The PT or Computrainer thread got me thinking… as I’ve been considering buying a computrainer. PT is not worth it for me, as I’m indoors from Nov-March (a combination of climate and lack of daylight). I ride consistently throughout the winter, but am still not a strong cyclist (30k/hr over 20-40 OR 90k, it’s sad really).
I realize that the Computrainer is sort of dated, but is there anything else comparable??
What will get me the most bang or my buck?
Which do you find to be more userfriendly?
Cool features??
Any other thoughts…
Many thanks.
PT and a set of e-motions are the best bang for your buck (in my opinion). I have a PT and a set of e-motion rollers and I get the best quality workout possible for what I am doing. Once you set your FTP you can do any type of interval on the rollers and they don’t really get stale. I even use the rollers during the warm months because it provides the most repeatable and perfect training situation every time.
Great suggestion. However, in addition to being a slow rider, I’m also the klutziest (sp?) person I know. Therefore, rollers = bad news.
Perhaps one day, when I get used to having such long limbs I’ll be able use rollers 
I realize that the Computrainer is sort of dated
Computrainers are tried and true. They got it right the first time and have just been adding bells and whistles to the software. Heck, most of the time I just use the old 2D software or the coaching software.
I am indoors all winter also, and find my Computrainer indispensable.
as far as I can tell, no other company has anything close. Computrainer is a simple tool that works - it will help you become a stronger cyclist. Go for it.
Computrainer. I’ve used various bike trainer things since the 80’s but for one reason or another (mechanical resistance, motivation) I never used them very much. When I tried it & then subsquently bought one I found it easy to get on & ride it. I use it all winter & get good results. You can purchase erg video to do the watts/pwer work or just get it an ride a ct course. Barb
You may want to take a look at the Saris Powerbeam.
A PT will still be a better investment to me at least. Especially when it comes to April to Oct time frame. I bought a PT last year, my cycling improved alot. You could get a rock n roll trainer. That way you have a road feel with a indoor trainer. When it comes to racing nothing beats a PT when it comes to racing either, especially for us slower racers.
PT and a set of e-motions are the best bang for your buck (in my opinion). I have a PT and a set of e-motion rollers and I get the best quality workout possible for what I am doing. Once you set your FTP you can do any type of interval on the rollers and they don’t really get stale. I even use the rollers during the warm months because it provides the most repeatable and perfect training situation every time.
Anyone else really have strong opinions on this one way or another? I have a power meter (Quarq Cinqo) so I’m thinking about just getting some E-motion rollers. Given I already have power, would it be worth it to try and pick up a used but good condition Computrainer versus just getting the E-motion.
I have a trainer now and I hate it, it just feels unnatural and I can never find a rhythm. Then again, the fact that I have a cheap trainer from Performance might have something to do with it.
Anyone else really have strong opinions on this one way or another?
I have what is considered by most here to be one of the best fluid trainers on the market and I hate riding on it. However, I have no problem riding my computrainer for hours at a time.
Computrainer vs. regular trainer… to quote my good friend Jules Winnfield “ain’t the same fuckin’ ballpark, it ain’t the same league, it ain’t even the same fuckin’ sport”
I’ll take a Computrainer every time. I’ve had my Computrainer for 13 years and except for a few minor repairs is still functioning as well as as the day I reveived it. Worth every dollar I spent.
Computrainer. … You can purchase erg video to do the watts/pwer work or just get it an ride a ct course. Barb
x2, or whatever we’re up to, on the CT. Besides the quoted list,
another way to use it is to build programmed erg files for your
workouts. I do it manually with a text editor but I’ve seen a couple
of utilities online that will create them too. Similar to the erg
videos, you just have to peddle at a steady cadence in one gear and the
CT will apply varying loads to match whatever intervals you’ve set up.
The Computrainer is probably still the best training tool out there. I’ve had mine for 6 years now and have never had any problems. I enjoy doing my ct workouts almost as much as outdoor riding. It will help you a lot to improve your cycling times/average.
May I please quote you and Jules on that?
I think it’s so funny because it’s so true.
