I do 2 out of 3 bike workouts/week at the gym at my work. It involves approximately 15 min or so for taking my bike and dumb trainer from the car to the gym setting it up and bring it back to the car afterwards. The gym just put in two “nicish” looking spin bikes with adjustments for seat height, seat fore/ aft, handlebar for/ aft and handlebar height. I think I could remove the pedals and use my powertap pedals and do my Trainerroad workouts on the spin bike. Now I wont be in the same exact position and the fit wont be as good as on my bike but for someone who (like most) is time starved, 30+ mins a week saved isn’t insignificant. Thoughts?
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I do 2 out of 3 bike workouts/week at the gym at my work. It involves approximately 15 min or so for taking my bike and dumb trainer from the car to the gym setting it up and bring it back to the car afterwards. The gym just put in two “nicish” looking spin bikes with adjustments for seat height, seat fore/ aft, handlebar for/ aft and handlebar height. I think I could remove the pedals and use my powertap pedals and do my Trainerroad workouts on the spin bike. Now I wont be in the same exact position and the fit wont be as good as on my bike but for someone who (like most) is time starved, 30+ mins a week saved isn’t insignificant. Thoughts?
Re: Dumb trainer/TR vs Spin bike/TR [DimaP]
[ In reply to ]
Not really an answer to your question, but I do all my indoor training on a spin bike. I wouldn't trade it for any of the bike-on-trainers I've tried at the LBS. I've got it set up to the same fit as my tri bike. I even put clip on aero bars on it, and currently an Adamo saddle. I used shoe goo to stick a Garmin speed sensor to the wheel, and use a cadence sensor. I don't do the power stuff, but I don't see why it wouldn't work. Resistance is infinite, and out of saddle rough riding is unlimited. And I'm not wearing anything out on my race bike. Give it a shot. You might be surprised how close you can get to your own bike fit (measure and mark with a sharpie for future rides), and a towel and the handle bars lowered all the way, will work in a pinch for aero bars.
Athlinks / Strava
Athlinks / Strava
Re: Dumb trainer/TR vs Spin bike/TR [DimaP]
[ In reply to ]
Why not just set the trainer up at home and bike before/after work? Huge time savings there.
Re: Dumb trainer/TR vs Spin bike/TR [tridude93]
[ In reply to ]
Appreciate the thoughts, would if I could, there's issues with me being on the bike at 5am at home with people sleeping as well as leaving at 5:15 vs 7 something can have a big impact o my commute time. And Im not hoping on the bike at 9PM after the kids are down. My "sweet spot" (pun intended) is 5am-8am and for the time being that needs to be at work
Re: Dumb trainer/TR vs Spin bike/TR [DimaP]
[ In reply to ]
DimaP wrote:
Appreciate the thoughts, would if I could, there's issues with me being on the bike at 5am at home with people sleeping as well as leaving at 5:15 vs 7 something can have a big impact o my commute time. And Im not hoping on the bike at 9PM after the kids are down. My "sweet spot" (pun intended) is 5am-8am and for the time being that needs to be at workThat makes sense. Yeah I’d say try the stationary bike at work and see how it goes. Worst case it doesn’t work out and you go back to bringing in your own equipment :)
Re: Dumb trainer/TR vs Spin bike/TR [DimaP]
[ In reply to ]
I didn't know that spin bikes work without a well toned woman riding at the front of the class playing ear shattering music and screaming at you to go faster!
Re: Dumb trainer/TR vs Spin bike/TR [hugoagogo]
[ In reply to ]
Sorry forgot to add, that comes with the gym she just hangs out when no one's using the bikes :-D
Re: Dumb trainer/TR vs Spin bike/TR [DimaP]
[ In reply to ]
Do what you have to do to get the workouts in. If I'm short on time, I will happily and gladly ride the upright bikes at my gym over lunch if I can't make the AM workout, even though it's not logged with power or TR. Still a great workout if you go hard.
Having power pedals makes it as good as a home power workout if you have the time, go for it.
Having power pedals makes it as good as a home power workout if you have the time, go for it.
Re: Dumb trainer/TR vs Spin bike/TR [lightheir]
[ In reply to ]
30min a workout is huge potential on the table. That could easily be 50 to 75 TSS per week on the table if done over 3 workouts per week.
Our work gym has a few Cycleops 400 pros with powertap meters. Some hugely tall triathlete always changes the settings on my off days, but I can adjust the seat and bars in about a minute to my roadie setup. Then off I go.
You should be able to get in a safe and comfortable position quickly.
Save the 30min and use the spin bike with your pedals.
Also, don't worry about the naysayers. I'm the same way with kids. We live in a small house and can't leave my trainer setup out all the time like these other folks. Also, in the small house, the fluid and fan and stuff is a good amount of noise.
