Tag Archives: Bike trainer

No matter how brave you are sometimes weather conditions keep you from conquering those trails. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to have fun with indoor biking.

Indoor biking is fun and effective training through the winter

by John Brown

No matter how brave you are sometimes weather conditions keep you from conquering those trails with indoor biking. This is especially true as the mercury drops and turns our beloved Earth into something reminiscent of the Russian front. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to have fun with indoor biking.

Indoor Biking with a Spin Class

Most gyms offer spin classes. These classes use a stationary bicycle, music, and instructors to guide a class through about a 1-hour workout. Spin classes are a source of indoor biking, and it gets you out of the house.

There are, however, a few downsides with spin classes to keep in mind. One issue is that a spin bike won’t fit the same as your bike. To fix this, many riders will install their own saddle and pedals on a spin bike before each class. The other potential problem is that the classes are not tailored to your personal goals. The classes are usually high-tempo, high-effort workouts that might not fit with your training plan. Some riders find they like the community of spin class but not the specific ride, so they opt in or out of certain portions of the workout.

Riding your bike indoors spin class

Indoor biking with a spin class

Using an Indoor Trainer

Riding an indoor trainer has gotten much more popular for riders of all ability levels, and it’s the kind of indoor biking where you can use your bike. A trainer is a device that holds your bicycle upright, creates resistance when pedaling, and simulates an outdoor ride while riding your bike indoors. Using an Indoor trainer, you can ride from the comfort of your home or in a group setting (most bike shops have trainer nights through the winter).

Riding you bike indoors trainer class

Indoor Trainer Group Ride

There is usually a leader when riding with a group, but if riding alone, you can still have fun. It’s best to start with a plan. If you intend to get on the trainer and ride for 60 minutes while watching TV, I hate to break it to you, but that quickly gets boring. So, how do you keep the ride fun? First, you must create intrigue because you cannot rely on terrain to supply stimulus. There are no hills, descents, turns, or beautiful vistas to keep you interested. But you can use your trainer to mimic the efforts of a great outdoor ride.

How to Build a Ride

For example, let’s describe a normal outdoor ride, then create a workout to mimic that ride on the trainer. The ride starts by carving through a neighborhood on our way to open roads. Snaking through our neighborhood would require some turning, braking, and acceleration (a great natural warm-up), so on the trainer, you would do something like:

  • Pedal in an easy gear for one minute
  • Then, for the two subsequent minutes, increase your pedaling speed (called Cadence)
  • Follow that by slowing that cadence down over the next two minutes.
  • Repeating that two or three times is a great way to get your legs moving

The next obstacle on our imaginary ride is a hilly section of the road. To mimic hilly terrain when riding your bike indoors, try the following:

  • Shift into a harder gear and pedal at 80% of your maximum effort for 2 or three minutes
  • Followed by one or two minutes of soft pedaling (hard effort for the climb, followed by no effort on the descent).
  • Repeat this type of interval in groups of three.

Finally, our ride concludes with city line sprints (earn bragging rights over your friends). To simulate this action, try the following:

  • Shift your bicycle into a difficult gear
  • Ride at 80% effort for one minute
  • Then, sprint all out (max effort) for fifteen to twenty seconds.
  • Follow each effort with some soft-pedaling.

Workout Example

A written cue sheet of this ride would look like the following:

5-Min. warm-up

1-Min. 50% effort low cadence                                                                                                                       1-Min. 50% effort medium cadence                                                                                                           1-1-Min. 50% effort High cadence                                                                                                                 1-1-Min. 50% effort Medium cadence                                                                                                               1-Min. 50% effort low cadence                                                                                                                                     Repeat 3x

4-Min, soft pedal

3-Min. 80% effort                                                                                                                                             2-Min. soft-pedal                                                                                                                                                          Repeat 3x                          

4-Min. soft-pedal

1-Min. 80 effort                                                                                                                                               15-Second sprint                                                                                                                                             45-Second soft-pedal                                                                                                                                                  Repeat 4x                           

9-min. cool down with drills

A ride like the one above takes one hour, keeps you moving and only involves hard effort for ¼ of the ride. By switching up different intervals of effort and rest, indoor biking can be beneficial and fun.