PT and a set of e-motions are the best bang for your buck (in my opinion). I have a PT and a set of e-motion rollers and I get the best quality workout possible for what I am doing. Once you set your FTP you can do any type of interval on the rollers and they don’t really get stale. I even use the rollers during the warm months because it provides the most repeatable and perfect training situation every time.
+1
Can you get out of the saddle and climb on a CompuTrainer?
I kind of can on my current fluid trainer, but it is not what I would describe as a realistic feeling or enjoyable experience. I would like a CompuTrainer for sure, but I feel like I’m going to be paying a pretty appreciable amount for the power measuring aspect of it when I already spent quite a bit of money on a power meter. I think my current Quarq and the e-motion rollers would be a good combo, but I can’t deny that I’d miss the software on the CT.
I live in Wisconsin…we’re already getting the fucking white shit all over the state.
I have a computrainer. I got it used last November.
I rode on it all winter training for Ironman and ONLY used the normal mode with coaching software. It’s the same as 3D mode but with graphs instead of the rider. I improved dramatically just using that and following some basic sets. (went from 19.5mph 40k triathlon to just under 23mph in one season…minimal speed work. Just a lot of saddle time)
In the last week I have begun usng the Erg mode. HOLY SHIT. I don’t know how anything else can possibly be as effective. I never realized what a sissy I was until I put that thing to 250 watts for a nice medium level aerobic workout…and just about died. It will not let you cheat…you either hit the wattage or you stop. People have repeatedly said that a trainer in general is harder than the road because there is no coasting…but there is cheating. Pushing a little hard here or there and then taking it easy, that kind of thing. With the Erg mode…there is almost none of that. You push the watts or you’re done. I had no idea how good I had become at cheating.
There is something to be said for building the mental toughness to push a certain wattage without being forced. I think it is important to use the normal mode for that reason. But doing interval sets at a specific wattage just can’t be beat for a workout.
I have taken the last 3 weeks off after IM Moo. I started gentle riding last week and started to get more serious this week. As a test I like to do a spinnervals video - Time Trialpalooze.
20 minute at LT
5 rest
15min 10-20 watts higher.
5 rest.
10min 10-20 higher
5 rest
5 min all out.
In these tests I have always struggled to get my HR really high. I believe it’s because I would push really hard at certain points and not so hard at other points to manipulate my average wattage. Typically for me I’d do something like a 245, 265, 290, 325 for the main sets. My HR would always fluctuate kinda low for how I felt and I realize now that was because the cheating I was doing. My HR tends to recover pretty fast…often times 30% in a minute. so those easy times in the sets would allow my HR to come down. Typical HR’s for me during the main sets would be…135, 140, 142, 150-165 for that last one…it seemed to vary quite a bit. My LT was 145 in December. I have not rechecked since. I will once I am in good shape again.
Today I did that set using the Erg mode. I am not in peak shape…so I thought I would start easy just to see how it would go. I decided to set it at 220, 240, 270 and then 300 just to see if I could.
I hit each one without a problem, coulda pushed more watts…but my HR was considerably different. I hit 145 and stayed within 5 beats the whole 20 minutes. While this is higher than I am used to for the effort, I figure that is a result of my fitness. But staying in that zone was key for me. Erg mode allows me to hit any zone I want and then stay there. The second set I bumped up 20 watts and my HR was around 153…stayed consistent. Next I was at a 158. Last I was at a 161. Breaking a 160 tends to be damn hard for me on the bike. Very rare…I was there almost the entire time. I loved it…hurt so good.
I am not sure if there are other ways to control your power in this fashion. If they are as good, great. If not…the computrainer is the way to go.
I’ll weigh in on e-motion+powermeter vs computrainer
I just went all out on power measuring set up. I already had the e-motion rollers and go an SRM. Usually through the winter doing 40-60 min rides for me is plenty since most of my fitness comes from XC skiiing and running. But next year, I need to start bike training one month earlier, to get ready for an Ironman that is 1 month earlier than normal.
With e-motion+SRM I think you get a really good training setup.
