First winter with a bike and thinking about an indoor trainer...
 

I am loving having a bike this summer, and thinking I need to get a trainer to bike indoors this winter (midwest weather, US).

Any thoughts on this for starters? I don't really know where to start looking at all. I would love to try zwift. :)

(I guess I can't post url's yet, so I'm looking at a refurbished Kickr Core Smart Trainer.)

Thanks.

You will love the core. Great with zwift and other apps too.

Oh, and there is an indoor riding forum too.

If you have one, may I ask how it connects (zwift to screen)? I have a 4k projector I could like to try to use it with so that I can bike in front of my 150" screen, but I'm not sure how zwift and my bike and my garmin 530 and the smart trainer all connect with my projector. :)

Thanks.

You can run Zwift through PC, ipad, or AppleTV. Probably need an hdmi cable from whatever you choose.

I’m in the Midwest too. Lots of people love the indoor stuff, but it’s not the only option.

I ride all winter except the inevitable three or four weeks of Arctic hell we get where it doesn’t reach the freezing point all day and there is snow and ice and not enough traction to get a workout. Then I have plenty of exercise shoveling snow and use the elliptical if I need more cardio.

Really, i find it can be just as satisfying riding in cold and slop with the right gear to stay warm. I pretty much am riding an old MTB with small knob tires all winter because my rides involve trails and they will be saturated all winter. Either frozen or muddy. Once you get into it, it can be very fun. YMMV, as some places are colder, but that can be dealt with.

Otto

Yes to a trainer.

As above, riding outside in the winter IS an option in the midwest. If you have the right gear, some of the most glorious rides you'll ever take can be on a crisp snowy winter morning.

But before either, what you should be thinking about is how far into the fall you will be extending your outdoor riding season. Outdoor riding as the leaves turn is not to be missed, but you can't do it in summer kit. Gloves, hat, socks are the first things to be thinking about. Possibly also different tires, depending on what you are riding. Having the right gear for the fall conditions is key, and you won't get them all at once. It's an accumulation and learning process.

Have a Kikr Bike. Nice not to have to take a bike on and off. Also, my wife and I both use it so no need to change bikes. We just change out saddles and posts to meet our different saddle needs.

Buying my Wahoo Kickr was one of the best purchases I have ever made, cycling-related or not: It helped my sanity during the winter covid months and I'm no longer dreading the onset of next winter.

Get on Zwift and you'll wonder why you didn't buy one sooner.

I live near Vancouver and winter evenings are typically wet and/or chilly or cold: the kickr makes cycling so much more accessible, and enjoyable, after work, as well as on washed-out weekends.

In terms of setup: I connect my Kickr to my MacBook, which has Zwift loaded on it, via Bluetooth. I then go from my MacBook to my 55 inch TV via HMDI cable.

I have a Tacx wheel-on smart trainer. Works well with Zwift. Zwift will save your indoor rides to Garmin Express, Strava, etc automatically once you connect the apps, so you really don't even need your 530. The only potential issue I can see with your projector setup and 150" screen (I envy you) would be placement of the projector. Can't have it behind you, or all you'll see is your own shadow on the screen. Ceiling mount?

Just to be contrary...

I thought about buying a trainer or rollers for the last dozen or so years. However I just don't find anything enjoyable there. I've sort of felt that Zwift might be the thing, but then again I'm not out to compete with others, just myself.

My wife has had a stationary bike all that time and I'll get on it some to keep my cadence going during my winter layoff, but not enough to benefit me. My oldest son just got a basic wheel on trainer last year and I've tried it too, but there just isn't anything to draw me to it as there is for the hours and hours I can spend on my bike outside.

So I'm not against trainers or rollers at all, but if you need some magic to draw you to use them, then it might not be there despite your initial excitement of thinking there will. So maybe you need to test the waters somehow, borrow a friends, go to a fitness place for a while and use theirs if one is around. Otherwise, you'll pay a pretty dollar for Zwift and all the fancy stuff a wheel off trainer can do. If that turns out not to be your thing, it might just be an expensive place to hang your pants in your bedroom, like our treadmill use to be.

