I might give it a think to the idea of having a cat. And I know they have like a “crazy hourâ€, when they run and jump around really fast and so; and also they like to inspect every corner of the house and hate closed doors when something is going on inside. So my question is, how do you do (cat owners) when you are in the trainer/treadmill, and the cat is around? You keep him outside just closing the door? You “teach†him since little, that the indoor gym is a no-go room? I am afraid of the possibility of having an accident with the cat-machine interaction…
Thank you.
Good question. I used to keep the door closed to keep my cats out when using a wheel-on trainer. Less worried about smart bike and they keep away anyway.
My cats trash the carpet if they want to get through a closed door and that’s something to watch out for. Fortunately they happened not to be too bothered about this one.
Our cat does not like my wife and I being in the training room for long periods of time. She usually comes in and sits in front of our bikes and then leaves when she realizes we’re not stopping to give her attention.
Close calls include running under my crank arm at 250 watts. I had a break my pedal stroke to avoid hitting her with the pedal. She ducked right under though. She also got on a moving treadmill twice while we were using it. Luckily the time I was on it the treadmill had been stopped and the belt was within seconds of stopping. Her rear leg gave out awkwardly, buy she was fine. We’ve been lucky with no I as issues.
She does like to hop on the treadmill when we’re done and lay on the warm spot of the belt. Most cats learn quick and tend to be risk aversive.
My only gripe is I try to keep her time in that room down as I don’t like hair everywhere around expensive equipment. We have rubberized flooring, so it helps.
I don’t think you’d regret getting a cat. The enjoyment far outweighs and concerns, but as one poster mentioned every cat has a different personality.
As I’ve posted before, if either of our cats were to write a memoir, I’m fairly certain that it would go something like this …
Chapter One
I had always intended to murder my humans in their sleep. There was no question of that. It sounds so disloyal, so treacherous, after all they had done for me. But to be fair, they never fully grasped the intricacies of the feline mind; the superior intellect of a fierce and massive jungle predator, concentrated into a compact eight-pound package.
My cat doesn’t really care. Will often pop his head in if I’m on the trainer just to see what’s going on, but has never gotten close. Basically just gives me a funny look like “WTF is this guy doing?” and then leaves. I always just leave the door open.
Get the cat. In fact, get two cats. That way they can keep each other company while you train.
We have two cats and have our trainer set up in a closed room. One cat has decided that something amazing goes on in there and runs in there whenever the door opens, so we have to throw him out before we start riding. The other cat will sometimes shove her paws under the door and cry if she wants attention (even if another person is out in the rest of the condo ready to give her said attention).
Summary: cats are weird. But awesome. My girl cat is sitting next to me purring after my morning workouts and provides excellent recovery support.
It will depend on your cat’s personality. But, I think you’ll be surprised with how little your cat wants to do with you a lot of the time as it grows up. My cat loves to dig her nails into my trainer mat when the trainer isn’t in use. But, she doesn’t go anywhere near the trainer or treadmill when I am on it (and they’re in my living room). My suggestion is to make a fun area in the trainer room for him/her which is more appealing. Put a cat tower and a comfy bed nearby.
I got my cat used to the sound of the trainer early on and he has no real interest in the bike trainer or noise he usually sleeps nearby waiting.
The key to cat behaviour is clicker training just like a dog, I leash walk, sup run with and have trained my cat to follow many of the commands like a dog sit stay come lie down high five beg etc. He comes to some of the races I do and sometimes to the track where he might walk run up to about 1.2km, although he doesn’t run races, I do intend to run a few 5km or 10km with him in a cart but at moment it’s a bit hot. He has a running wheel which burns some energy the cat tree is a must and putting them on good food helps a lot eg barf biologically appropriate raw food. Cats are amazing depends a lot on the breed the active ones Siamese bengal Abyssinians and many mixes with those genes are perfect triathlete companions.
Keeping them indoors will extend their lives by up to double depending where u live as will spay / neuter. So much good info online now for cat ownership good luck. Talk cat more fun than talk about lt1 lt2 zone taper 7 days or 9 days how IM has screwed us etc etc. Hahaha
I got my cat used to the sound of the trainer early on and he has no real interest in the bike trainer or noise he usually sleeps nearby waiting.
The key to cat behaviour is clicker training just like a dog, I leash walk, sup run with and have trained my cat to follow many of the commands like a dog sit stay come lie down high five beg etc. He comes to some of the races I do and sometimes to the track where he might walk run up to about 1.2km, although he doesn’t run races, I do intend to run a few 5km or 10km with him in a cart but at moment it’s a bit hot. He has a running wheel which burns some energy the cat tree is a must and putting them on good food helps a lot eg barf biologically appropriate raw food. Cats are amazing depends a lot on the breed the active ones Siamese bengal Abyssinians and many mixes with those genes are perfect triathlete companions.
Keeping them indoors will extend their lives by up to double depending where u live as will spay / neuter. So much good info online now for cat ownership good luck. Talk cat more fun than talk about lt1 lt2 zone taper 7 days or 9 days how IM has screwed us etc etc. Hahaha
More seriously, the last 2 cats I’ve had I adopted as adult cats (rather than kittens). This isn’t the right call for everyone, but I’ve found that with adult cats you have an idea of what you’re getting into with personality (where kittens can be a crapshoot, cuteness be damned). Both of my cats are/were disinterested in the bike trainer, no treadmill experience though. They didn’t seem to like the noise and would leave the room or at least give the bike distance (this was both wheel-on and direct drive trainers). They also are/were very chill and would prefer to sleep than zoom - zoomies were maybe once every few days with my first cat, and with my current cat she’ll zoom…once a month? Super chill and happy kitty.
As mentioned, depends on the cat. My pain cave is in the garage (door open) and our neighbor’s cat will frequently come by to inspect and say “Hi.” Seems to have the good sense to avoid the moving mechanical parts and avoid rubbing on things like greasy bike chains. Never had to worry about her getting injured.
What races are you taking your cat to? I need to know for…reasons.
All the races I do in Thailand I usually bring him along, I did originally plan to take him to WC Lahti and WC nice but my mum talked me out of it. Come come he likes new friends!
What races are you taking your cat to? I need to know for…reasons.
All the races I do in Thailand I usually bring him along, I did originally plan to take him to WC Lahti and WC nice but my mum talked me out of it. Come come he likes new friends!
Hahaha sounds good sadly getting any animals go Australia from SE Asia is extraordinarily hard due to rabies and quarantine issues. I cannot ever go back realistically go nzed with Dash even if I wanted.
More seriously, the last 2 cats I’ve had I adopted as adult cats (rather than kittens).
100%. Adults cats are just more chill.
Although, when I’m on the trainer for long periods my senior cat sits and stares at me until I feed or pet him.
He is completely disinterested in what I’m doing and won’t go near my bike or the treadmill. He hates the cooling fan too.
Most of the time our cats (we have 19!) are not in the training room, but we have a couple that we trust (and are chill enough) to be in the room while we ride.