate and cadence would be enough (though cadence and speed sensors seem to be usually bundled together). I think you can then use an android phone/tablet/iphone/ipad to display the information from the sensors. I haven't done this so I can't tell you for sure, but would expect there is a free app that will do it, possibly strava.

I have a 2nd-hand bike which cost £200 and I'm having trouble justifying getting a garmin.

I would like to:-
- log my rides to strava (my phone does this for free right now)
- be able to get turn by turn navigation so I can choose a route at home and follow it out on the road (lots of stopping, digging my phone out of my jersey pocket and fiddling at the moment)
- have the battery last for a good all day long ride

Since I can kind of get away with using my phone, I haven't splashed the cash on a garmin. To get decent maps and navigation I'd need an 810 or something which is a lot of money for the pack with the sensors. I might keep an eye out for used 705/800.

One thing I have done which is very very cheap is to buy a bike computer on ebay for £2.45 and rig it up to monitor the crank instead of the wheel fudging the wheel circumference setting to make the speed readout tell me cadence instead of speed. I've found it really helpful knowing what cadence I was doing and keeping an eye on it, trying to maintain a higher spin rate.

Berz

406 posts

221 months

Monday 16th March 2015
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Cateye Strada Cadence Cycle Computer said:
Features:

Speed display up to 185MPH
Think my bike would melt, as would I!

Herman Toothrot

6,702 posts

227 months

Monday 16th March 2015
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Kell said:
Was it something like this?

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/cateye-strada-cadence-cycl...

Bear in mind that my bike is SH and only cost me £130. Just had a look at some Garmins and they'd be more than the bike.
Worth it though as when you take the bike out on the road and don't know where you go you can upload routes on it to follow.