Spaghetti Legs 

Rob I’ve used the Kickr Snap on Zwift for a few years without any real problems. I rode a couple days ago for the first time in about a year (mild winter last year and never had to ride indoors!) and did a quick spin down and was up and running no problem. The app looks to have changed some and the spin down isn’t as complex but I’d go through that again. I use a Tacx trainer tire at 120 psi and tighten down 1.5 turns of the knob past first contact roller with tire. I think the owners manual recommends 2 turns but that always seemed too tight to me. Anyway the resistance seems pretty reliable and realistic to me. Zwift and smart trainer really changed indoor riding for me. I still don’t ride indoors much but I enjoy it more and ride harder when I do. With a dumb trainer I would have to be really desperate to ride indoors. I have a set of rollers that I tried twice before deciding I’m too old to learn a new trick like that.

Road Fan

I don't think I want a cycling opera in front of me as I pedal in the basement.

About as imaginative as I am is to pedal 30 minutes at say 80% of LT, then maybe 5 to 8 minutes at the edge of aerobic, then to cool down to "normal ... " I don't think I want to model my regular rides and simulate them, except perhaps "The Hills of Ann Arbor," that is pretty challenging! May be to run your Coppi route virtually, since I was unable to attend a few years ago?

I bought a Cycle-Ops new about 15 years ago, and was agravated over the noise. I used it and had some decent Spring "debut" rides. but the noise got eo me and especially to Mrs. Road Fan, so I bought a Kurt Kinetic Road Machine, which was a lot smoother and more quiet. Again used it a few years, but I wanted it electrified. This desore lead to a Wahoo Elemnt and a Kickr Snap. Finally the apps are making this contraption easy to reasonably control, so I'm getting to the point where I can mimic the behavior of the Cycle Ops. (sheesh!!!, I'm an engineer I should be better at this!!). Now the Elemnt apps are improving to the point where perhaps I can graduate from "pedal at 90 rpm for 35 minutes then cool down" to more of a programmed pedaling existence. We'll see. The Elemnt is ok as a road tool, but I'd like to better integrate Navi - maybe a Roam is in my future.

I find myself wanting a Cateye Astrale 8 but with enhanced functionality. I liked that little cyclocomputer quite a bit.

Classtime 

Bummer. I wasn't a big fan of most new age stuff at the time but I became a fan when I saw The Who in 82 and The Clash opened for them at the Coliseum. Nothing will ever compare.

Johno59

I have had several indoor trainers over the years and just couldn't make it work beyond 30 minutes or so.
I ride all winter in cycling shorts and a synthetic cycling shirt, and when it's below zero, a heavy Gortex coat that reaches halfway down my hamstrings. I go flat out and if I wear leggings I sweat too much. I must have good overshoes, good lights and probably most critical - good gloves/mittens when it's below freezing . IMHO you can't spend enough money on lights for safety and gloves/mittens for comfort. When it's real cold you speed up to warm up but not your fingers. Goose down inside Gortex mittens are good for 25 below freezing but too hot above freezing so you need several types of gloves for the temperatures you are riding in.
In my experience fingered gloves don't do the job much below freezing, no matter have much you have spent. Remember at 20 mph the wind-chill takes a good 10 degrees C off the ambient temp.
The only catch is if you puncture you have about 20 minutes before you cannot physically use your bare fingers anymore and your body and legs start to shake uncontrollably. If that is likely to happen the best option is to just start walking as fast as you can.

canklecat

The Inside Ride E-Motion rollers looks interesting.

I'm still using an older Cycleops magnetic trainer. It's okay for keeping the legs limber. I just do zone 1/2 easy spins while watching a movie or binging TV shows.

Fortunately we don't have too much rough winter weather so I can ride most days.