The gym also saves me the $300 or so of buying an equivalent fan setup for the house. The gym fan is nice and big. Also I dirty their towels up instead of all the house towels with nasty workouts.
Our work gym has a few Cycleops 400 pros with powertap meters. Some hugely tall triathlete always changes the settings on my off days, but I can adjust the seat and bars in about a minute to my roadie setup. Then off I go.
You should be able to get in a safe and comfortable position quickly.
Save the 30min and use the spin bike with your pedals.
Also, don't worry about the naysayers. I'm the same way with kids. We live in a small house and can't leave my trainer setup out all the time like these other folks. Also, in the small house, the fluid and fan and stuff is a good amount of noise.
The gym also saves me the $300 or so of buying an equivalent fan setup for the house. The gym fan is nice and big. Also I dirty their towels up instead of all the house towels with nasty workouts.
Re: Dumb trainer/TR vs Spin bike/TR [DimaP]
[ In reply to ]
swapping the pedals each time would seem like more work than lugging a bike and trainer around, no? Would the gym even let you do this?
Re: Dumb trainer/TR vs Spin bike/TR [burnthesheep]
[ In reply to ]
burnthesheep wrote:
30min a workout is huge potential on the table. That could easily be 50 to 75 TSS per week on the table if done over 3 workouts per week. Our work gym has a few Cycleops 400 pros with powertap meters. Some hugely tall triathlete always changes the settings on my off days, but I can adjust the seat and bars in about a minute to my roadie setup. Then off I go.
You should be able to get in a safe and comfortable position quickly.
Save the 30min and use the spin bike with your pedals.
Also, don't worry about the naysayers. I'm the same way with kids. We live in a small house and can't leave my trainer setup out all the time like these other folks. Also, in the small house, the fluid and fan and stuff is a good amount of noise.
The gym also saves me the $300 or so of buying an equivalent fan setup for the house. The gym fan is nice and big. Also I dirty their towels up instead of all the house towels with nasty workouts.
Thanks! Yes about the fan....no fan at the gym I did an 1 1/2 Sweet spot last week and almost died, just bought a cheap fan an amazon hope it helps :)
Re: Dumb trainer/TR vs Spin bike/TR [redlude97]
[ In reply to ]
redlude97 wrote:
swapping the pedals each time would seem like more work than lugging a bike and trainer around, no? Would the gym even let you do this?I thought about this, only one way to find out. The gym is a small office bldg. run gym and I know the facilities guys very well so I think theyd be ok with it :)
Re: Dumb trainer/TR vs Spin bike/TR [DimaP]
[ In reply to ]
I'd go spin bike all the way, even if they didn't allow me to swap pedals. There is no way I could get myself to drag my bike and trainer in and out of a car 2-3x per week. I give you credit there.
Fit and position on a spin bike isn't as critical compared to a real bike as you have tons of options with your hand placements that would otherwise compromise handling and/or aerodynamics.
Fit and position on a spin bike isn't as critical compared to a real bike as you have tons of options with your hand placements that would otherwise compromise handling and/or aerodynamics.
Re: Dumb trainer/TR vs Spin bike/TR [Jason N]
[ In reply to ]
Jason N wrote:
I'd go spin bike all the way, even if they didn't allow me to swap pedals. There is no way I could get myself to drag my bike and trainer in and out of a car 2-3x per week. I give you credit there. Fit and position on a spin bike isn't as critical compared to a real bike as you have tons of options with your hand placements that would otherwise compromise handling and/or aerodynamics.
My wife and I have a gym in our basement and (mostly because of space issues) decided on a spin bike and Powertaps. I bought it from a gym that was going out of business - its fully adjustable and basically bombproof. Of course, come spring we'll get back outside, but it is great for winter training or when you're trying to hit some specific training numbers..
Re: Dumb trainer/TR vs Spin bike/TR [DimaP]
[ In reply to ]
Do those spin bikes have power meters and/or a console that displays power etc?
Re: Dumb trainer/TR vs Spin bike/TR [TrierinKC]
[ In reply to ]
Yes power, cadence and speed so I figured if I didn't swap pedals Id do an FTP test on that bike and follow the TR workouts as best could on it
Re: Dumb trainer/TR vs Spin bike/TR [DimaP]
[ In reply to ]
Have you tried to connect to the bike directly via bluetooth? Power may just be an estimate, but as long as it's consistent and you get an FTP based on that bike you might be able to run your TR workout on your phone connected to the spin bike.
kkoole wrote:
Have you tried to connect to the bike directly via bluetooth? Power may just be an estimate, but as long as it's consistent and you get an FTP based on that bike you might be able to run your TR workout on your phone connected to the spin bike.Great idea. Thanks I did check, its Bluetooth enabled but wont connect with TR it even says on its website (Keiser M3i) not compatible with TR, Swift, Sufferfest.