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| Tuesday Night's Boy Bike Crew (pic credits go to five-year-old Sammy on the couch) |
Training here continues to stay inside for the most part. We find ourselves blessed with a treadmill, bikes with indoor trainers, and an indoor pool just minutes from our house. Other than the obligations of real life like the laundry that grows exponentially with each workout not to mention the never-ending season of potty training and the occasional stomach flu, we have no real excuse to not workout despite the weather.
We've had inquiries about indoor trainers and their idiosyncrasies. They vary so much, and we're learning along with the masses of people who find themselves stymied by lousy weather, domestic obligations, or environmental hazards, that they offer a great alternative to pedaling outside. Our knowledge is limited by our research. Here's what we do know :
Trainers limit our excuses to squeeze in a bike ride. We've taken on a trainer before 6am and after 10pm before, depending on our schedules. I've ridden while our then-three-year-old colored a massive Dora picture right next to me, and JT has packed the trainer up so he could fit an easy spin into a hotel room and stay loose the day before a race. It really is a marvelous piece of machinery.
Trainers vary in price and style as much as any other piece of equipment. My first trainer was a magnetic trainer, purchased for under $150. It's one of the least fancy pieces of equipment out there, but it's so functional that I still use it. We have a friend with a fluid trainer, which goes up in price a bit beyond the magnetic, but it's equally as functional and arguably quieter. One of the higher end trainers, a Computrainer, actually connects to a laptop and not only provides feedback but also allows a rider to take on a specific course. In the course of a few months, a cyclist can ride anywhere from Germany to the Tour de France to Ironman Florida's course. The trainer provides varying levels of resistance to mimic the hills in a given course.
Really, the choice of what to purchase depends on a cyclist's goals from what we can tell. If a person wants to just ride and get a workout in, keeping his legs and rear conditioned, then a magnetic trainer does the job nicely. Jason found a nifty deal on Amazon for one about a month ago when mine appeared to be headed downhill. The coffee addict he is, he figured he would have to give up a couple weeks of java love to pay for it. I'll let you do the math.
The uber-serious cyclist who loves numbers and wants to improve his efficiency and has some extra cash lying around would definitely benefit from the fancy compu-trainer. I'm not sure if we qualify in any of those areas except for maybe the desire to improve efficiency. Still, Jason found a way to purchase a compu-trainer a couple of years ago. We've never regretted this purchase, and neither have the friends who have hooked their bikes up to this trainer on an occasional basis.
We obviously have a love for our trainers unlike any other piece of equipment. With days like we've had lately, witnessing windchills of -35 degrees Fahrenheit, our trainers have not only offered us a chance to ride our bikes, but they've given us some wonderful endorphin releases and prevented a little cabin fever that happens so easily this time of year. Our kids thank us for them as well.
And, as you may know from previous posts, they offer us a social outlet unlike any other, when friends with bikes and trainers sidle up next to us for a while in the evening. Sure, the room stinks when we're all done, but we're all a little happier.
I apologized to a fellow cyclist who came over to ride a couple of weeks ago for being irritable. Her response: "I understand. You have three little kids, and that's hard. Plus, you were a different person after about ten minutes on your bike."
Yep, trainers, they're saving us (and our kids) in so many ways.
295 days . . .
