In the winter months the manorexic bulk of the world’s cycling press essentially regurgitate their mouldy version of the ‘the turbo feature’. This typically, lovingly re-iterates the numerous perceived hells associated with using an indoor trainer when the weather’s too oppressive to be able to ride outside. Which is great and everything, but we’re taking a different route, so if you’re looking for more of the same glorified moaning about the inherent boredom of it and all that sweating then move along. It’s not because we’re set on being contrary or confrontational, oh no, it’s because we love our turbo time and here’s why.
WINTER LEGS
First and foremost, our adoration of all thing turbo mainly revolves around the spring it puts in our carbon soled step once the snow melts and we can actually ride a bike outside. We know slow and steady Winter rides are classically the recipe for speed and power come the Spring, but we find turning ourselves inside out each and every morning indoors does wonders for our jump come March/April. Whether it be intervals, training for power, whatever name you want to give it, flogging the turbo day in and day out while it’s freezing keeps both the beer belly at bay and the pins in top shape.
THE TIME STRAPPED CYCLIST
Juggling work commitments, a love life and various other nefarious activities seriously puts a dent in a man’s on bike time, so the turbo is ideal when you’ve only an hour of so of free time before or after the rest of your life takes hold. This is especially handy when getting dressed for a winter ride usually takes a good twenty minutes while you faff trying to decide on layer selection. And the old adage of less is more is definitely true here, as man alive we can cram some pain and epic suffering into that turbo hour. Put it this way, the quivering, aching former shadow of a man we are when we flop off the trainer would require a good morning of riding outdoors to equal.
ZONE OUT
The aforementioned ‘turbo article’ often refers to boredom as the enemy of turbo trainer sessions, but we like to flip that idea on its head and see it as a positive. Whether it be considering the order of the universe, wondering what you’re going to cook for tea, speculating about the make up of the latest Eurozone bail-out or just listening to Electric Wizard at full blast on our headphones while draped over the bars semi-conscious, time on the turbo offers an almost Zen-like calm. The whir of the trainer, the pain in your legs and sweat on your lower back are the turbo training cyclists equivalent of meditative rustling bamboo.
OCD FREE AREA
We’ll deal with the emancipation from bike-focused obsession a little later, but the turbo also frees the almost universally compulsive road cyclist from the psychological shackles of matching his or her kit. Yes, matching kit, you know what we’re talking about. The turbo does away with those lingering moments of doubt as to whether your socks do really match with your shorts/jersey while you’re stood at the front door about to go riding. Once the turbo is out all the insecurities about the newness of your shoes, short length, etc, etc, fall by the wayside. So old shorts are dug out and happily worn, coupled with odd socks, hell when the turbo was briefly outside we even took to wearing an old Astana jersey, anything goes.
Don’t get us wrong, we would take riding outside over the turbo every time, but needs must when the weather is iffy or we’re really strapped for time. And for us it’s all about making the most of it and hopefully we’ve given you some positive food for thought. So with a new found love of the turbo still warm in your chest, we’ve come up with a list of stuff you could pick-up which’ll make your indoor training time even better…possibly.
THE KIT
There’s a whole raft of turbo trainers available at the moment utilising various different resistance systems and there’s numerous accessories to go with them, such as turbo specific tyres, mats, bike covers and riser blocks. But we’ll run you through what our Winter indoor set-up looks like and you can make your choices from there. It’s pretty basic to say the least.
TURBO
As noted there’s a wealth of options out there, depending on your budget, offering reduced noise and increased features as their cost rises. We opted for Elite’s limited frills SuperCrono Power Mag ElastoGel Trainer, which we can assure you is actually easier to set-up that it is to type. Pre-assembled, it also packs down flat on itself, which is handy as ours sits in a kitchen cupboard with all the unused kitchen equipment, it’s relatively quiet-ish and also comes with eight resistance settings you can select via a handlebar mounted lever. As noted there are definitely quieter units on the market, but we’ve found that the noise of our pained grunts during intervals tends to drown the actual noise of the SuperCrono anyway. The fact that it’s bright Orange and matches the colour of the jar our dog’s treats are kept which the turbo sits beside is just an added sartorial bonus.
BIKE
Yes you’re going to need one, obviously. But apart from the drivetrain working well, a fully functioning back back wheel and a level saddle, everything else on the bike when it gets sat astride the turbo is inconsequential. The usual roadie OCD concerning brake alignment, bike cleanliness and bar tape tension goes to the wall when the turbo comes out and that’s somewhat refreshing to be honest. For example, last winter we rode a bike with a broken front mech and a front wheel missing several spokes and if nothing else it was liberating not having to worry about it. Cold, happy days.
However this year, along with being spoilt with a working front derailleur and dialled in front wheel, we also now have a spare back wheel set up with a closer ratio cassette that the one we usually take to the road on. So if the weather allows we can just swap the rear wheel out rather than having to change a tyre. But like we said, we’re spoilt and switching tyres over really isn’t that much hassle. Which leads us on to the next investment.
TURBO TYRE
By no means an essential item, as we used to roll for hours indoors on an odd tyre we had knocking about with a manky tread, however if you do have the funds and the wherewithal you should definitely pick a turbo tyre up. Featuring a different tread pattern from a normal tyre, turbo tyres make less noise, don’t heat up as much and don’t degrade on the turbo’s roller like a conventional tyre will. They hover around the thirty quid mark and Schwalbe, Continental, Elite and Tacx all make them, but we’re running Vittoria’s Zaffiro Pro Home Trainer Tyre for the simple reason that it’s red and matches our bike. OCD can’t be totally eliminated from turbo training after all.
ACCESSORIES
Along with a rear tyre, you can also purchase a clutch of other items to aid your sub zero months of turbo training. The first is the stretchable cover or ‘bike thong’, which will protect the vulnerable parts of your bike, such as the headset, from your corrosive sweat. A worthwhile investment, we nonetheless don’t have one yet, deferring instead to the ‘towel’ or ‘already dirty t-shirt’ draped over the bars. However, the second potential accessory we have sprung for, the riser block. Having spent many months teetering atop now sweat-damaged copies of the weighty tomes, Fidel Castro And Religion and With The Contras it was high time to jack the front wheel up properly. Ours is from Elite, so it matches the turbo, but most indoor trainer manufacturers supply them. It’s just a recessed block of plastic, but we reckon it’s worth the outlay.
And the final accessory you could buy is a mat, to soak up all that much typed about sweat. As with the thong, this is also a turbo specific item we haven’t quite acquired yet. We’d dearly love a turbo specific mat, but we find an old rug from a Swedish multinational home furnishings company also does the trick, but a floor covering of some sort is definitely handy, both to dampen the noise somewhat, and to protect the floor from your exertion-based excretions. If nothing else sitting the turbo and your bike on a rug, mat or old bit of shag pile also injects some much-needed glamour to the proceedings. It’s the same principal as having a plinth beneath a foreboding monument or sculpture.
