And…did you do it more than once?
6 hours. 2X. And about 4X5hours. Successive weekends. Yikes.
Bloody hell, how did you not lose your mind?
Is this why good Monk became bad Monk?
Monk,your an animal !!
My longest ride on the track stand was 2 hours,and I was losing it !
The reason is that I live in South Florida, and biking in the 96 degree weather with the sun beating down doesn’t do anything for you except dehydrate you and wear you out–and I am not training for long distance races that are going to be in those conditions.
3hrs is the regular Tuesday night Tough Love Spinerval. Funny how it works, but if you do 6hrs a few times, 3 hours seems like a holiday. I just started ramping up (OK, it is not that big a ramp for old Monk) for IMAZ, so it was just two hours tonight, but I’ll be taking it to 3 shortly. Isn’t that what you are supposed to do? And if it rains on the weekends, the whole long ride will be on the trainer even though the weather is very pleasant now.
Amateurs! Sit back and behold the power of caffeine. The date was September 20, 2000 and I rode 9 hours on my bike trainer, upstairs in my parents garage without food, music or company. Just a bunch of gatorades, a gallon of chocolate milk and a whole pot of percolated black coffee. I didn’t even get off my bike to pee. I did it right there on the floor. --NYSLIM
NYSLIM
No offense and I’m sure you’re a great guy but I don’t believe you.
You don’t have to believe me but, that’s what is so great. It makes my day to know that for once I accomplished the unbelievable! Thanks for the compliment.
3 hours…only once after riding 2 hours in foul weather outside while training for IMFL in 2002. I still think I’m clinically insane because of it. Won’t ride my trainer over 45 anymore. I’ll go outside at 15 degrees, snowing with lights before I subject myself to trainer torment. Bikes by their very nature…are meant to MOVE!
Monk - you are a madman. I expect big things from you in AZ. I’d pay $100 per ride in 96 degree temps this winter. I’m much more likey to ride in -96 windchill outside though.
For the NY guy…you need some help!
I don’t know how you guys do it…kudos.
Smitty, I can second your note about being burned out after long rides inside. After my 9hour ride my training program was ruined and that ended my attempt at Ironman Florida. I ended up not training for almost a week and then when I started back up it wasn’t the same. I hated being anywhere near a bike trainer! My time at florida reflected that. I did like a 10:30ish and I was in closer to 9ish shape. Even now, to this day, I still ride long on my trainer but, it is a lot more tough. I am forever jaded and doing 4-6 hours feels like the end of the world. I have to get off every 50-60minutes to go to the bathroom or to eat or check the market… it’s not the same.
I do the IMH bike course on my old ('97) Computrainer all the time. The max I do at any one time on my indoor trainer is 6 hours. Anything longer, and I’ll do it outside, regardless of the weather.
I’ve also done the first 4 1-hour Spinervals tapes consecutively. When I do those, I take the next day off from cycling. Troy’s a damn sadist 
Tony
LOL…I got my Kurt at a local demo here in Mpls. (big wheel) They gave me the whole box set of Spinervals…haven’t even opened one of them.
I just turn on the TV, get my HR up and start to sweat…then sprint through the commerials for an interval. Seems to work, but I swear the commercials get longer every year!
Perhaps I should watch those sometime. Don’t you ever want to grab a bag of chips, a 12 pack and watch everyone on the tape suffer?
4 hrs a couple of time training for IM NZ, didnt drive me nuts but my butt was so sore and my apartment stunk! Rode the compu trainer IM NZ course so many times that winter that I cannot even contemplate doing it, even now almost 3 years later!
Simon in Vancouver!
I did 2 hours a few times training for IMC when it was crappy weather here in Calgary. I think long rides on the trainer are silly. Unless you are a special person, why take the hit mentally ??
Trev
I did 3 hours on a generic Performance trainer Sunday watching “Gods and Generals”. Decent movie, and ok way to rack up base miles. I have a Computrainer on the way, and look forward to riding IM NZ and IM GE to get a rough idea of the courses. Might go up to 5-6 hours, but won’t challenge the NY guy who might need to talk to somebody. Trainer with window open keeps me fairly cool. Riding in 20 degree weather in and out of a very polluted crowded city is much less fun and pretty hairy.
How do you watch movies? Do you get an effective workout? (I’m sure you do, I just mean that I couldn’t–I need to be focusing the whole time, or my HR, cadence, or something drops off).
I know what it is like to work with a sadistic coach.
Pretty easy since HR with my base miles is pretty moderate. For intervals I switch to Spinervals, and HR is much higher. Troy is pretty sadistic, but along with an occasional hottie keeps things interesting. What is the Tough Love Spinervals like? 3 hours of intervals?
Last winter, I did three 6-hour rides on the rollers, and a bunch of 3-5 hour rides on rollers as well, prepping for a big bike camp in Cali in March. If I didn’t have the motivation to not suck, it would have been difficult. I would watch many, many movies while riding. I hope to replicate the “fun” this winter for the same camp again this march. Kind of hard to ride in snow and ice and bitterly cold windchill in Wisconsin winters. Thankfully, I’ve still been able to ride outside thus far, minimizing my solitary confinement in the basement.
I have ridden entire IM courses on my CT. Up to ~6:35:00. I’ve done that twice.
My more typical rides in the Jan-Mar period are 3.5-5 hours on a Saturday morning.