Winter Wonderland (on a trainer)

The East coast has been rocked by these massive snowstorms lately--makes for pretty crummy riding if you're not a clearsky cranker (football's equivalent of a fairweather fan). For the rest of us palesky peddlers it means waiting until the streets get cleared (which in my town takes A WHILE) or hopping on the trainer for a few hours.

I inherited a magnetic trainer from Tito when he moved out West, and my wife won't let me use it indoors--and you can imagine why if you've ever used one before. It sounds like a cross between the chainsaw from the movie 'Saw' and the whirring of the broken robot from 'Wally.' Every time I'm on it I make sure I've got my mp3 player cranked waaay up. Anyway, I put the trainer out on the back porch (telling myself and my friends that I did it because I prefer to train in the elements--married men will understand my real reasoning) and hopped on it for a few hours this past week, taking a break every hour or so to call my city councilman to ask when the shoulder was going to be clear again. It was an experience.

First of all, if you do purchase a trainer, DON'T get a magnetic one. I've demoed the fluid ones every year at my local bike shop, I just can't ever save up my allowance far enough to buy one, something more appealing always seems to cast itself in my path (remind me to talk about my new Tarmac SL3) before I save up enough money (okay, the Tarmac was a special gift to myself financed outside my allowance--I don't know any trainer that costs that much) to get one. Fluid trainers are (for the most part) quieter, smoother, easier to maintain and just a better experience overall.

Secondly, however, understand that the trainer is a mental game to the extreme. I've done spin classes before--totally different experience. There's something about having other people there even if you're used to riding alone. I've been told by some people that you can psych yourself out to get in more time on the trainer, but as yet, I've had a hard time breaking an hour on it. It's not difficult, but it is mind numbing.

Now there are some trainers out there (like the one that I demoed at the shop that was closer in price to my Tarmac) that are a full virtual reality experience. You sit in front of your big screen at home and steer the little guy on the screen. When your RPMs go to low, the guy on the screen falls off his bike. There are road AND mountain courses (the mountain course lets you play around a little more--exploring off the trails and knocking things over in the warehouses, even jumping ramps!) making it the ideal cross-training tool. But for the rest of us, it's a goofy DVD, or a classic movie like 'Fletch' to keep us going.

Well I did it. An hour on the trainer every day for this last week. The shoulders aren't clear but I'm back on the road. Hopefully that car puttering impatiently behind me is my councilman. If it is I should be back on my shoulder in no time--or fighting anti-bike legislation in my town council.