For the past couple of months neck pain has forced me to cut back on ride length and frequency. I wanted a little variety so I started walking/jogging (mostly walking). I managed a few jogging intervals of 1/2 to one full mile in the middle of some 5-6 mile walks last week. My legs are pretty sore now, mostly for running up and down hills. But the legs also felt stronger on a casual bike ride Wednesday, my first ride in a week. It'll take awhile to see whether the walking/jogging benefits riding at all.

nomadmax 

We don't have the time for me to wax poetic about my old Mel Pinto Cortina rollers with a towel jammed between one of the back rollers and the floor to create resistance. Even when "wind trainers" came out, I stuck with rollers (ultimately upgrading to Kreilters) because they gave me a handling edge in tightly packed criterium races. Stationary training has mentally always been pretty easy for me, inasmuch that I only rode the bike for one reason, results. Only in the last few years have I learned there's another side to riding a bicycle; I shudder to think of all the places I've ridden and never seen. When I trained (indoors or outside), I went someplace else; the only thing I concentrated on was making small adjustments to my pedal stroke, body position and breathing. The only thing I ever thought of was going faster. Having a real job (where I worked odd hours that rotated) I was often forced to ride rollers for training, even during the season. There was one season where the only time I rode outside was in races on Saturday and Sunday. Despite not piling on the miles, I did very well that year and learned how to get fit in the least amount of time per session. I appreciated the efficiency of not having to spend 3 hours on the bike to get 1.5 hours of high intensity training.

I have always had a quiver of cold weather clothing but never used it for cold weather riding thru the winter; I still don't. Cold weather clothing is what I wear to get outside just prior to the weather change from winter to spring. Without races to be in shape for, the last of October was it for me and the pavement. I knew I couldn't carry outdoor road fitness to the first day February so on the rollers I went. As far as distractions go, they're nice to have but honestly I can still put in a pair of foam earplugs and do 2 hours without much trouble. That said, I now have a pretty nice set up. A TV, smart DVD player, stereo, bluetooth from my phone for my own playlists, stacks of old racing DVDs and of course access to the internet for other cycling related content. It's nice but I could go back to a set of rollers with resistance with an ironing board next to them and still get it done. I don't need to watch the weather, wait for it to get warmer, do bike maintenance because of rain/snow/salt and most importantly I can hit my goal for the day without deviation or interference.

Once last comment; I use Inside Ride E Motion rollers and as far as I'm concerned there's nothing else that comes close.

Prowler 

Here in Penn's Woods I'm forced inside by either fierce wind and cold from Canada or by snow and ice. So, yes at times I'm relegated to my two trainers, out in the unheated garage. My '79 Mirage is clamped into the Cyclops mag trainer all the time. I modified the mag part to increase the resistance and make it worth pedaling, always in top gear. I put tunes on the Bose speakers and grind away looking out through the window at the horses who are looking through the window at me thinking "WTF?" 25 minutes then 5 minutes of single leg spinning.

On other days I'm on the classic Kreitler rollers. Same tunes, different windows. 30 minutes of rag time music, whirling the cylinders, unless I fall off them. As mentioned above, like cycling on glare ice but, I think, worth the effort.

My primary and sole objective is to forestall the degraded conditioning that happens if I do nothing until spring. My butt and neck and joints and heart cannot take that. So it's the trainers and real road riding when the pavement is dry and above 22degF.

J.Higgins 

Hmmm... I did not see anyone mention Peloton yet. Admittedly, I read through the posts, but may have missed it.

Other than the fact that the personal trainers at the Peloton studio talk too much imho, we've been enjoying some decent workouts. We have it located in our home office, and my wife and I like to use it often. I like it because it does not involve dedicating a bike to it.

My daughter has a sweet setup at her place. Her and her hubby have a dual TACX setup with Zwift and big screen TVs - the works. They had a pool table and a full bar, and gutted everything to remodel a really sweet workout room. Now they have a sauna, hot tub, tanning bed, Soloflex, and free weights, and a treadmill is on order. Dedication!

seypat

For those that don't know, there is a Indoor section in the road forum. You might get some good ideas there.

Here's a tip for the one's that can't seem to do it for extended periods of time. Do what you would do on an organized ride. That's what I do at the gym. Give yourself short breaks every so often just like a SAG. Ride for 30, 45 minutes, whatever then stop. Get off, go use the bathroom, refill your water bottle, mill around for a couple of minutes, whatever. Then get back on and take off till you hit your next "SAG." If you have quick household chores, do that during your SAG. Ride for 30, then wash a load of clothes. Ride 30 more and put them in the dryer. Taking a 5 minute break between sessions can really extend the riding time.

rccardr 

Did a bunch of research over the summer when it became obvious that going back to the gym for daily spin classes once the bad weather hit was not going to be an option. Decided to just leapfrog the whole budget thing (it's not like I'm spending much $ on traveling to bike rides out of state) and go first class as much as possible. Bought everything in August, when it was available; not sure how easy it is to find this stuff right now.

