Moving cycling indoors

It’s getting a little chilly outside…not horrible, but with the high temperatures a lot of days only getting to 50-60F, the mornings are showing up around 30-35F…a little cool to comfortably get out the door…at least for me…okay okay, it’s not Calgary or Denver…but enough for me to wait for it to warm up, and therefore not getting out the door when I’m really ready to go.

So I’ve setup my trainers in the Man Cave over the weekend.  I have both, and very happy with both brands:

  • Static trainer: Kurt Kinetic
  • Rollers: Kreitler 2.25 Alloy drums

I also use a PowerTap power meter, and have one on my training wheels, and also on my Zipp 404 racing wheels.  I’ll leave my tri bike setup in the Static Trainer with the Zipp’s on for power, and use my road bike for the rollers with the training wheels.

So what’s the difference between the Static trainer and Rollers?

Lot’s of articles online about this, so I won’t repeat them here…for me the main things

Static:

  • easier…the tri bike is setup on it, it’s stable, and good for spinning off a few calories particularly during the off-season
  • easy to get on and off, if I’m squeezing a few exercise minutes between other stuff
  • helps me stay in ‘aero’ form during the off season
  • better for intervals: can really hammer on the power for big resistance without worrying about falling off the bike

Rollers:

  • more tender to ride, although this of course makes it much better to improve balance, and has a more realistic feel
  • improves pedal stroke to stay balanced

 Bottom Line:

Better for me than spending the extra time to get to the gym, or getting bundled up to roll out the door on cold days…I also use them as a warm-up if I’m waiting for the temperature to rise, so that I get started when I want to, rather than burning time waiting…and as the temperature gets to a rational point, can just roll out the door to complete the workout…or just finish up indoors, which often happens.

I do have the luxury of having them setup and ready to go, so really easy to just jump on and get started.  Since I ride my road bike a lot in the winter…particularly on group rides…I leave the tri bike in the static trainer, so that I get in the time in the aero position, that I otherwise wouldn’t do.

If I only had one, which one would I have?…I started with the rollers and added the static trainer later…if pressed, I’d probably say the static trainer, because it’s easier to use and more versatile…and therefore probably more likely to pull it out.  Luckily, I really don’t use them much, since I’ve been living in areas where you really can ride year-round…just fills in a few gaps nicely.

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