Newish rider

Hi all, I'm pretty new to riding. I've been riding for the last two months, about 20 miles a week, and for the last month I've been going to spinning class (3 x week) a really enjoying it. With it the days getting shorter and the weather getting colder, how do you keep in shape? Is spinning the best alternative to riding? O yeah, I'm currently 220 at 5'9" looking to get down to 180.

 

How about buying an indoor traininer and mounting you bike on it? it'd be better than one of those stupid spinning bikes that have a 2ft wide seat and platform pedals. A good recipe 3 times a week to keep you fit could include;

* 1 hr of spare time
* Your bike
* indoor traininer
* some motivating music
* 2 x 20 minute threshold intervals twice a week
* 2 sets of 10 x 20 second max effort intervals once a week. Is a spew session if done properly.

You wont get board, it'll hurt but it'll be over before you know it.

 

Thanks, for the advice. I don't know much about indoor trainers, any brand you would recommend/features you would recommend?

 

Kurt Kinetic, CycleTEK, CycleOps, Elite, and on the low cost end (and liked by DCRainmaker) Performance Bike's Ascent trainer. That's all I could think of right off the top of my head.

 

Tacx also makes some really good trainers, even one with a video game interactive feature. You can also look into videos and software (Training Peaks, Strava just launched some for premium users) to help with solo indoor training stuff.

 

"With it the days getting shorter and the weather getting colder, how do you keep in shape?"

It was 19° this morning. I rode on the road.

"Is spinning the best alternative to riding?"

Good question.

The answer depends on what you are trying to do.

I'm not looking for conditioning and prefer rollers for my infrequent indoor workouts. Just enough work to break a good sweat and they keep me focused on position and smoothness. I use a set of large diameter drums and you can choose to use the smaller diameter drums for a more intense workout. There are also sliding rollers for the most realistic road feel, out of the saddle sprinting and to simply change positions on the bike.

For a more wattage-intense effort, the fluid, wind and magnetic static trainers are the way to go. Or couple one of those three resistance devices with a set of rollers for the best of both worlds. Wind trainers tend to be noisiest, fluid trainers can leak at the shaft seals and magnetic models may lose resistance as heat builds up. Pick your poison. All cause accelerated rear tire wear and buying a trainer specific tire is recommended for riders putting in the winter hours on their trainers.

Lastly, there's the really cool computerized trainer models. They combine a static trainer with computer controlled resistance timed to courses displayed on a computer monitor and allow you to compete with digitally generated competitors or other real competitors on like model trainers. Tacx offers a few versions and they seem to be the ultimate in keeping a rider interested in doing otherwise boring indoor work. One of the forum members has a high-end Tacx and he's, rightfully, in love with it.

Spinning? Well at least the scenary is usually...er...attractive! No denying that!

 

Thanks, for the feedback. After quite a bit of research and recommendation for others, I decided on a Kreitler Roller. I've had it for a week now and really like the challenge of the rollers. I've still got a long ways to go, but beginning to get the hang of it!