Mag Trainer tips and videos

[bikegoddess]

Hello all,

This is my first post here. I am a new rider, I adverage 70+/- miles a week (four days - two longer, two shorter) now that Fall has claimed New England. I went out and got a trainer to maintain milage and to not loose the gains I have made over the past months. I am opening it in the morning and will plan to ride on cooler mornings <45 degrees and rainy days. Please give me as many pointers and tips as you can. I have never been on a trainer before other than testing them in the store.
Also, are there videos that are good for training women? I am planning on my first century in eleven months, a week before the big 40.
I thank all in advance and I am so happy I found this site... actually a friend found it and passed it onto me.
Lisa

[Adventure Girl]

Welcome to the forum. This is a great place. You'll find lots of information and support here.

As for trainers and videos, try using the search function for trainer, cycleops, videos and maybe spinervals. These topics have been covered several times. If you still have questions after reading a few threads, just holler.

There is an "advanced" search feature where you can be more specific (like searching for a key word in an entire post or in just the title). Here are the results for searching "trainer".

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/search.php?searchid=319850

[sbctwin]

I too am new to this site having stumbled across it earlier this week. I too just bought a new cyclops fluid trainer 2 for winter conditioning. I didn't want to loose all the gains I made this year. If you find any interesting videos aimed at women, will you post them. I will look too....:confused:

[desertrat]

hello, (Also new to this forum!), but I had some suggestions as far as videos and indoor trainers go!, I have a minoura hyper mag trainer, I love it, I also purchased 2-3 Spinervals videos (spinervals.com) to get started and stay motivated. I think there are twenty something different videos. I bought a range: aerobase builder, uphill grind, and mental toughness. I would suggest buying a few, you have a long winter ahead!, But,,, the other thing that helped me stay fit for cycling thru the winter was cross country skiing. It broke up the monotony of sitting on my bike in my living room. and ......one more suggestion is checking with a local bike shop, or other riders and getting together at lease once a week to do a video!!. Just some suggestions. Good luck!!, I used to live back east and hated the winter, I now live in sunny az and can bike year round.:)

[telegirl]

Hi From Vermont!

I am hoping for more snow this year so, like desertrat, I can push cross country skiing (I also downhill on the weekends) into my workout. I also just got Cyclozen and Cyclocore for off season training. Have to admit that it kicked my butt.....well, abs really. But I have never been able to stave off boredom to keep with a program for long.....so that's why I put studded tires on my mountain bike (I did some winter riding last year until the 6th mud-season frustrated me into submission) and got a cyclocross bike.

[emily_in_nc]

Another suggestion for winter fitness: hiking. Not so easy in snow, but when there's no snow (as is usually the case here in NC), I found that I stayed pretty fit over the winter by taking long weekend hikes (lots of hills) in state parks with my DH. The scenery was gorgeous as well, and you stay much warmer than riding since you're going slow and generating lots of heat on the climbs. Some fitness is very sports-specific, so when I first got back on the bike after all the hiking, I still had work to do, but I gained "bike fitness" much more quickly than I expected.

I also ride on a trainer. I enjoy Spinervals some days, but others I just like to put on some hard-pumping music (XM satellite radio stations broadcast over out DirecTV connection - no ads) and jam. Sometimes the music motivates me more than Coach Troy, though his drills are good and very difficult. Of the Spinervals tapes I have (about 6), Uphill Grind is all women and quite a challenge!

Unfortunately, with the time change at the end of the month, it's going to be time to pull the trainer out again. I always dread that, but when it's quite chilly, I am glad not to have to ride outside. I just don't care for winter riding, at least on the roads. I might try some mountain biking on less frigid days, though!

Emily