Still on an old dumb one, paired with vector it’s fine for the bad weather season

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-shoki

Me! Still rockin' a "dumb" Kurt Kinetic road machine with the extra flywheel, purchased nearly 13 years ago. Couple of years ago added Garmin Vector pedal power meter to the mix. Also use the Garmin speed sensor on rear wheel.

Now, does anyone have some Sufferfest videos they would be willing to share? Due to poor internet I can't use the subscription platform. Worked with technical assistance at Sufferfest, and the best solution we could come up with was for me to drive 45 minutes to the nearest library and download workouts. Not going to happen... I've got a few I purchased years ago, but would like to expand my library.

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No coasting in running and no crying in baseball

No Sufferfest but I did just drop off about 160 hours of Tour de France DVD coverage at the local Value Village after zero interest here, on FB or Kijiji.

I just upgraded my Elite fluid trainer to a smart trainer but only because I got an amazing deal on it. Otherwise I'd be rocking the dumb trainer (not literally, those trainers were expensive back in the day). I put my money into distraction when I'm working out. Nice TV etc. so the hours pass faster.

Distraction is key! Hence the plea for Sufferfest videos....

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No coasting in running and no crying in baseball

Update. Santa is bringing me a Wahoo Kicker. Will see how much the wife and I enjoy it.

We also picked up XC skiing last year so will most likely be used a handful of days a week. Will give Zwift a 14 day trial see how much we like it.

Do you still watch movies and stuff while on zwift or just zwift?

Still watch TV and movies unless I'm racing or doing a really intense or complicated workout that requires me to pay attention.

 
i do a ton of zwift racing which i love, but i just use a dumb trainer and my power meter.

it's not really obvious to me what im missing. i don't need the fake realism, i just want to hammer and suffer, and i like knowing i'm getting parity of power accuracy indoor and outdoors. i've had computrainers and a bushido in the past and i never really saw the value of erg mode - i'm a tt'er and breakaway rider in road racing, so i don't have a use for erg mode, i like to dial that into my muscle memory and perception of effort. i suspect the wheel-off trainers might improve my sprint watts, but my outdoor sprint sucks just as much so i'm used to it.

if there's a killer argument for upgrading i've love to hear it, because i do get a bit tired of wearing out tires but its not enough to justify the expense.

There are many threads talking about the benefits of direct drive trainers so I wont go into that here or try to persuade anyone to get into the game.
But the prices have come down so low that I don't think price is a justification anymore for staying on the sidelines.
I just saw a couple of sites that are selling the Tacx Flux S for $375 and the Elite Suito T for $409.

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http://www.instagram.com/cyclewise

So I've just purchased a smart trainer and Zwift, and I've been blown away at the difference in engagement compared to sitting on a dumb trainer, which really was for emergency use only. I didn't think I was going to be that impressed, but have been surprised. It was a worthwhile purchase (particularly considering the price was on sale)

Check your DM's...

"difference in engagement": could you elaborate for my benefit (I'm still on a dumb trainer with TR and power pedals - and I can't imagine what would be different). thanks.

I've tried a buddy's smart trainer for about 10 minutes, and it was ok in terms of changing difficulty without me changing gears, but I wasn't sure why I would like that better.

I got a Kickr core 5 or so years ago and used it for a few years and liked it a lot. But I do not think it made me enjoy the trainer any more or less than with a dumb trainer. But I also did not use erg mode with my workouts because I like to change gears and be in tune with what I am doing on my ride. Was it good? Yes. Would I spend the money again? Probably not.

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Twitter - Instagram

Riding indoors is about the same as getting a tooth pulled without pain medication. I haven't had a tooth pulled in almost 40 years and I would suspect it no fun. I can't ride a trainer. I wobble back and forth and the stress goes to me knees and makes them achy. Once again, I have not tired a trainer in over 30 years. Snowing today so I played in the woods on my fat bike. If I'm in a hurry I do have a set of rollers I will ride. I can only tolerate a hour of riding indoors.

You don't need a smart trainer just like we don't need high end Porsches to go to the corner store for a bag of gorceries vs using a Toyota Yaris. But countless people pay extra for more luxury and features to do basically a simple thing. It is more fun doing things with fancy tools. I totally get it. I have a smart trainer, but most days, it just sits idle. If I am planning 40 min or less, I just get on my rollers and watch some videos. Like you I get winter training on XC skis, swim, run, and only really ride a few evenings per week if I did not have a chance to do other sports during the day. But when I get on my Wahoo kickr and ride courses around the world on Rouvy I absolutely love the immersive experience and time goes by quickly, and the quality of the workout is better than anything I can do on a dumb trainer

But energy is finite, and too much smart trainer with Rouvy and the quality of my swim/xc ski/run workouts just goes to the floor from going too hard too often on the trainer.

