Trainer for sale

SolarEnergy said:

Should I try this or simply put my trainer for sale 🙄

I would try 2x20 @ 91%FTP for starters. If you can't sustain 91% for 2x20, try 4x10 @ 91%FTP. It's the same total duration at L4 no matter how you cut it, so the adaptation benefit should be very close to 2x20 @ 100%FTP. I think you will find that over time you can do the standard 2x20 @ 100%FTP. I think the goal is to get the minutes and it matters less how you parse it.

RapDaddyo said:

I would try 2x20 @ 91%FTP for starters. If you can't sustain 91% for 2x20, try 4x10 @ 91%FTP. It's the same total duration at L4 no matter how you cut it, so the adaptation benefit should be very close to 2x20 @ 100%FTP. I think you will find that over time you can do the standard 2x20 @ 100%FTP. I think the goal is to get the minutes and it matters less how you parse it.

Yeah maybe.

As a matter of fact, immediately after writing my post, I went back and put on a dry bips, and I did 1x20 90% (or 91 whatever) and it went fine.

I too think it's probably a matter of time.

But even then, 2x20 90% is well under what I routinely do outside. And so I may try increasing the number of workouts per week (while making them shorter), just to make sure that my CTL don't drop too much.

Ideally, I'd like to get this issue solved by the end of september. Blocks are probably the way to go for fast results.

50 dollars?

ackgot said:

50 dollars?

You would have got it for 25 after my workout 😄

SolarEnergy said:

You would have got it for 25 after my workout 😄

That's so funny. You're ready to sell your trainer and I'm looking to make a significant upgrade, to the Velodyne. I can't wait to ride it in ergo mode with a programmed workout. I may need a soundproof room, so I don't disturb people with my cries of agony.😄

RapDaddyo said:

That's so funny. You're ready to sell your trainer...

Bahh I guess we could call that a love/hate relationship.

I used to hate some of the things I now like the most.

RapDaddyo said:

... and I'm looking to make a significant upgrade, to the Velodyne.

I find it real smart to put money on a trainer. Especially for those like us who are stuck training on it for 5 months.

We don't hear very often about Velodyne, they are probably pricey... but good aren't they?

I'll upgrade mine to iMagic hopefully this winter. I definitely need a 5k loop for my 20min intervals 😎

I find incredible that some of you have the dedication to sit inside on a trainer in the summer. - TF

Terry Ferguson said:

I find incredible that some of you have the dedication to sit inside on a trainer in the summer. - TF

I have only one regret Terry, and it's not having spent more time on it.

I should have mixed road with trainer, to optimize adaptation to it. Now I must rush to transfer road fitness to trainer fitness. Would have been smoother if better planned.

SolarEnergy said:

We don't hear very often about Velodyne, they are probably pricey... but good aren't they?

It has an ergo mode, where you input the power profile and then just ride it. So, you are doing the prescribed workout (like it or not - LOL). I hope my mind doesn't write checks that my body can't cash.😄

Terry Ferguson said:

I find incredible that some of you have the dedication to sit inside on a trainer in the summer. - TF

If I want to ride before 6:00AM, it's the only option. And, it's just going to get worse, until 12/21. The problem is that to ride during the workweek in the daylight hours you have to either be a student or work the night shift.

Lights?

RapDaddyo said:

If I want to ride before 6:00AM, it's the only option. And, it's just going to get worse, until 12/21. The problem is that to ride during the workweek in the daylight hours you have to either be a student or work the night shift.

Alex Simmons said:

Lights?

I'm taking a big enough risk that some of these drivers can see me in the daylight. I'll take the trainer over lights.

Bummer - I don't know LV riding conditions. I'd go nuts doing so much on a trainer.

RapDaddyo said:

I'm taking a big enough risk that some of these drivers can see me in the daylight. I'll take the trainer over lights.

Hey SolarEnergy, I have the same trouble as you on the trainer. I actually don't think it's mental. I'm pretty sure there's something really different about riding on the trainer that makes my threshold lower. Not sure what it is but I can't come close to the same wattage on the trainer as I can outside. I think the trainer might require more power at the dead point (top/bottom), which just gasses me.

Check my previous thread about trainer Vs outdoor power - IMO it is a big factor for a lot of riders and indicates adjusting %FTP (or FTP) for indoor work until you are fully adjusted.

By the way, you guys tried (or heard of) the Cardgirus ergo ?

It seems that besides RD who as we all know is the forum's reasident masochist, 😉 not many people enjoy indoor training. When I was pumping out the low wattages it wasn't too bad, however, now with the occasional interval at over 300Watts I actually semi-dread it.

I have been training (seriously) on an indoor trainer week in week out since January, and I don't think you ever really get used to it as some say. You learn to grin and bear it, is I think nearer the truth. The only thing that keeps me going is staying focussed on why I'm sitting on the stupid thing pedalling like crazy and going nowhere fast.

As an ex runner, I think the indoor trainer compares well with running. Why I hear you say. With running if you slacken off the pace (free wheel) you go backwards. With the indoor trainer it's even worse - if you ease off, you have to build back up again, and the more you've eased off the harder it is to get back up to power/speed.

In other words with running and the indoor trainer there is no respite. Outdoors on the bike you can pedal slower or even stop pedalling for a few secs, which affords you blissful relief, albeit short lived.

For me and it seems many others - indoor training = purgatory!

Finally RD wrote:

Quoted post said:

I may need a soundproof room, so I don't disturb people with my cries of agony.😄

RD, I would have thought a man with your education could spell ecstasy.😄

SolarEnergy said:

Today on the trainer, I had fresh legs, was well rested, and so I aimed for 2x20 at 100% FT. Outside, it would have been a walk in a park, and would have turned out being 2X20 at 100% + 10w probably (as usual when I have fresh legs). I rarely do only 2X20 outside anyway. I prefer longer efforts.

But on the trainer, I failed miserably. Oh I did couple of 10min, few 5s, 1x8 and alike but... What a heck em I gonna do about it damn issue.

I'm coming in a little late here, but a couple thoughts:
1) serves you right for scoffing at my "FTP is a vigorous effort" statements. Walk in the park.... pfft. 🙄 :p
2) don't expect to just jump on the trainer and start pumping out FTP efforts right off the bat. It just isn't going to happen if you have been riding outside all summer, but you'll be back up there after a few rides. Drop it down to 90-95% for a few rides until you get used to riding the trainer.
3) I can't wait to get back to my trainer. This fall-sweet-spot-maintenance-stuff feels like messing around. When I'm in trainer-mode I feel like doctor Frankenstein in the lab -- obsessed with my work. You've got to love it.

frenchyge said:

When I'm in trainer-mode I feel like doctor Frankenstein in the lab -- obsessed with my work. You've got to love it.

Now, there's a sentiment I can relate to.😄

lanierb said:

I think the trainer might require more power at the dead point (top/bottom), which just gasses me.

I am with you in regard to this hypothesis. It forces me to widen the effective pedal range or something.

I know that when I ride outside (most of my threshold work is done on flat), my epr is very narrow, with a high peak power where it pays the most. Then it's all recovery.

If Coggan's quadrant analysis would factor in effective pedal range and peak power per cycle, 20m on trainer would look different than 20m on the road. On the QA chart I mean.

Of course this is all hyptothesis, but I wouldn't be surprise to learn that I use more slow twitch fibers on the trainer compared to outdoors where I use more type IIa