Wound up with a TACX Neo 2T direct drive smart trainer (rated and reviewed as the most quiet, highest quality trainer available today), a Wahoo Tick'r HR strap, a Samsung 32 inch smart TV on a rolling stand, a BoMaker sound bar and a pair of high volume but relatively quiet 22 inch fans (if you get high volume fans and run them at low speed, the noise is not bad). Am using a Centurion Ironman Dave Scott set up with 9 speed Shimano and downtube shifters. Everything is driven through an old iPhone and the setup was about as easy as plugging everything together & turning it on. It takes up half of The Secret Underground Laboratory, but the collection is down to nine steeds so there's more room in there than before.

Have been using TACX Premium for the past month, riding 130-150 miles per week, about the same as my outdoor riding time. The TACX training app has a plethora of movies, all overseas, that give you a fairly realistic riding experience in terms of resistance on hills, length/speed of ride, etc. You have to shift a LOT on the rolling sections. It also has training sections that help you to smooth out your stroke for even power, or develop better hill climbing skills. It WILL wear you out.

Have not yet tried Zwift but got a free 30 day trial coupon with the Neo so will give that a go at some point. Am also going to give Peloton a shot, as they have a digital subscription for non-Peloton bike owners and also have a bunch of core workout classes that will help reduce gut size during the cold season. And of course, their spin classes, which as the genre goes, I think are actually pretty good. My daughter and SiL got a Peloton bike last Winter, and they use it every day.

Here's what the setup looks like:

seypat

That's a tidy/efficient looking setup. Nice looking IM as well.

seypat

Earlier in the year when the indoor threads like this one were popping up, I had an awesome idea for a fake setup I was going to troll them with. I was going to locate one of those commercial assembly line rollers like Amazon,etc uses. It was to be big enough that you could run a paceline 2 or 3 deep. I was going to put it in the back of my warehouse suspended from cables about 6 feet off the ground and ropes around it like a boxing ring for safety. A platform next to it with a ladder to get up to it. Sheets draped around it and a fake projector screen draped from the ceiling in front. The bay door would be open with 2 monster shop fans providing the cooling. It was to be really elaborate and over the top. Even more so than a Peloton commercial. Lots of BS about the cable system and projector system being hooked into a computer program like zwift controlling it all.

Alas, I couldn't locate the set of rollers to borrow or buy cheap enough for the scam. It would have been the best troll ever, though. It might of gotten me banned, as well.

gthomson

I guess it makes sense that in the C&V forum, people are using their C&V bikes on their trainers but just wondering how you like it? I tried putting on one of my older bikes for Zwifting but found the down tube shifting a bit of a pain when trying to race or doing competitive group rides so ended up just buying another newer road bike so I could use the brifters.
I go up and down my gears a lot in Zwift and especially when on a competitive ride, especially on those hilly maps like Titan's Grove.

Wildwood 

In MO, had a CyclOps + fan + TV in a nice room with a woodland view - backintheday
Returned for better winter climate on Left Coast, and asked: Indoors? Why?

Life is what you make it.
Beaches and mountains in northerly temperate climes offers too many choices to box oneself in.
Retired 'jobs' previously held in winter = volunteer ski patrol, US Forest Svc ranger
Now retired from retired jobs.
Wrenching beats winter 'training' for this oldster.
Hike local Cougar Mt trails from my house.

We may get mossy, but we don't melt in the drizzly. Keep the body movin'.

I really like this ls T-shirt for summer’s wilderness rangers:
My office is measured in square miles


usfs’s best west coast logo. IMHO

RobbieTunes

On a “stationary “ indoor platform, down tube shifters, if you are used to them, are easy, BUT, you can’t see the hill coming, so the anticipation part has some obstacles.

On my rollers, down tube shifters are OK, riskier than I’d prefer, because I do not shift a lot on my current rollers. If I buy a resistance unit (which requires a power meter, too), I imagine that would change.