You don't have to compete against anyone, if you don't want to: just jump on the trainer, select a route, and ride. That's what I do and I love it.

I'm glad you do. I don't think I ever will like riding indoors. I've tried.

Fair enough but I was responding to your suggestion that Zwift is all about competing against others: that couldn't be further from the truth.

I felt the same way for a long time, even with considerable time on Zwift. Then, eventually, I found my Zwift groove and came to enjoy it much more.

have a look in this forum for more indoor details.

https://www.bikeforums.net/indoor-st...cycling-forum/

My personal setup is quite simple: zwift installed on PC, HDMI wire to 40" TV all in the garage.

I only pay for zwift in the winter becasue i am not really a fan of indoor riding. that said, i still ride indoors in the summer from time to time. I have my own little program that i wrote and use for interval training on tuesdays and thursdays. Last year i was on it a lot due to smoke from the fires. i can still ride zwift for a few miles/month even though i canceled for the summer although i could not do that yesterday so i rode a route i had done in early july on my program. boring but better than nothing.

i don't have a garmin so can't help you there but i think you can re-ride a ride with that too.

a 150" screen sounds immersive, should be fun. you will need a fan, it is really important because once you start to heat up you need to cool down and the fan provides the air flow. sure you sweat but the airflow is all about cooling, not keeping dry. you'll want something to keep sweat off the floor and bike. even in the garage i put cardboard down to protect the concrete from the salt.

Truth.

The sweat wrecked the shifters on one bike before I learned to put a thick towel over the bars.

Hmmmm. None of those in the room with the big screen projector. Is a fire cube, or a roku any help? I have those so that I can mirror my android and ios phones. I don't really want to try to run zwift off of my phone though, if that's even a thing. I wonder if I can mirror my pc from another room...

Yes it's ceiling mounted, and I'll essentially be riding under it most likely.

I'm one of the bigger trainer users around here, at least in the winter. The solution requires the window as open as possible, house fan on, ceiling fan om, high-speed blower from the side. Then Rouvy on the phone, plus whatever I'm watching on the TV.

Oh yes and lots of towels, at least one on the headset plus one per shifter per hour, minimum. I actually have my old S1 in tri config set for dedicated trainer use (no brakes, Microshift shifters) on a Neo2T, and wifey just got a Fuji Sportif 2.3 for dedicated use on her Saris H3. That way they can get sweated on horribly and not worry.

Also make sure you aren't sweating on your front wheel nipples. Those can get corroded easily.

you cannot run zwift from a phone. to my knowledge it must run from PC, Apple, maybe ipad...not sure. just go to the zwift site and see what you need. i set mine up 2 yrs ago and things change. maybe you can run it of your internet enabled refrigerator for all i know, then cast it to your big screen and when you get hungry you can see what is waiting for you in there.

Every fall DCRainmaker publishes a very thorough review of trainers. Look at the one from fall 2020 for a start.

An open window isn't really practical in the Minnesota winter. My trainer is in my basement, where if I keep the heat on low, I can keep the temp to about 57°F. That's about ideal, I find. When I start out, it's a little chillly. After my warmup, I turn the fan on (switch is within arms reach). Still, the room temperature goes up about 2-3 ° during the workout.

Any refrigerator with ANT+ will work.

I think probably no to the window too. :) I'll start searching around for a fan that would work though. There is a surface right in front of where I think I'd bike that would probably be perfect for one. The setup is in the basement too, so it's generally cool all year around. The sweat was a thing I hadn't thought of. I mean I sweat when I bike out doors. :) I suppose that flies off in the wind instead of soaking my bike though. I'll do some more research on that too.

As far as gamification goes, I like video games a lot, so I'm actually kind of hopeful that I might find a nice place between playing video games and riding out doors with zwift. I'll watch some more real time video of it.

Thanks guys. :)