how do I use my trainer?

I've had a trainer for over a year now, but I'm still not really not sure how to get the best use out of it. I'd appreciate any advice!

+ I currently have my front wheel set up on an old phone book. Is that ok? I'll get a block (I think that's what it's called) at some point, but last time I priced it was $100.

+My back tire squeaks on the tire. What am I doing wrong? I feel as if I'm going to ruin the tire.

+ I feel as if I have to pedal differently on the trainer. Is that true? Or am I doing something wrong?

+ I don't have a clue how to train on it. I know how to adjust the tension but on the trainer I find I just pick a level where I feel like I'm working and adjust to keep myself at that level throughout. Definitely not the best way to reach winter goals! I am going to set up a dvd player so maybe that will help.

+ Is there any maintenance to do on the trainer itself?

Thanks!!

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Originally Posted by rain

I've had a trainer for over a year now, but I'm still not really not sure how to get the best use out of it. I'd appreciate any advice!

+ I currently have my front wheel set up on an old phone book. Is that ok? I'll get a block (I think that's what it's called) at some point, but last time I priced it was $100.

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This is fine - you don't need to spend big bucks on a trainer block if you have a suitable substitute.

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+My back tire squeaks on the tire. What am I doing wrong? I feel as if I'm going to ruin the tire.

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You may not be tightening the roller down to the wheel enough. You can also try cleaning your tire with a bit of rubbing alcohol (and the roller if it is dirty). A trainer will wear your tires down faster. If it worries you, get a trainer tire (made of harder rubber) or just use an old tire.

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+ I feel as if I have to pedal differently on the trainer. Is that true? Or am I doing something wrong?

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You are probably just feeling the fact that you cannot coast.... it takes more effort to ride on a trainer and your form has to be better. No worries this isn't harmful at all - in fact it makes you stronger.

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+ I don't have a clue how to train on it. I know how to adjust the tension but on the trainer I find I just pick a level where I feel like I'm working and adjust to keep myself at that level throughout. Definitely not the best way to reach winter goals! I am going to set up a dvd player so maybe that will help.

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To best answer this we'd need to know what kind of trainer you have. Some have adjustable resistance, some don't. Is it magnetic, fluid? What brand? What are your winter goals?

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+ Is there any maintenance to do on the trainer itself?

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Again - depends on the trainer, but most don't require much maintenance. Check for loose/worn parts. Clean the roller if it needs it.

Some great advice from Eden above! I've ridden my trainer a lot and a couple of tips I'd give would be

• If you just want to spend an hour or two riding, pick a movie and just keep going until it stops - be warned, though, steady state on the trainer can be a lot harder mentally than physically!
• If you have specific aims for your winter training, invest in a good training schedule. There are lots of different programmes online for free, and a lot of reasonably priced training guides available in books.

I like the 'workouts in a binder' series, but am sure other people have different preferences. Spend some time on amazon or somewhere and see if you can find a book that you like the feel of, it'll be quite a personal thing.

For the block, you may need one that matches your trainer but I think $100 is very steep - my cyclops one cost about £12/$16. If your happy with it for now, I'd second the recommendation to stick with the phonebook...

Have fun :)

Thanks for the tips! & Eden thanks for the specifics.

I read on another forum (which differs from my trainer manual) that the correct tightness is to let the bike touch the roller then turn the knob approx 3 more times. What do you think?

My trainer brand is Travel Trac Century V Fluid - bought at the recommendation of a friend who is a cyclist and I know rides his pretty hard. So I'm sure I'm just being timid with mine. I do notice that to turn the wheels my legs need to really make circles, I can't slack or I feel as if I'm jerking up and down.

My goal is to continue to get stronger and faster but I don't know how to quantify that. I'll poke around amazon.

Thanks!

I generally tighten my trainer to the point at which if I grab the bike wheel and try to turn it, while holding the trainer flywheel still, I can't make the tire slip against the roller.