I find the only real difference between C&V ad modern on rollers, for me, is the mount/dismount. Definitely harder in a limited space, horizontal top tube, and no wall or supports on either side.

Side note: I’m exploring just sending te head unit from my ProForm TdF to ProForm, have iFit removed, and then send it to the guy who can set it up for Zwift, etc. The idea of a Di2 3x10, 20% incline/decline, programmed to my gears, and reacting to courses and elevations, including coasting downhill, is attractive. Or maybe it’s just leather Brooks wrap and an rhm saddle....

Kobe 

If it gets below 32 degrees I have a real hard time getting motivated to ride with the possibility of black ice. I have my Proteus set up on a Kurt Kinetic trainer and will do rides up to an hour while watching Netflix.

It is kind of surreal grabbing a cup of coffee and heading off to the basement for a ride just in shorts and t-shirt in December.

gthomson

Many times I've been Zwifting in the thick of winter and looking out the window to a wicked snow storm and thinking, yeah this is where i want to be!

iab

The only band that matters.

I did go see Mick Jones with BAD a couple of times. Not the same, but they were fun shows.

iab

Picture of my swanky setup. Recently, on the local Facebook garage sale site, someone had a used Peloton mat for $50. I use a $8 yoga mat. Cheap cap and rag for sweat absorption.

texaspandj

When my daughter was born 26 years ago I worked in the evening so I could stay home with her. So during the day, that pre season I'd bike 2 hrs straight on a performance mag trainer M-F. As a triathlete I also ran 1 hr on a treadmill M-F. I did that for about 6 weeks. As boring as it was and a promise to never do that again, It really paid off. I had a great season.
Fast forward 2 decades, now I have a 6 year old daughter doing remote learning (and me being a stay at home Dad, and by the time my wife gets home it's too dark to ride outside) I decided to start training inside during my normal off season Nov and Dec. So I'm biking on a regular old Minoura mag trainer and running on a treadmill, 30 minutes each M-F. January will see me do (maybe) 45 min to 1 hour each M-F But absolutely no more than that.

That's my wife's spin trainer, in the back is one of my Ironman picked to do the work indoors for Next (fingers crossed) Season.
We pull these out to the main workout area with a full wall of mirrors and Music through a fender amp. However, I just set up a 32 inch flat screen and a dvd/vhs player to play my TDF vhs tapes featuring Greg Lemond and '80s Triathlons...they help keep me motivated.

Cougrrcj

< memory-jog moment > Yep, that's what my college dorm-mate had - Cortina rollers. IIRC, they were top-of-the-line waaaay back in the mid '70s. That's all this guy had. A track Paramount, several racing Paramounts, and a Twin Paramount for himself and fiancee... The shifty bits on those so equipped were Campy, and all rode on tubulars, I think... Like I said, this guy was serious... ... and here me the schlub thought my Fuji S-10S was something..

He and a couple of the other members of the Ohio State Cycling Club would ride the entire TOSRV round trip on Saturday, then do it again on Sunday. Normally TOSRV was 105 miles from Columbus OH to Portsmouth OH on Sat and 105 miles back on Sunday, so these guys were doing 210+miles each day. Back-to-back double-Centuries! I was in awe. I was more than happy that I could ride the 105 miles each day in six hours... They were doing the doubles in less than eight!

nlerner

Okay, this thread at least inspired me to set up my winter trainer, kind of minimal right now. It was actually snowing outside when I took this pic, but it hasn’t accumulated much.

northbend 

You've got a treasure trove of trails there on Cougar and neighboring Squak Mt.
Some great hiking to be had, Stu! I'll be visiting some of those soon too...as well as around my valley.
Still on the fence about skiing this season. Am very likely to skip it altogether this year due to COVID.

gthomson

I lacked inspiration to Zwift this morning so I jumped on to the GCN Youtube channel and watched a bunch of their videos. Entertaining, informative (somewhat) and inspiring enough to complete my 21 km's. Thought this video was interesting but not sure how scientifically accurate?

USAZorro

I am a minimalist. Why put a treasured bicycle somewhere that it will collect sweat? I'd hate to ride this tank out on the road, but on the trainer... all the negatives just don't matter. Though at some point I'd like to get a mixte and a quieter trainer.