If I was a cyclist ONLY, then for sure, it woud be indispensible, but as I do swimming in 4 strokes, XC ski skate and classic, speed skating, running, snow shoeing and biking, I have 11 differents variants to stress my body with in any week. So a smart trainer does not make me any fitter, because I have a lot of options already.

I say you still get it though, but don't expect anything magical. Basically the same thing that happens in your life if you were to buy a Porsche. It is a novelty and cool at first until it just becomes a part of the hardware in the house that falls into the category of, "its just stuff that is there".

I hate the trainer.

I'm still using my 10 year old LeMond Revolution trainer (with a machined 11 speed cassette to work on the 10 speed cassette body).

It might have an average of 50 hours a year on it. Maybe.

The Zwift, Trainer Road, etc do nothing to improve my feelings towards indoor training.

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Suffer Well.

Just being able to simulate routes, even if they are fake or not, its great. Specially climbing, depending on the trainer it can be quite real as long you "believe" the speed it says on the screen, and it makes you switch gears more than if you just were on an infinite flat. Doing rolling terrain with constant changes, steep climbs, etc

I dunno, I have done up to 5 hours indoor rides when on COVID season and its just more convenient. No cars, can stop to pee whenever you want, you can have food closer, etc

You wont believe you need it until you try it.

Now I cant do it anymore because lack of space as I had to move from my place temporarily, so Im going to the gym that they have bikes with good power meters, and god, I miss it so much. I mean, for doing structured workouts I dont need it because but for random or free rides its very nice

I’m still using a dinosaur spin bike, over 200 miles a week. I got it for next to nothing when Sears went out of business at our local mall… yep… it’s that old. I’ve never even had the chain guard off, yet it still rides like the day I got it. 5 years ago, I velcroed a Garmin sensor to the wheel, for speed and distance metrics for Strava, and just went over 60k miles since then. I added aero bars to it, and copied the fit coordinates from my tri bike. I love the thing, maintenance free, and I can’t kill it. I’m a podium age grouper, so the training works. I have zero interest in swift etc. My ride time is prime youtube, movie, forum, and web surfing time.

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Athlinks / Strava

I still use my Computrainer from ~2012, coordinating to Excel generated erg files of a rotating selection of Suffeffest videos from the 2011 to 2016 time frame.

Done, and responded

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No coasting in running and no crying in baseball

I've been riding for around 25 years. I think I had some cheap trainer that didn't last long when I first started riding. Then I got a cycleops that lasted a long time before giving up the ghost. I bought another one, maybe 10 years ago? Still using it.

Not even sure what these smart trainers are all about.

Like the guy above said really. I have always been in the ‘riding the turbo is like having teeth pulled’ camp, and have only done a few sessions on my Kurt Kinetic road machine in the last 10 years. I’d far rather get out on the road. Anyway, bought a Kickr Core (with the sole purpose of riding on Zwift with my brother who lives on the other side of the world once every other day), and whilst I’d still rather be on the road, riding with other people on Zwift makes the riding not unpleasant. In the past I’d watch Netflix or something, but I found I was too engaged I’m not losing the group in front of me and changing gear as the road went uphill etc, that I was actually too engaged in what was happening with riding that I didn’t have time to watch Netflix. Instead of counting the seconds down till it was time to get off, I just enjoyed riding. Personally it’s never going to replace riding on the road, but now instead of going out in the rain I’ll happily do a Zwift group ride or race.

Sorry - not trying to be a dead horse but one can do swift on a dumb trainer too. Is it better on a smart trainer - does it act differently?

In my opinion yes, totally different. I’ve ridden Zwift on a dumb trainer, and it still felt like riding on a trainer. The fact that it changes resistance when you’re in the draft, or going up a hill (for me at least - ymmv) makes it feel more engaging. Time goes quicker. It’s still indoors and I’d rather be on the road, but it doesn’t suck the life out of me like my Kurt Kinetic used to.

Can't answer that, but I will say I was content on my cyclops fluid 2 for many years and took a roll of the dice and bought the Saris H3 as it was on a massive sale. I love how quiet it is and I don't have to worry about tire wear and cranking up the TV volume while riding...or the random wall wiping to get rubber bits off after a few months!

If you can get an H3 on sale, I'd say go for it. I personally love the simplicity in TR and might consider fulgasz. Haven't tried zwift yet.