With a fluid trainer the harder you pedal the more resistance you get - pedal easy, not much resistance, pedal harder more resistance. It looks like yours offers variable resistance that you can change manually from your handle bars too. To gauge your workouts I'd suggest getting a heart rate monitor. It doesn't have to be super fancy, but having a monitor and figuring your your HR zones will help you to structure your workouts. Having workout DVD's is helpful as a starting point too. Check your local library - you might be able to check some out before you decide to buy. There are different styles and people often find they have a definite preference for one personality over another.

Keep in mind that trainer riding is *harder* than being on the road. There's no resting ever, so an hour on the trainer is going to feel like 2 on the road... Having a good fan is important too - its soooo easy to overheat on the trainer and have all your energy totally sapped away.

p.s. you definitely don't need to spend $100 on a trainer bock.... I have one in my basement that I made myself from 3 pieces of ply wood and a few screws with a hand towel to cushion and raise the front wheel a bit... I've seen all manner of things used at bike races when someone has forgotten a block - a shoe, a roll of duct tape...

The phone book is absolutely fine for putting your front wheel up on but a nice front wheel block can run as little as $20 (some are even cheaper but don't look too sturdy to me, but I'm sure are fine, too).

You may want to check that the roller is clean and adjusted correctly for your bike (re: rear tire squeaking). It wouldn't be a bad idea to stick an old tire on your bike for indoor riding as trainers can wear tires fairly quickly (that is, unless you plan on upgrading tires soon / they are pretty worn and need replacing soon); if you don't have an old tire ask some of your friends or your LBS.

As others have mentioned, riding on the trainer is harder than riding on the road for the same period of time. For training on the trainer, you may want to check out some of the different training dvds. Or, here's a link to some free Spinervals workouts to follow. A heart rate monitor may be a good thing to save up for, too. And I personally like having my cadence sensor while doing rides on the trainer (partially because I'm having trouble with my knee(s) and want to keep my cadence higher but it's helped with my training, too).

road bike rider.com has a good series of PDF files on almost every type of training including inside trainer rides. membership is free and the weekly newsletter is pretty interesting. Down loads of the PDFs are usually about $4.00 for five downloads so you can share with friends. I also am loving pod runner intervals to just close my eyes, get into the drops, listen to and ride.

You might want to check out the Cyclops website cycle-ops.com as it offers some very good videos on set up, tension, etc.

Mine says that I should adjust the unit so that the rolly bit compresses a properly inflated tire about 3mm. I just do it about as tight as I can get it, so I have to really work to get the wheel to spin.

As for the block, the phone book didn't work for me (mom wanted it back!), so I picked up a cheapy from Performance for $10 on sale. Works just fine.

Training...still working that out myself. I've been just riding while watching TV, or riding with music, and adjusting my resistance to a level that makes me work at a cadence that goes along with the music. Well, as much as I can without making my knees freak out. I'm contemplating buying a cheap heart rate monitor, but we'll see.

wow, ok -- i get it. I've heard discussions on the forum about winter training but well it didn't make sense. I get what you're saying about it being harder than outside, I thought I was doing something wrong.

I see from another web search that blocks are inexpensive. I don't know why I thought otherwise...

Thanks for the tip on all the websites - there's so much to learn! i love it :) I do have a mountain ride that I'd like to attempt this summer so this will help enormously. (It's probably absurdly ambitious but gotta try.)

cheers!

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Originally Posted by rain

wow, ok -- i get it. I've heard discussions on the forum about winter training but well it didn't make sense. I get what you're saying about it being harder than outside, I thought I was doing something wrong.

I see from another web search that blocks are inexpensive. I don't know why I thought otherwise...

Thanks for the tip on all the websites - there's so much to learn! i love it :) I do have a mountain ride that I'd like to attempt this summer so this will help enormously. (It's probably absurdly ambitious but gotta try.)

cheers!

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definitely check out the Dr. Arnie Baker articles on training on a trainer at the road bike rider dot com website. There are at least two for climbing and climbing intervals along with several that incorporate one leg training as well as standing and sitting intervals.

Marni, thanks for the tip - the website has a lot of other information I need to know to.