Turbo Trainer PtII

[neilll]

Trainer tyres are cool (literally ), made of a compound that does not heat up as much as normal rubber, they are also much quieter.

Mine is a Continental Ultra Sport Home Trainer (bright orange). I have a bike permanently on my TT with a spare wheel clad in the trainer tyre.

It's good

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/Cycle/7/Conti ... 360017042/

Neill

 

[retrojon]

Old Ned,

I've got the same trainer and some old Michelin tyre. Do you find it is a bit pulsey? (for want of a better word) I seem to be making a vroom vroom vroom vroom noise, with the vroom occurring from around the 12 o'clock to 3 o'clock pedal positions.

I tried a few evening 10s this year and thought that some sort of winter training plan would be a good idea. Found this: http://www.abcc.co.uk/Articles/turbotrn1.html
Think I will try it, or some variation of it. Rather than 95% or whatever of some number that you worked out when you were riding very hard, I will just try very hard and keep a note of how far I manage to go in the time limit.

Just picked up a Conti home trainer tyre. I am almost tempted to borrow a sound meter from work and measure how much quieter it is.

 

[kaiser]

You can also wire up a speedo to the rear wheel to monitor what your doing. Turbos that measure power use this, none of them actually have strain meters in them.

Joe Beers website used to have some good turbo sessions, so did the tacx site.

 

[MJN]

2 things you need for turboing,HRM and i-pod.HRM lets you know whats happening(powertap is better still but mines bust) and the i-pod drowns out any tyre noise,making it almost tolerable to do!

 

[Old Ned]

Old Ned,

I've got the same trainer and some old Michelin tyre. Do you find it is a bit pulsey? (for want of a better word) I seem to be making a vroom vroom vroom vroom noise, with the vroom occurring from around the 12 o'clock to 3 o'clock pedal positions.

I tried a few evening 10s this year and thought that some sort of winter training plan would be a good idea. Found this: http://www.abcc.co.uk/Articles/turbotrn1.html
Think I will try it, or some variation of it. Rather than 95% or whatever of some number that you worked out when you were riding very hard, I will just try very hard and keep a note of how far I manage to go in the time limit.

Just picked up a Conti home trainer tyre. I am almost tempted to borrow a sound meter from work and measure how much quieter it is.

Thanks for that link, it seems to be the sort of thing I was looking for, I've always had plenty of time for Malcolm Firth as a coach. It seems quite straightforward and relatively simple to follow. I will have to rig up a computer drive to the rear wheel, currently I have an old running watch taped to my stem which has a 'variable bleep' setting (to check on the stride rate) and I've set this at 100 to try and keep a check on pedalling rate.

Regarding the noise, I don't seem to have a 'vroom vroom' - at least, nowhere near as much as the old fan trainer - but there is a noise which I try and regulate by pedalling smoothly so that the variations in tone are kept small. I certainly find this helps to assist pedalling on the road when under pressure and I can concentrate on my pedalling action.

What sort of performances did you manage last season and where did you do them?

 

[Old Ned]

Re: Turbo

Have you got a heart rate monitor, or better still a power tap?

As an extra, I would like to find a turbo training plan for a gentleman older rider trying to get fit again to have a go at riding time trials next year. Anyone got any ideas?

No to an HRM but I've got a cold water tap in the garden which is quite powerful.

All sounds a bit technical to me :?

Sorry Slinky, I've just re-read this and realised that it sounds a bit flippant and rude. Sorry, not intended to be, it's just that I don't actually know what exactly a power tap is. Could you explain what it does and how please :?

 

[retrojon]

Got a Conti tyre and it is no quieter than the slick I was using. I'd say it is 25% quieter than my washing machine, which is one of the worst washing machines ever made.

Old Ned, I did some evening 10's last year and my best time was 28.21, so I need to train more! It was in Essex, the course is a little hilly, but still...

 

[Old Ned]

That time's OK if you're not a hardened time trialler. Plenty of chance to do some personal bests!

Like my old mate's Dad used to say at the start of an event - 'Don't forget Richard, take your time and do it properly!'

 

[MJN]

Yes but the faster you finish the quicker the pain ends!

 

[Old Ned]

Pain? What pain?

You don't mean to tell me I've been doing it wrong all these years??!! :?