New trainer -- eek!!!

So, I just picked up my first trainer this afternoon. Kurt Kinetic Road Machine. It was easy to set up and it feels great -- super smooth and stable.

But it's hard!!!!! Does anyone else find riding the trainer much, much harder than riding on the road? I've only ever used trainers in a fitting setting before, never for an extended period. I just did a short 10 miles tonight, but it was tougher than I thought 10 miles should feel even given that I'm in bad winter shape. I managed to stay between 16 and 18 mph, around 90-95 rpm, and that was HARD. This is my usual cadence, but much slower speed than I normally am on the road. Do others of you who use trainers find that you are slower on the trainer than you are on the road??? Or am I just lame? It's not like I was pushing a super hard gear -- probably 39-14 to 39-16. Eek!!!

Liza,

Oh, I'm definitely with you on the trainer being harder than riding on the road! I was apprehensive about not being able to keep up with a group on the road after seeing my performance on the trainer. Boy was I pleasantly surprised when I was able to "hit the road" again!

I've tried various resistance settings on my trainer so the trainer rides better simulate outside effort. Unfortunately, if I set the resistance too loose, the wheel squeaks, and it doesn't work well when I do workouts that call for standing and/or higher gears.

Ultimately, I've decided that I don't care what the trainer mileage is. I'm fine as long as the resistance is low enough that I can warm up adequately, and high enough that I can do the standing workouts.

-- Melissa

It's not just you- my speed on the trainer is definitely lower than my speed on the road for the same level of effort. I concentrate more on heart rate, cadence, and duration when riding on the trainer, and not so much on speed.

I would experiment a little with how tightly you're clamping the roller to the rear wheel. I had to play with it a little until I found the right setting for my trainer- I turn it until the roller just touches, and then about 2 half turns more. Too loose, and the tire squeaks and slips, and that's not fun.

Enjoy your new trainer!

I have very little experience with the trainer but my husband rides it ALL the time in the winter, hours every day. I put my bike there a few times and had lots of trouble adjusting the resistance. My goal was just to spin my legs so I really did not want to have to push the pedals and strain my knees.

One time it was just right the first attempt. The second time I kept getting off the bike, making a micro adjustment, getting back on, adjusting again, until the wheel would skip, and then I'd loosen it just a bit. But I just couldn't get the #$%() thing to work for me so I stepped down after half an hour. Then the third time I realized that my rear wheel was touching the trainer at a different place than my husband's wheel touches (as shown by the black marks on the cylinder). I toyed with the "things" (for lack of a better word) that my rear hub hangs on until the rear wheel was aligned with the marks left by my husband's wheel. Then everything was perfect!!! So either he's used the trainer so much that the METAL cylinder is worn (seems unlikely to me) or the cylinder is not the same shape everywhere. I don't know. But now I can set up the trainer with a lot less resistance and spin the evening away. :D

I don't know how much that will help you as your trainer is new, but you may want to try moving your bike around on the trainer and see what happens...