Turbo Schmurbo

rollingscone

Feeling pressure to make space at home so clearing out some bicycling stuff.

I thought about selling my Turbo last winter but ended up using it a handful of times to bridge between outdoor spins but again I find myself wondering whether the space of the turbo and turbo wheel are worth the relatively little use I give it.

I also can't use it early in the morning or in the evening because of the noise factor.

I did find it to be of some help maintaining between spins to be fair but never more than a couple of 60-90 minute sessions per week.

Have any other Boardsies sold and regretted or felt liberated from theirTurbos?

smacl

Didn't use it much this year and got 500k odd for January outdoors. I still have the turbo, but if you ditch it invest in good lights, tights and warm gear. I also had studs on the CX bike which removed the excuse of not going out due to snow and ice. I find now if I can't make it out for a cycle, I'll get out for a run which feels better for the head space than the turbo.

mjsc1970

Like smacl says, I find if I cant cycle id go out for a walk/run instead, much better for the head space, though torture for my knees.

I like the idea of a cx bike with the studs, must get me one of them.

As for the turbo its been gathering dust and only used it a few times over the winter. Its not been the best investment I have ever made but I'm not gonna get rid just yet, ill leave it another year at least methinx

Macy0161

Interesting thread, as I nearly pulled the trigger on the smart turbo in the bargain alerts thread.

This year was my first year doing structured turbo classes on my dumb turbo with the club, but thinking of going smart turbo and trainerroad or zwift for the autumn and winter instead (the classes were great, but I could save a pass by doing them at home!).

I'm still a bit sceptical of my own discipline though as I still made the decision to go out in pretty awful weather rather than another turbo session though for weekend spins. I think the more interactive nature of a smart turbo will help (well that's going to be my justification anyway!).

smacl

Macy0161 wrote: »

I think the more interactive nature of a smart turbo will help (well that's going to be my justification anyway!).

Mines a VR trainer, where you get to set up virtual opponents to race against on the PC. Really loved it for the first 2-3 years but it got a bit repetitive more recently. There are options which allow you to race against others online which could be a bit of craic, but even then the turbo seems more of a chore than a pleasure.

fat bloke

I do 90% of my cycling on a turbo over the winter, and still a good 25-50% of it over the summer.

A power meter is an essential and netflix is an advisable.

It's great value in terms of training output for time input. It's hard to do anything worth while out on the road in 45 minutes to an hour, but that's loads of time for me on the turbo.

Edit - key is having a (semi) dedicated turbo bike. It may seem like only a small thing but if every time you want to use the turbo you have to unfold it, set it up, get the bike, change the wheel, install the bike, get the laptop, blah blah blah - it becomes just another barrier to not getting up on it. I have it set up so I just put on shorts and shoes, fill a water bottle and I'm good to go. Last september I bought a cheap TT bike and that's what I've been using on the turbo all winter. Great for getting dialled into the position.

doozerie

I'm a closet fan of the turbo too. I'll often swear at it too mind you, we have a tempestuous relationship (it's it, not me).

I was a slow convert to using a turbo, it was a chore for me. That changed a lot though once I got some structured turbo sessions to do, using the turbo with a purpose/focus makes it a lot less daunting. In fact, being the way I am, having specific targets to aim for (e.g. target cadence, target hear rates, target power figures) transformed the turbo almost into a pleasure to use. Almost.

It's very much a personal thing, but I can't watch TV when I'm on the turbo. I think my legs just stop working when my brain gets interested in something else. So for me I have to have something visual that's directly related to what I'm doing on the bike. I find TrainerRoad ideal for that and I can't imagine using the turbo without it now. It's not just the virtual power feedback that it gives that appeals to me, it's the targets (which can be based on heart rate if you so choose), the graphs of your progress ('cos I'm a nerd), the countdown to the start and end of intervals, etc. They also have a huge library of workouts to choose from, useful categorised by duration, intensity, zones, and so on. They have various training plans too that I've not really delved into. All of which keeps me from getting bored with it, which is an achievement for someone of my tiny attention span.

But even before I started using TrainerRoad I found video sessions designed for turbo sessions to be pretty good for motivation and keeping my focus. I then bought some Sufferfest videos which I also found very good (the Sufferfest videos are matched by workouts within TrainerRoad so you can have the video playing while TrainerRoad overlays it with the Sufferfest target figures on a graph as usual, etc., quite the masochist's dream really). Basically, anything that put structure on the turbo session helped me get a lot more out of every session. It transformed "junk miles" on the turbo into a very efficient use of time, for me.

In terms of noise, I changed from a Tacx Flow to a magnetic trainer (a Kurt Kinetic) and the latter is significantly quieter. I believe there are quieter ones still though. Mind you, as my wife tells me, the noises of my pleas for mercy/air/death will often be heard over any trainer anyway so the (now limited) noise of the trainer itself is arguably moot in my house.

In short, if I sold my turbo tomorrow I'd do an initial giddy little dance of joy, but then I'd miss it. Lots.

mossym

still doing half or so of my sessions on the turbo, but that will go down now that the weather is improved (light levels more so than the rain levels). being out of the house for work for 12/13 hours a day and two small kids means the turbo is handy for getting the midweek work in

apart from that. anything over threshold work is on the turbo, 120% FTP efforts i'll always do on the turbo for safety as cycling with your head down praying for the interval to be over will likely put you into the ditch on the road

smacl

doozerie wrote: »

It's very much a personal thing, but I can't watch TV when I'm on the turbo.

Probably one of the reasons I used the turbo less this winter was ditching the VR and watching boxed sets. Heads up figures for distance to bike in front or behind, power, cadence etc... are fantastic to keep you engaged. I was hoping of taking a few 'easier' turbo sessions, but it seems that full tilt, trying not to barf, barely able stand after its over is the only way to use it.