created: 06.10.2018 by M. Kaase
A lot of people start cycling in the summer - the weather is great, the days are long. It’s all fun, until winter starts. Luckily there are ways to ride your bike at home - but why are there so many “nearly unused” indoor trainers on ebay? Here is a guide how indoor training will be fun for you, and your trainer won’t be on ebay that fast.
1. Get yourself an indoor trainer.
Are you a track cyclist or a fixed gear crit racer? No? Then don’t buy a free roller trainer. It’s simply not worth it. With a stationary trainer you will be able to push hard in your basement, you can practise sprinting, time trial efforts and other high intensity intervals. You can try them on the free roller as well, but damn, you’ll have to do a cadence you’ve never experienced before. They are great for a warm-up right in front of a race, but you don’t have to warm-up if you did not train proper in the winter ;-)
(if you want to know which trainer fits your needs, check out our guide here)
2. Get yourself a sweat cover
You do not have any wind. Not a bit. You will need at least one towel for your body, and maybe a sweat cover for your bike to protect it from your sweat. If you sweat a lot make sure that you clean your handlebar from time to time with water. Otherwise the sweat can corrode especially your aluminum handlebar.
3. Get yourself a fan
If you do not have a cold basement where you can train in, you should really invest some dollars. Get you a fan that makes a lot of wind. It will make your workout a lot more comfortable. From my own experience I can say, that you get a cold really fast if you train with your window open when it snows outside.
4. Get yourself some entertainment
There are two ways of getting entertained on your indoor trainer. The first and most important thing: do a workout, make cycling interesting! Doing basic training on your indoor trainer is useful to a very limited level, only. If you want to know more about how to build the workout you need to be fast in the summer, check our forum here.
But there are more reasons to stay on a bike. Are you a movie nerd yet? You’ll be next spring! Netflix and other video on demand platforms give you some great entertainment during your workout. Listening to your favorite music can give you the extra boost in motivation, as well.
Luckily modern technologies give us great possibilities to socialise our indoor training. Even though you’ll have to pay a monthly fee, you should at least try the free month most of the providers offer. Check our post about training software here.
If you follow those four advices, your indoor trainer won’t be on ebay that fast. Guaranteed!
Give us some feedback if you agree and if you have more useful advices for the community.