Trainer Pitfalls

Time on the trainer can be very beneficial to your riding. However, it can also be very hard on you if done improperly. When riding outdoors, you have natural portions of rest while coasting or descending, but on an indoor trainer, you cannot coast. People tend to pedal with effort on a trainer throughout the ride and overdo it. A good rule of thumb is to balance high effort with rest at a three-to-one ratio. If a ride calls for ten minutes at 80% effort, include 30 minutes of low-effort work.

riding your bike indoors tired

Too Tired!

Low Effort, High Benefit Drills

How do you keep the ride interesting without effort? Try including drills like one-leg drills, high cadence drills, spin-up drills, top-only drills, and toe touch drills. These require very little effort but build new skills.

bike indoors

One leg Drill

  • One-leg drills – As they sound, these drills are done with one leg (see above). Clip your right leg out of your pedal, hang it away from the bike, and pedal with only your left leg. Try to get the pedal stroke smooth as possible without any noise or bumps.
  • Spin-up drill – With your bike in an easy gear, spin the pedals as quickly as possible. Keep increasing your cadence until your upper body bounces, then taper back to a normal speed. Repeat, each time, trying to get faster while keeping your upper body still (this whole drill takes about 30 seconds per spin-up).
  • High-cadence drill – With your bike in an easy gear, spin at the fastest cadence you can without your upper body bouncing. Hold that cadence for one or two minutes.
  • Top-only drills – Try to pedal using light effort and attempt to keep the top of your foot in contact with the top of your shoe throughout the pedal rotation. You won’t actually be pressing down on the pedal during this drill, but instead pulling up.
  • Toe touch drills – While pedaling, attempt to touch your toe to the front of your shoe at the top of each pedal stroke. While this isn’t possible, it will help teach your body to begin the pedal stroke earlier in its rotation.

With some research and experimentation, indoor biking can keep you satisfied while you wait for the weather to get better.

About John Brown, the author

John operates Browns Bicycle in Richfield, MN, as a lifelong cyclist and consummate tinkerer. It all started for him in grade school when the bike bug bit and that particular fever is still there. Now, and over the past thirty years, he has worked at every level in the bike industry. Started, like most, sweeping floors and learning anything he could about bikes. He eventually graduated as a service manager and then a store manager. Through the years, he has spent extensive time designing and sourcing bicycles and parts for some of the largest bike companies in the world. All the while focusing on helping as many people as possible enjoy the love of riding a bike. In that pursuit, he has taught classes (both scheduled and impromptu) on all things bikes. John also believes in helping every rider attain their optimal fit on the bike of their dreams. Please feel free to stop in any time and talk about bikes, fit, and parts or share your latest ride. You can also see more of John’s tricks and tips on the Brown Bicycle Facebook Page.
We are now a little over a week away from candies, flowers, and Valentines cards. We are also just a few more weeks away from some prime riding weather. Therefore, we need to turn our collective eyes toward the future and continue our plans for making this year the best riding year ever!

Getting ready for your best riding year ever! Part 2

by John Brown, HaveFunBiking.com

We are now a little over a week away from candies, flowers, and Valentines cards. We are also just a few more weeks away from some prime riding weather. Therefore, we need to turn our collective eyes toward the future and continue our plans for making this year the best riding year ever!

Get your mind ready for your best riding year ever!

It’s been proven countless times – the mind drives the body! Get your body moving by committing your mind to an event. One of the easiest ones you can do anywhere is the 30 Days of Biking Pledge. Simply put, the pledge commits you to ride 30 days in the month of April. Any event that you will commit to will do.

Get your fitness ready for your best riding year ever

Make a training plan now. Your plan can be as simple as committing to ride two times a week or as detailed as planning the mileage, date, and time. Just be sure that plan matches with your goal (example: riding for only one hour a week wouldn’t give you the fitness you need to ride two hours a day through April).

Most of us are currently locked in a winter freeze, so conditions may not coincide with your availability to ride outdoors. But keeping yourself physically active is paramount for this time of year and it’s especially crucial for your training. Any strenuous activity will help your overall fitness for summer cycling.

To help with on-bike fitness there is no better indoor exercise than riding a bike trainer. A trainer turns your bicycle into an indoor stationary bicycle. There are also spin gyms, training centers and bike shops that run classes a few times a week. If you want to kick off your trainers sessions in style, check out my favorite trainer workout.

Fitting riding into your daily routine

How do you fit in time to train? To start, try not to add too much separate riding time to your schedule. Instead, commute to work by bike. If it is too far, drive part of the way and ride the rest. A normal 30 minute drive could turn into a 15 minute drive and the rest on your bike with a little planning. That way, you only add 15 to 20 minutes to your schedule and still get a ride in. Bicycle commuting in the morning and the evening can buy you an hour of riding while only adding around minutes to your daily schedule.

