Indoor bike training on carpeted surface

Triathlon Forum
1

Hi People’s,

Just after some general advice/knowledge on how you protect the your carpet , if you no choice but to put your trainer on a carpeted floor.

Currently moving house, and the entire place is carpeted. Don’t want to train in the garage, and can’t train in the kitchen. However a Spare room I can use for indoor trainer rides, but it’s carpeted.

My thought…put down some tarpaulin, layer on top of that spare carpet and put the trainer on top of that? Or, tarpailin, spare carpet, then another layer of tarpaulin

Love to hear your ideas.

2

I use a training mat like one of these on carpet. Works great.

https://www.amazon.com/Wahoo-Multi-Purpose-Indoor-Cycling-Training/dp/B00PD9GHUA

3

I have the Kurt Kinetic version of this. I agree it works great. I only move the trainer indoors during the summer, as the garage gets so hot down here in Florida. I will add that I bring a full size towel with me to clean up the puddled sweat when I’m done. I don’t know that I have to do this, I just get nervous leaving it there, thinking it might soak through or roll off the side.

Last summer was the first time I moved my trainer inside and when I moved it back to the garage in the winter, there was no indication on the carpet that it had ever been there. And I rode quite a bit indoors over the summer.

4

Definitely get a grime mat.

If you’re also concerned about puddling, you can get a cheap pack of salon towels or shop towels at your local big box store, or get a sweat guard: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=bike+sweat+guard&hvadid=78615133826869&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvqmt=e&tag=mh0b-20&ref=pd_sl_1oepibisjs_e

5

I use one of treadmill mats. It isn’t as thick as I’d like but works to collect sweat. But other have talked of using a horse stall mat.

6

I’d get a piece of plywood and put a simple mat over that (tons of choices on amazon). I did that in an apartment years ago.

Someone mentioned a horse stall mat. It would work but I think it’s overkill. And they take FOREVER to de-gas. I have 6 in my workout room and it stunk pretty good for months.

7

I just use an old beach towel under the rollers. Catches all the sweat and the grime. Swap it out every few rides and just toss it in the washer.

8

No problem here with horse stall mats. Get older ones at the tractor supply store. Don’t get one from a horse owner! :slight_smile:

I put a used door on the floor and everything on top of that. I then bought the thickest clear plastic I could find on the roll at JoAnn’s Fabric. CHEAP.

9

Same set up - use the Wahoo trainer mat.

Being in Florida, I ended up getting an dehumidifer for the room to try and get a little bit of the moisture out of the room. It gets a bit muggy in the room where I train due to southeast facing windows and crap AC vents. Noticed it helps with post workout skunk.