Trying to get back into exercise, always enjoyed bike riding, winter really shortens the season. Indoor trainers in the past (Kirk Kinetic). May have some money coming, thinking of getting a Wahoo Core, (climb later) what all would I need to get to make this work? laptop? monitor? HRM? bike computer?
IM clueless as you can tell.
I’m assuming you want to run zwift the sufferfest or something similar.
All you would need is something to run Zwift. Could be an iPad, laptop, Apple TV, etc.
A good fan is also a must.
It depends how fancy you want to get, but if you are getting a core you likely won’t need anything else, if you have a iPad or a laptop already then that should be all you need to get started.
Here’s a tour of two indoor setups from two years ago. A few things have changed since then. There still might be a few things to pick up from this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3Pf2DevB90
What makes my own setup so great for me is either remotes or switches where I can turn on any of my 4 fans or the lights while sitting on the bike. Things get hotter, click, turn on another fan. Room starts getting too bright from the sun coming in, click, turn down the lights.
The adjustable hospital bedside table you can get off Amazon for like $50 is amazing to put my laptop on in front of the bike. And then another low table to my right to put water bottles on. And then a rack on my left to hang sweaty headbands on and grab another dry one off of every 20 minutes. If I’m doing a 2 hour ride on Zwift, I count out 6 fresh headbands and two towels for the handlebars before I get going.
My latest trick is to just leave 3 to 6 water bottles in there. Instead of filling them all up for every ride in the kitchen and dragging them around the house, I fill up a gallon water jug and take that to the training cave and fill up the bottles. And the gallon jug has “Cave Water” written on it so my wife won’t throw it away and it’s home is in the training cave as well.
Also, swap out any lights for LEDs bulbs. LEDs generate almost no heat and you can keep a room even cooler without incandescent or (please god no) halogen bulbs.
I have found that using kitchen/bar stools is a great way to keep remotes,energy bars etc… right at arms reach bonus is that they can be had cheap at places like Ikea and extra bonus, if you don’t have a dedicated trainer room you can get the foldable kind, also if you plan on using a iPad, a music stand can is what I use, works great, and you can find a nice one for about a quarter of the price of “tablet” stand.
x2 on the music stand, which is height adjustable.
My fan set up is:
one behind (tower type, in front of a window),
one in front (heavy duty construction type, in front of a window, the AC unit, and the radiator),
third is a ceiling fan.
In warmer months all 3 fans get used.
After Zwifting 3 years (just got my happy anniversary email from them), I’ve added a rocker plate. Happy so far but rides have only been 1:15. I think the real test will be a 5 h ride in a few months. My hope is increased saddle happiness and better core engagement than the “checked out” muscle useage that’s easy to do otherwise with a fixed trainer. (My rollers don’t have resistance.)
Here is my setup:
Laptop on raised stand (getting height correct is important!)
Side step/rail for easy on/off/break for the rollers. With a platform to hold towels, fan remote, foods, etc.
Bike with Stages
Overdrive rollers (Feedback Sports branded Sportscrafters)
Not shown: HRM Strap
When I do TR and not Zwift, I also use an Ant+ speed sensor to get miles into TR/Strava. You can’t manually update miles in Strava and I hate having 0. It’s probably not exactly right but way better than 0.
Here is my setup:
Laptop on raised stand (getting height correct is important!)
Side step/rail for easy on/off/break for the rollers. With a platform to hold towels, fan remote, foods, etc.
Bike with Stages
Overdrive rollers (Feedback Sports branded Sportscrafters)
Not shown: HRM Strap
When I do TR and not Zwift, I also use an Ant+ speed sensor to get miles into TR/Strava. You can’t manually update miles in Strava and I hate having 0. It’s probably not exactly right but way better than 0.
Are you in Australia or just awesome at holding on? 
I also have a music stand and it’s great. Another thing is a front wheel holder that swivels. Then I can turn in Zwift a little like I’m turning out on the real world, which is good for you and good for your headset bearings to get a little variety. My cheap version of a rocker plate is I put a thin paperback book under the front-center foot of my Direto trainer so that it’s slightly unstable and rocks to either side just a tiny bit.
On a side note, I just earned the Bell Javelin TT helmet by getting up to level 37. I haven’t seen any other pics of it yet, so I thought I’d share one here - https://www.instagram.com/p/BsQucMQBAIg/
I’m just running a smart trainer (Elite Direto), Zwift on my iPhone and cable to a TV which just mirrors my iPhone screen. Might be the least expensive way to do it.
Oh yeah should have added, I don’t do Apple.
Elite Direto, Felt IA-10, Suunto mini Ant+ stick in my 27" iMac, Beats Headphones and off I go…I may switch to the Apple TV but not sure about that yet.
Laptop, smart trainer, hr strap, ant+ dongle or bluetooth connection. Everything else is just comfort related.