Indoor trainer

Over the past few weeks I've been trying to squeeze in riding time in whatever varied form it takes. Last Monday I was out in the pouring rain test riding the Merida Ninety Six full susser. Under the hazy sunshine 7 days later it was the time to break out the rigid hardtail and head over to the man made trails at Queen Elizabeth Country Park. In between I've done a bit of everything, dashing around town before heading to the shop, I've even been back on the turbo trainer for the first time in 5 years!

Its been a case of a bit here and a bit there, the assorted outings without any real structure largely as a result of the winter weather. First we had the ice. I woke up early a couple of times, wrapped myself in base layers, Roubaix thermals, windproofs, buffs, overshoes and tiptoed around the lanes in the dark. Trouble was I had to concentrate so hard on staying upright it wasn't really much of a workout.

Then we had the rain! I'm no fair weather cyclist, I've no problem with getting wet, but it does hit the motivation slightly when you can hear it beating down on the roof so hard I contemplated building an Ark.

With the great outdoors not looking too appealing I organised a Tacx Vortex indoor trainer for the shop. It's been 5 years since I last used the Turbo trainer at home. I've always found it such a boring activity that I packed it away. I once managed an hour of indoor spinning staring at a heart rate monitor but usually 30 minutes was about all I could handle. However, it does undoubtedly provide the chance for a very focused session, without the variables encountered out in the real world. I used to stick to a 10 min warm-up a batch of 1 minute intervals and then a cool down. As it happens things have moved on in the world of indoor trainers to help get the most out of the time spent with sweat pouring off the end of your nose.

I downloaded the Tacx app to my phone and in about 30 seconds I could see my speed, power, cadence, time and distance. From the phone I adjusted the gradient (resistance) and could select the flavour of my torture from a range of specific training programs. There is also access to the world of online riding with (or against) other individuals around the world, who like you are trapped in their shed wearing nothing but a pair of bib-shorts.

I've found it very beneficial in terms of my technique. I started mashing away but a little investigation found that if I changed up a gear, upped the cadence and focused hard on a circular pedalling motion the speed and power increased for the same or even a perceivable drop in effort. I was able to quickly transfer this improvement to the outside world on my next ride.

So this week looks cold again. Will it freeze the mud to enable some off-road excursions, or will I be teetering around on the ice, or forced to stick it out on the Tacx? As long as it involves a riding a bike I'll be happy!