Find trips to the grocery store a handful of times a week. Trying to ride your bike to the grocery store, rather than drive once a week, can be a quick rode to fitness.

Finally, add a ride to your normal downtime. If you have an indoor trainer, ride for one hour a night while watching TV rather than sitting on the couch. It may seem counter-intuitive, but being active is a great way to wind down from a busy day. You will find you sleep better and generally feel more relaxed.

Get your bike equipment ready for your best riding year ever

Bring your bike out of hibernation and put air in the tires. Take it for a spin around the block and check to see if it’s functioning properly. April 1st is smack dab in the middle of when many people begin to think about riding their bike. If you wait until the last minute to drop your bike off for service, chances are, you will be waiting longer than you like for you bicycle. Click the (link) here to read about some of the benefits of servicing your bike in the winter.

Additionally, if you bring your bike in for service, think about making sure your bike fits you properly. A professional bike fit will lower the chance of repetitive motion injuries and make you more comfortable and efficient. While you’re having your bike serviced and fit you can also find the right clothing and accessories for the year ahead. The weather in April can be a mixed bag, so make sure your clothing options include something to keep you comfortable in the sun,rain, snow, wind, or cold.

The First opportunities

We can begin to expect some nice days over the next few weeks. Take every opportunity to ride on these few late winter gifts. Ride with your kids, ride to the store, or ride once it’s dark if needed, but ride.

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The 10/5s workout is my absolute favorite trainer workout, and some part of me hates it. Read on to learn how you can hate it too!

A blueprint for my favorite and most effective trainer workout!

by John Brown, HaveFunBiking.com

The 10/5’s workout is my absolute favorite trainer session, but a part of me hates it. I love it for it’s simplicity and efficiency and hate it for its devilish difficulty. Overall this trainer workout starts easy, gets harder and is over within one hour. It also helps to train your body to recover with limited time and is best done on an indoor trainer. The final outcome, when riding outside, will have you smiling more with all the trainer workouts behind you! Read on to learn how you can hate it too.

What you will need for a trainer workout.

Considering this is a workout session, you will definitely need a trainer. The type of trainer isn’t important, but the workout will be a bit easier to execute if you have a trainer that measures power output (watts). If you don’t have a trainer that measures watts, any bike computer that can read off the rear wheel will work. Finally, you want to be able to time your workout, so a clock or stopwatch is helpful.

-Trainer, clock, Power meter of bike computer.

Setup for your trainer session

The setup for this workout comes down to numbers. If you are doing it with a power meter, having a baseline understanding of your average power output is helpful. when working with a bike computer and tracking distance, just take a look at the chart below for some numbers you can use. If you are using distance for the workout, be sure you are comfortable with resetting the trip distance on your cycling computer.  Finally, pick a number (either power or distance) that is about ½ of your average and write it down. Then, if you are using distance, write down the next 9 ascending distances in 1mph increments. If you plan to use power, add 5 watts to each number in an ascending order. As an example, if you start at 7mph (or 940 meters) you will finish at 17mph (2280 meters). For wattage, if you start at 100 watts, you will finish at 145 watts

Starting the workout

Get on your trainer and soft pedal for 10 minutes to warm up. Once warmed up, you can start the workout. To begin, ride at the first number you wrote down for 5 minutes. Then take one minute off. Be sure not to get off the bike, or stop pedaling. This is a one hour ride that works on training your body to recover. Once your one minute recovery is complete, re-set your trip distance on your bike computer (if you are using distance) and start the second number on your list. You goal is to maintain the wattage number or reach the distance totals (if you are using distance) on your list. If you miss one, don’t stop. I have had times where I missed the 8th or 9th goal and still hit the 10th.

What’s next step

With your 10/5’s workout complete, soft pedal for 10 minutes to cool down. Look at how many of your goals you hit/missed and adjust the workout accordingly. As an example, if you missed ½ the goals, look to start at a lower number or pedal softer between each 5 minute piece. I have noticed that if I don’t pedal soft enough between pieces, I will never put my body into recovery, and not be able to complete the workout. Overall, this workout is not something you do every day (it’s probably too high intensity for that), but can be a fun drill to drop into your rotation a few times a month.

The final outcome, you will be smiling a whole lot more when riding outside with a trainer workout regiment behind you.