After a few years of here & there riding, I have just gotten back on the bike with some regularity & have been doing around 130-160kms per week since early Feb. No real goals just yet, but once things settle down (Corona-wise), I’d like to have a crack at some of the local climbs, then maybe have a go at the KOM challenge in Taiwan, and possibly do a TdF tour at some point.
For delicate reasons, I have just been told that I am not allowed to cycle for a month…unless I stand whilst cycling.
In a hope keeping some sort of fitness, I had an idea that I could do 15-20 minutes every couple of days for the next 4-5 weeks. As we are approaching winter here, I might also need to do a bit of indoor work.
So - the question is… I have a Kurt Kinetic Fixed trainer (i.e no rocking or rolling)… and I was wondering about how this is going to affect my bike. Would it be a bad idea? I’ve heard that you shouldn’t stand up too much on these sorts of trainers…?
I have heard the same thing about not standing on bikes while pedaling on a sided trainer. I have a Litespeed with carbon stays that’s been on the trainer for years. I have yet to see a problem. I also had a full carbon Cannondale Slice on the trainer for months on end and it was fine. Mind you, when I’m standing on the pedals I’m not putting any torque or weight on the bullhorns. I don’t try to rock the bike as I would if I were outdoors.
That said, I wouldn’t recommend what you are proposing. Your knees will be forced to take a load at an unnatural angle, and will transmit that to your hips or Achilles’ tendon. It isn’t worth the risk of injury. As someone else has suggested, running until you are better is probably your safest option.
It shouldn’t be a problem to stand up as much as you want while riding on the trainer.
Having said that, I literally just broke the seatstay of my bike riding out of the saddle on the trainer. So, go figure I guess.
I have heard the same thing about not standing on bikes while pedaling on a sided trainer. I have a Litespeed with carbon stays that’s been on the trainer for years. I have yet to see a problem. I also had a full carbon Cannondale Slice on the trainer for months on end and it was fine. Mind you, when I’m standing on the pedals I’m not putting any torque or weight on the bullhorns. I don’t try to rock the bike as I would if I were outdoors.
That said, I wouldn’t recommend what you are proposing. Your knees will be forced to take a load at an unnatural angle, and will transmit that to your hips or Achilles’ tendon. It isn’t worth the risk of injury. As someone else has suggested, running until you are better is probably your safest option.
Thanks… well running is a bit of an issue for me anyhow; I literally just started trying to run again today, one minute on one minute off 7 times. I have had a knee issue for a few months, and have had Achilles issues in the past. So I guess I am just trying to find a way to maintain some sort of bike fitness… it doesn’t sound like standing and cycling is the answer…?
When riding on my trainer, especially racing on Zwift, I ride out of the saddle most of the time. Its a great skill to develop that will help riding up hills in the real world. I can hold 330w for over an hour out of the saddle. I wouldn’t worry about breaking the frame, I am sprinting at 800w+ and not had an issue.
The biggest issue I see on a dumb trainer will be whether you can get enough resistance. Ideally you want to be riding around 60-70rpm. Wheel on trainers, in my personal experience, tend not to be as smooth as direct drive, I’m not sure if this will be a problem
It will take you a while to build the muscle strength to ride standing. Focus on pedalling smoothly, I think initially go with very low cadence, low power, as smooth as possible. The faster the cadence the harder it is to keep smooth
I recently broke the quick release side head off my rear skewer (riding a CycleOps Fluid II) while doing a standing set. I’m far from a beastly cyclist too. The skewer was at least 13 years old so I assume time was the ultimate culprit. Just make sure everything is set up right and you should be fine.
The broken skewer finally led me to a direct drive trainer, I’ll never look back!
I’m trying to imagine how direct-drive improves on enjoyment and feel vs. a basic fluid trainer.
I own both a DD smart trainer and a Kurt Kinetic road machine. Road machine feels better than the Wahoo in terms of road feel, and can ‘simulate’ pretty high grades (but that’s really a function of your gearing, as it’s reverse how it works on a smart trainer. Shift to taller gears to for lower cadence/higher force.) But yeah, Kurts feel fantastic. They’re not going to actually change res to simulate resistance, of course, so if ‘simulation’ is what you’re after, they clearly don’t compete. But if your goal is to ride for a period of time at low cadence, they’re perfectly fine.
I feel like dumb vs smart trainer is kinda similar to how ‘stereo’ audio sounds so outdated vs full 7.1.2 home theater. Kinda, but a proper stereo setup listening to music in the sweet spot is still an incredible experience. Just because there’s a newer option doesn’t mean the old option is crap.