I’m interested in know if you anyone has trained indoors using computrainer or a cycleops bike and which is better?
If neither of those do you use a powertap for indoor training. I’m looking at off-season options.
I’ve use my CT less than a half dozen times in the last couple of years. With year-round riding weather where I am, it’s just more entertaining to ride outdoors with the PT. If I was forced indoors, I’d go CT since there’s plenty of good in there to keep you motivated over a regular trainer.
For cycleops bike are you referring to one of these - http://www.cycle-ops.com/c-8-indoor-cycles.aspx
If so, I’d still go with CT for the user interface.
I’ve had an old skool (Pro NES) CompuTrainer for over a year and I can’t imagine life w/o it. When the weather’s shitty I can still ride and when I moved to a new area during the winter, I rode the CT exclusively.
I did the majority (80+%) of my IMLP training on the CT, using the program modes to simulate the long, not-so-steep hills of the Lake Placid area.
Check Ebay for good deals, I got mine for 600 and there are others to be had. The NES models can also be upgraded to the latest firmware and software, but I haven’t found a compelling enough reason.
vt,
I have had a cycleops 3000PT for about 8 months now. It is very stable and comfortable to ride and has lots of feedback electronics including watts power. Its very stable to ride in or out of saddle and you can put on your own pedals and seat so it feels a lot like your own bike … also very adjustable. I think its a great piece of equipment.
I ride it when the weather is bad (not often in az except heat) and as a supplement during the week for 1-2 hour bike workouts. It really does help build strength as it doesn’t really let you coast and its easy to kick up resistance. In my opinion it is much superior to the usual spin bikes you find in fitness clubs.
I personally would probably go crazy if I had to pound out rides of over 2 hours on it … but then I would feel similarly on a computrainer. Fortunately, living in az I don’t have to do such things ever. My respect goes out to those who can do winter riding on anything indoors and pound out 6 hour rides. Watching CDs of personal choice makes the time go quicker.
I personally find riding the particular race course such as with computrainer to be of little value … but I know others feel differently. I just feel if I’m in good shape, things will be fine. I don’t even ride the course itself before ironman races even when its at my doorstep (IMAZ) … just doesn’t seem to matter and I compete quite well. I know some people agonize over where a hill might be and the computrainer makes them feel more secure with that … if thats your deal, the computrainer is probably better. If you just want to get stronger, I suspect the Cycleops is better … in my opinion.
visiontri,
I have both a cycleops and a Computrainer (I had the cycleops before I had the CT). Here are a few questions you need to answer. Can you afford the Computrainer? How much training do you plan on doing inside?
For me, I could afford it and I do the bulk of my cycle training inside. For this reason the money was well-spent on the Computrainer.
If you train regularly with it, you will be a faster and stronger cyclist. One of the coolest features is that you can save performances and load them into a ghost-rider later and “race” yourself. It is a pretty neat way to benchmark your performances. Nothing feels as good as hammering away and beating yourself by 2 minutes from a month ago.
That said, if money is an issue, get yourself a good fluid trainer and a couple of Spinervals tapes/DVD’s. They would probably be the next best thing.
My 2 cents.
Bernie
I have used both and found lots of benefits to the computrainer…
*easier to do key workouts and chase the wattage “carrot” to keep you motivated…best workout is to do an IM course (usually Kona or Florida) and try to increase your average wattage as you go; the time actually flies by when you do this
*the hills on the computrainer give you variety
*the computrainer is a useful tool to dial in your bike position and cleat position b/c you can look at power changes when you make changes
…Either way you go make sure and get some good music to listen to, like Coheed and Cambria ;-), to keep you rolling