However even with that, I would not last more than an hour. Just too taxing mentally. I got my CT 2 weeks ago and have already done a few 2 hour indoor rides at pretty high intensity (I am getting ready for ITU Clearwater Age Group Worlds…). Just pick the course, plug in a target wattage for the pacer and “BAM…the time just goes by”.
I did find that the CT “course” files are pretty goofy. anything above 6% just does not feel right and downhills are frankly stooopid as you are spinning in circles barely putting 200W to the pedals in a full out sprint. So I have gone into a number of files and manually changed the grades (thanks Miranda for the link for the course editor software) removing some steep stuff and also removing all steep downhills. Now all the courses that I ride are “net uphill” in that the steepest decents are typically only minus 2% but typically minus 1 (just so I mentally feel that I am going over a hill). I set up a few courses with 1 mile hill repeats, 2 mile hill repeats, 20 mile, 25 mile, 50K and 60K rolling uphill courses. So basically I have courses that are anywhere from 40 minutes to 2 hours in duration which cover my range of desired workouts indoor workouts. I am yet to do anything that is 3 hours, but it looks like the Ironman Germany course (if I remove the minus 3 percent grades and set them to zero or minus 1) will do the trick. Or parts of the Kona course, removing the minus 4 grades.
Interesting about your points about Ergo mode. I equate it to running intervals on a treadmill. You either do the speed or you get spit out the back…or swimming in an endless pool.
While I can see value in that, I really cannot imagine doing that more than once per week. Simply because “hard for my body” today might be 10-20W lower than a few days ago, and I don’t want to become slave to the numbers. I see ergo mode as more of a test and I don’t want to test myself daily. Even when I go to the track which I will do multiple times per week, I don’t take my split times for every interval. Some times I will not take a single interval time and just go on the perceived exertion for that day. Or ride my e-motion rollers without any numbers staring at me. Some days I want numbers other days no.
One thing I did not answer in my previous question on CT vs e-motion+powermeter. If you have no need to ride longer than 60 minutes indoors and already have a powermeter, then without question, just get the e-motion and you have the perfect set up. Computrainer is only needed if you are doing longer riding in the winter, and frankly I believe the only good reason for an age grouper to so that is an early season Ironman…if you have even an early season half Ironman, it can be trained for with e-motion plus power very effectively…rest of the winter, do like the Germans and pile on the swim and run miles and then hit the road hard and long when the snow melts.
Dev
One thing I did not answer in my previous question on CT vs e-motion+powermeter. If you have no need to ride longer than 60 minutes indoors and already have a powermeter, then without question, just get the e-motion and you have the perfect set up. Computrainer is only needed if you are doing longer riding in the winter, and frankly I believe the only good reason for an age grouper to so that is an early season Ironman…if you have even an early season half Ironman, it can be trained for with e-motion plus power very effectively…rest of the winter, do like the Germans and pile on the swim and run miles and then hit the road hard and long when the snow melts.
I appreciate the insight. I ended up moving from Florida to Iowa for work about a year or two back, so the winters are still kind of rough on me. This year I’m probably going to do an early season HIM in the form of Ironman 70.3 Florida in (edit) May and I am doing a late season full Iron (IMWI) with of course other races in between. My plan for now mostly involves piling lots of miles on in the early winter as I’m doing my first open marathon in January (Walt Disney World) as well as really focusing on my swim with Masters swim throughout the later winter and spring. In those respects, I think I could get away with the e-motion rollers for the majority of the winter, although I’m a little worried about my bike fitness for the HIM in May.
The other catch is that I really can’t afford a new CT right now, so I’d be in the market for a used one, and they really seem to retain their value well. My other super-value-but-likely-kill-myself option is there are a bunch of DIY projects to convert a normal set of rollers into a free motion set like the E-motion. I’m an Engineer by trade so I think I could build my own for under $300. Building my own are sure not to be as nice as the real thing and certainly would not have much resale.
If only I could build my own CT… but that will have to wait. Hm, I’ve got plenty to think about, I think I’m going to give it a few weeks to see if I can find any great deals on a CT, then probably mess around with rollers if nothing comes my way.