I know my LT is 167. It’s been tested, I’ve ridden 20km TTs a little above it, ride 40km in tris with it (and still have juice for the run) and know how my body feels a little above and below it. I have very little doubt that I’m too far off my actual LT. When I ride on my trainer (which I’m too big a fan of), I can only get my HR up to about 160 for a 30min TT. If I try to increase power, my legs soon burn out. But on the road, my HR can easily get up to 167. Can boredom be an issue?
Does this happen to anyone else? Has anyone heard about this happening to anyone else?
A few things can be of factor here. Let the flames begin, though I have been riding a bicycle for many years competitively.
I have found that good trainers put out quite a bit of resistance, especially the fluid variety. It is a bit harder to turn over most trainers at first, which can, in turn raise your heart rate.
A fluid trainer has progressive resistance. Turn it up past your threshold for the resistance level, and the legs do burn out.
On the road, you can coast, you can go downhill, you can have the wind push you, etc., etc. On a trainer, you have to continually push.
This is a very small possibility, but interference can screw with the HR.
Here’s my take on indoor trainers: a unit like a Kurt, Cyclops or anything that is not a roller develops power, rollers develop your spin. It is not realistic road feel, not now, not ever. On the road, you move forward, on the trainer, you are working against a resistance unit.
I am not pooh-poohing indoor trainers, as many hours spent on them have made me much faster in short amounts of time. I love mixing both a set of Kreitlers to develop spin and balance, and a fluid unit for power. Both combined give you a leg up on the first race of the year.
I watch People’s Court while I spin on the trainer, as she’s bloody HOT!!! I also watch a Sunday evening movie on the trainer, as well. I hope that age doesn’t stop me from becoming Superman on the bike in the spring.
I would like to ask a question,what would you think would be better in your opinion for improving in training. A trainer or rollers. I can only afford one. Been biking for two years, have done 4 tri"(1 IM). My “A” race will be IM CDA as 44yr old shooting for under a 6hr bike. I have Always heard the same thing…Rollers best for spinning,trainers for strength.But I do not know what will help me improve most. Thanks. Ken
I am also eager to find out some info. from you about trainers. I own a Blackburn and I have the resistance on the unit itself set at ‘3’ (just because I don’t know any better?!?!?!?!?). What should I have it set on to try to get the best realistic ‘feel’ and also, what is the formula to figure out trainer mileage v.s. road mileage? Is it 33% more? Meaning, 10 miles on the trainer is equivalent to 13.3 miles on the road? Also, I am getting a shiny ‘streak’ on my back tire from the trainer. Is that common or is the trainer too tight against the tire? I appreciate any help.
I think if you have to afford one or the other, get a good fluid unit. These have progressive resistance. I would rather get power over the winter than developing a spin if I had to choose one or the other. You can get your balance and spin in the late winter/early spring months.
Unless I am a dumbass, the silver streak is just the aluminium oxide that rubs from the roller. You don’t want the tyre to slip, but you don’t want to over tighten it, as well. I go for the fit that is tight enough to not slip out of the roller contact.
Resistance unit setting: if you have a rear-wheeled computer, this is easy to calibrate. Get yourself up to 20 mph and start to coast. If it takes more than ten seconds to stop the wheel from spinning, then you need to set your resistance setting higher.
As far as milege goes, I am a dummy when it comes to that. I know that you continuously pedal without stop signs, coasting downhill, etc. +33% sounds good, and I would even go a bit higher than that. But I never tried to quantify that. A rear wheel mounted cyclocomputer would be a good idea to figure that out with.
If you refer to the shiny stripe you often get this may be the tyres surface melting slightly with the friction. I used to pride myself on my old turbo (a Tacx mag turbo with wind in unit) that I used to melt and wear tyres. As for the new Elite ‘elastogel’ roller - I wore clean through the roller.
In my opinion a sprung loaded contact (i.e. the old elite fluid) is best as this doesn’t wear high spots on the tyre and seems to transfer the heat more directly to the heat sink of the fluid unit reducing the tyre wear.
Yes, I have found exactly the same thing. My HR vs. PE is about 10 beats lower on the trainer than on the road. What I consider steady HR for a 50 miler on the road, I can’t even hold for 20 minutes on the trainer at the same cadence. Without a doubt my trainer creates more resistance than road riding. I cruise on the trainer at about 67% of the speed I cruise on the road. That is probably particular to my trainer, I’m sure there is variation among brands and units. But I don’t think the extra resistance is the sole cause of the HR difference. Obviously, I can just ride in easier gears to offset the resistance. I think the effects of cooling from wind, and momentum also must make a difference. Ah, I guess I don’t really care what the reason is. I know it is there, so I just adjust my zones accordingly.
For whatever reason, I’ve found running on a treadmill vs. outdoors to produce very similar HR vs. PE.