In our last article, I mentioned that the forecast for Ironman Canada 2011 was to be hot. And, was it ever hot!
Well, things change. It is the end of September and it is 13 C (55F) degrees and rainy. I am not riding outside today but then again I don't need to ride today. Still chill'n out in my off-season.
So, let's talk indoor cycling where it will be nice and warm but most importantly, DRY (well, for most people).
Indoor cycling requires an indoor trainer (or as our UK friends call them, turbo's). There are a wide variety of trainers available and they range in price from $100 to $2000. What's the difference? What should you get?
There are five categories of indoors trainers:
1. Magnetic
2. Wind
3. Fluid
4. Electronic Brake Controlled
5. Rollers
I'll cut to the chase. If you have a budget of $300-500 then go out and get a good fluid trainer. Reason being they are the most durable, least noisy and most importantly they increase in resistance when you shift gears (ie. you don't have to get off your bike to increase the resistance of the trainer to do hard intervals).
Cyclops Fluid2 is a good example of a fluid trainer in the $400+ range.
If you are willing to go with a lower quality trainer that is less durably, and does not adjust resistance as easily then you can look at magnetic trainers. Some, come with cables that allow you to adjust the resistance while you are riding. However, these cables do not last forever. Again, only get these if you really can't afford the more expensive fluid trainers.
Cyclops and Tacx make good magnetic trainers for $200-300.
You can also get wind trainers which give you a good range of resistance (and are even smoother) but for the same price as a Fluid they are a lot louder. A lot. Not a tradeoff I want to make for a smoother ride.
Electronic brake trainers are the Cadillacs of trainers. They allow you to adjust the resistance electronically and give you a good measure of power. They are relatively quiet and durable. Tacx makes some that are under $1000 but are not as accurate with the power measurements. The Tacx flow is the most affordable one while the Tacx vortex is a step up.
More expensive electronic brake models come with software so you can train on various courses and do various workouts with your computer. So, if you plan on doing a lot of indoor riding, have a plugin nearby and have $1500 to spend on a trainer, these are the ones to get.
Trainers made by Computrainer give more accurate power readings while the Tacx Bushido trainers have better software for training.
Lastly, rollers have come a long way even though they have been around the longest. Basically, you sit your bike on top of 3 rolling pins. They require that you balance on those rollers which is great to give you the road type feel and is why people use them. Some offer resistance systems but most just let you set it to one resistance and as you pedal faster, you go a bit harder. Some models also help you stay in the middle of the pins which prevents you from wiping out (been there, done that).
