I don’t have a trainer, not gonna spend the oney on one. I have been riding 4-10 miles a couple of days a week out side on cross tires. The recent weather with a thaw and then a deep freeze has made this unsafe. So I started riding the Lifecycle at the gym. I have been doing 24 minutes on the hills setting with level 9 difficulty. I usually get 9 miles out of this and am spinning 90-100 for a cadence. I do a set for a warmup and sometimes another after my regular gym workout.
Plusses: Great cardio, worked the same major muscle groups for biking, if the rpms are high for you will notice the rpms increase outside some.
Minuses: You won’t be training the specific muscles in the same manner as you would riding your bike outside.
I think its all about the rank order of specific exercise:
#1 Riding your bike outside
#2 Riding your bike on a trainer
#3 Riding a completely adjustable stationary
#4 Riding a lifecycleish type stationary
#5 Spinning
#32 Watching Tour tapes sitting on your @ss
I do all of my winter work and get in great interval work during the season on a stationary. Its convenient, I do it consistently, and it doesn’t matter that its 5 in the morning.
-If you have gym membership already (to swim, lift etc.) then it is cheaper than buying a traininer
-It does no damage to either your frame, or tires. no rust on bolts etc. overall less wear and tear on your bike
-Oftentimes it is good to get out of the house and see others. Depending on the atmosphere of your gym this can be stimulating.
Minuses
-You are making compromises in not training the specific muscles needed for your bike position.
-If you do not have a gym membership already it is much more expensive than the one time fee of buying a good trainer.
-The inconvienece of having to go somewhere else may lead to some missed workouts.
You get the idea. No ground breaking news here. I really like them for the 4th plus I listed. At a job that I had at a gym in the mid 90’s (about the time I started triathlon). I would enjoy it when triathletes would come in and ride the cybex bikes we had. This helped me get my mind of off work and provided me with good motivation at times. It was great when I worked out on them too because everyone at that gym knew me there was never a chance of running out of water in my bottle (people would always check to see if I needed a refill, both members and co-workers). I know that riding these bikes was not just limited to beginners because 2 of my closer friends that I met on those bikes 10 years ago both qualified for Kona at Ironman Florida.