Originally posted by autoboy
I am fasinated on the idea of surfing the net, i have tried to read but found it very difficult to concentrate on the page, might you or anyone else have a few pointers and just how are you able to surf the net on the trainer?
I use a notebook computer opened up so that it would be almost fully flat if you put it on a table, except that I have it close to vertical on a heavy-duty music stand which I've got next to the front wheel. (The screen part
is vertical, but the keyboard part is at a bit of an angle for easier typing and mouse pointer moving.)
The music stand has a tripod at its base, and the wheel sits between the ends of two of the tripod's legs. Height and tilt are adjustable, which not only lets me put it in a nice position for reading and using from the bike, but lets me adjust it for when I'm doing other exercise (e.g. on the treadmill, wrestling with the gym combo, etc.). It works quite well regardless of whether I'm holding the bars normally, sitting back fully upright, or slouched over resting on my elbows aerobar-ishly. The screen's a bit closer than I like it in that last position, but I'm going to try putting castors on the stand's base so I can just push it back a bit, then move it forward again when I sit up.
I use the notebook's touchpad instead of a conventional mouse (I'd really prefer a touch screen but there are too many other things to spend my money on!
). Normally I *hate* touchpads, but external meece just don't work well (I tried a cordless one at first).
You don't need much processing power for surfing the net, so if you don't have a notebook computer you should be able to pick up a suitable one very cheaply. The main thing to look out for is a nice, decent-resolution screen (e.g. XGA, which is 1024x768, but notebooks have had that since 1996-97).
Apart from surfing the net, the arrangement works well for reading e-books too. Most e-book readers let you set font size which makes them more training-friendly than printed books. But I've put printed books on the music stand to read too.
I bought the music stand second-hand on eBay for around $50.00. New, depending on what brand you get, they range from around $100 to $300+ (you definitely need a heavy-duty one).
