XC Racer Blog Post

Tis The Season To......Turbo Train

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BY: Louise Robinson

Published: 4th December, 2012


The turbo trainer is a bit of a marmite issue; you either love it or hate it.  For all my mummy friends who don't understand why I would want to ride my bike in the woods on a cold wet winter day, I have as many biking friends who don't understand why I would want to sit on the turbo trainer at any time. Well, I have two reasons. Firstly the kids and secondly the weather.


 

If you have kids you'll understand. If you don't have kids consider the time you currently have to ride your bike then subtract from this the time it takes to look after them 24:7 (Social services are not big on four year olds being left on their own while mummy goes riding) throw into the mix the energy required to  assist with homework, cajole a reluctant 7 year old into learning his spellings/times tables/lines for the Christmas play, referee sibling squabbles, sort out baths, teeth cleaning and bed time stories. Then divide this number by 2 (both my hubby and I ride bikes) and finally multiply by a factor of sleep deprivation and what you have left is your bike riding time. Hmmm, the 4 hour ride is out of the question then.


 

Kids aside, the good old British weather doesn't help.  A friend of mine posted on Facebook recently "has anyone seen my Mojo, I think I left it on the trails sometime October". I so know how he feels. When it is tipping down with rain, it's cold and dark outside and even the thought of a ride around the local trails is enough to grind down a set of brake pads I stumble onto the turbo trainer. Equipped with my heart rate monitor and a workout plan I can beat the crap out of myself in a little over an hour. It does not make up for not going out on the bike but it does do wonders for my fitness while I wait for the weather and the opportunity to ride in the woods again.


 

I have a CycleOps Fluid 2 trainer set up with a 15 year old rigid mountain bike fitted with a road ratio chain set and Continental indoor training tyre.  Aside from the turbo trainer itself the other piece of essential kit for effective indoor training is an off cut of lino to protect the carpet. I like to consider it is only horses that sweat and that women merely glow, but I can glow buckets and over time it does make the carpet in the spare room go manky without some form of protection.  The other thing you need is some form of motivation or distraction. An ipod or DVD is fine if you can get the motivation up to do something other than gently tickling the pedals. However I need something a bit more prescriptive.  I am a real fan of the Sufferfest workout series. Originally developed by some bloke in his spare room, these downloadable workouts utilise real race footage and give a fast moving training session with the strap line "I will beat my arse today to kick yours tomorrow".  Say no more.
 

There is a discipline that is required to use the turbo trainer effectively.  If you do it right it is not going to be easy. There are no down hills; you are going to pedal for the whole hour and it is very easy just to get off. However if you are prepared to put in the work the rewards are a time efficient training session that requires no baby sitters, will keep the winter wear off your bike and the mud out of  the washing machine. But shhh… don't tell anyone.

Louise Robinson

Full time mum, part time pharmacist and part time racer

XCracer.com

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Louise
 

Louise Robinson

Mum, Pharmacist and XCracer Team Rider

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This blog post was written by a third party and their views do not necessarily reflect the views of XCRacer.com

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