I’ve had my CT for a while and am bored with it. I have been reading good reviews of the ergvideos, however… which one should I buy to start with???
Basically, if you only had 1 ergvideo… which would it be? Which one is so awesome it will make me want to buy more? 
Thanks.
Andy
i’m also curious to hear a response. how about the mt. ventoux one?
This was Paul’s response to my email saying the dilemna was which ones to get;
suggest you try the three that you have best gut-feel that you want. Try them out, and then come back for more. Ones that have a bit of everything: port de pailheres, mallorca tempo and hills, osmonds odyssey if you like Road acing, or muskoka tri or muskoka half if you like tri. Can’t decide…fourman ttt is always good. don’t get too sucked in by all the same kind of ride, like three mountains or three tri sims…you will miss out on the whole experience.
I still couldn’t decide, so I started by ordering 9!
I’ve had my CT for a while and am bored with it. I have been reading good reviews of the ergvideos, however… which one should I buy to start with???
Basically, if you only had 1 ergvideo… which would it be? Which one is so awesome it will make me want to buy more?
Thanks.
Andy
Just one? I can never do it!!
It is a toss up between “Ride to the tour” and “Mallorca Tempo and Hills”. They each have a ton of variety, and this means you can create a several distinctive training sessions from them. Since there are many changes of pace, you get a real sense for how ErgVideo forces you to ride, and hammers you if you get lazy…you can’t dog it!
“Ride to the tour” is a team ride with a mission. Easy sections, hard sections, and some messing about like any U23’s will do to ya. It isn’t a leg breaker, most of the time, but it is fast and action packed, has some hard hills and you even suffer a p-pursuit.
“Mallorca tempo and Hills” has a nice tempo phase in a group, two hard longish but not too longish climbs, and a wild ride on a roller coaster road that is one of my favorites in the world. You really get motivated to hang in there with guys who have you on the ropes. A great feeling of speed when you are riding close to stone walls. Get a taste here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihdhBWFmrc8
These will have ya coming back for more, and you will be after the intervals videos once you get the whole erg “forced-workout/can’t-cheat-it/don’t-have-to-watch-the-clock/just-pedal-dammit” experience. Longthreshold intervals is a staple, and GPBlainville and Italianfestival are particularly violent racing experiences.
You can check the power profiles and muck about with the flexibility of ErgVideo, at http://www.intellicoach.ca/Profiletoolbox.aspx.
Paul “never sell just one” Smeulders
www.ergvideo.com
sorry I am getting mail on this one.
“p-pursuit” if I have to spell it out. The chase you gotta do when the group continues up the road while you answer the call of nature. Always hurts.
Paul
I have 6 or 8 I forget. I love the criterium one I have and I also love MAP Intervals. Good times, they make the CT much more useful and fun.
Ken
Oh yeah the 4 man TTT is a ton of fun. I normally end up yelling at the screen trying to make my team mates go harder.
Ken
Andy
Trinidad and South Africa has some ‘interesting’ hills and descents ! But which one to start out with . . .
a normal question when y’er first starting out, IMHO it depends on what kind of riding you ‘enjoy’, one would be toooooo tough to get it down to, a 3 pack would be the minimum. Bite the bullet, pickup a 3 pack you will not be disappointed. One warning though . . . . they are addictive . . . . . am waiting for a crappy day to give the new ones a tri/try.
There is a whole lot more to these things than just the individual DVD workout, with the free tools, (did I mention the ‘tools’ are free) you can, based on the DVDs you have, customize your workouts. Drop me a note in a couple of months, after you’ve done some and have a ‘feel’ for them, will be glad to share ideas.
BTW I have no affiliation with ErgVideo other than being a happy Customer. A great product with first class Customer Support
Paris
Tough task to nail it down just to one. I do own many titles, and like to mix it a lot. When it’s -30C and pitch dark at 5:00am, it’s fun to virtually ride in a few sunny locations.
Many of the new titles seem interesting, and I will refreshing my collection soon.
If I only had one to choose, I guess I would nail it down to the type of riding/training I do the most. But then again, you can modify the rides so much that even just one title can become a good “multi-tasking” tool.
I sure love the Trinidad/SA title, Lake Placid is a darn good workout at 100% setting.
But I often comeback to the “2 Olys” title, for a disciplined, well paced effort.
One way or the other, I don’t think you can make a bad choice.
The only thing that is negative is that when I start talking ErgVideo, it means it’s almost time to tie down the bike to CT for the winter!
I’m looking to purchase a few ErgVideos and this thread has lots of good suggestions. My main takeaway is to purchase those videos that look coolest and best suit what I’m looking for in a training ride. That being said, are there any ErgVideos that you would not recommend? If it’s not possible to get advice on the 3-5 “must haves”, perhaps I can shorten the potential list by knowing the 3-5 to avoid. Thanks in advance.
If I had to settle for only one Ergvideo I would choose the Hill Intervals. Having said that, my winter training would not be complete without at least three or four different Ergvideos. I regularly use Hill Intervals, Tempo Club Ride, TT and Criterium A.
It’s a great product and it will make your training much more fun.
I have 4 titles and like them all… of mine, I probably use Base 3 Cool Rides the most- the best variety and flexibility in my collection, IMO.
For “fun”, get a criterium. There is so much action you can’t get bored. The 4 man TT is pretty darn good. You can really get into it.
They are all fun really.
Ken
Feels like TTT and a crit are musts. Ride to the Tour seems like a good all-arounder and I should probably get a tri video too since, well, that’s what I do. Thanks for the assist. Any other thoughts/suggestions are definitely welcome.
The MAP Intervals, Endurance Intervals and Anerobic Intervals are GREAT for training, but they are all business. The ones I generally don’t enjoy as much (although they’re still good), are things like Lake Placid where it’s a tour of the course. I prefer intervals or highspeed action rather than looking at a triathletes ass for 1.5-3 hours.
I just bought a couple of the real course computrainer courses and will report back on them once I’ve used them. The HD quality sounds freakin’ cool. If Paul did a 50% sale I would lay a hurting on ErgVideo filling in some of my collection. I want to try some of the Mount Ventoux etc rides, Tour Prep rides.
Ken
Ps. C’mon Paul help me out, I love your products!!!
Andy,
I haven’t raced an outside crit in years, but the ergvideo crits and RR give you all the intensity without the risk. The intensity can be absolutely insane, and when done with a group of friends and a borrowed projector it’s a hoot. Sweat flying, people screaming at the screen and each other, nothing compares, my wife finds it so amusing she’ll actually come down into the dungeon to watch us carry on and ridicule whoever gets stalled out. A good way to stay mentally fresh in the trainer season.
Thanks Paul for an excellant product.
Peace
Peter
I have been lovin’ and hatin’ on “Mallorca tempo and hills”. An hour of group tempo, two stinkin hard climbs of 20 minutes where you get your ass handed to ya; descents to recover in between, and then a fast jam on roller-coaster & narrow mallorquin roads with a coupla brutes. On the rivet for the last 20 minutes or so.
Paul www.ergvideo.com
PS Thanks for the generous compliments.
We have some stories here about the shoots in France, some extra info about the videos themselves Part 1 Part 2
Do I have to buy the $150 upgrade to the Multi-Rider software from Racermate Inc. to get the most out of an Ergvideo experience? Specifically, the tool that allows you to customize the Ergvideo workout is compelling to me.
The multirider software is free. You just need to dig around the Racermate website a bit to find it.
Ken
Okay, sorry if this is a dumb question but can you ride the Four Man TTT solo? I’m assuming you just have three other “virtual” team mates on the screen working with you not actual multi-riders on CTs with you. Is this correct?