I can’t wait to see how many unsuspecting people land on this article because of the title. Joke’s on them!
The day had to come, I suppose.
I went down to the cave, dragged up the indoor trainer to the apartment, dusted it off, found that stupid skewer I lose every year, chose my ‘sweat towel’ for the next few months, sparked up one of the many races I missed on ‘TV’ (the computer – I don’t own the other thing) this year, and proceeded to re-discover how hard it is to hold 100 RPMs for 50 minutes. But here’s the thing:
I liked it. It’s inexplicable, I know, but I did.
In other news, Myself, John, Erik, Anne and Karsten have all managed to get ourselves registered for next year’s Etape du Tour. I had three computers running to try and game the system, but it still took 3 hours. Hope you all had better luck.
The Vicious Cycle 
Brilliant title choice! Hilarious. The trainer is always a struggle for me. Muddling through though.
I seriously don’t know if I could do it without some cycling to look at in front of me. Somehow, watching other people suffer makes it more fun.
just curious, what web channels do you use to view old races?
Hi Gerry,
Took your advice on the cycleops but also got the training winter kit. Sweat thong (for the bike), mat and blocks to simulate up hill. Tried to register for the étape and went from less then 1000 to over 3000 waiting. So gave up. It’s a bit farther afield so realistically probably wouldn’t go. What is the link to all the cyclosportives. Is it the marmot that is one of the early ones next spring?
Great news about the trainer, Luc. I’m sure you’ll be cursing it (and me) after a few weeks on it.
Marmotte is full. Fills up in hours.
For double the price, you can make a week of it and do trophee de l’oisans, which has 170km vaujany the week before, 40K prix des rousses wed, Marmotte saturday,and grimpe alpe sunday. This is still open.
You liked it? Now, THAT is disturbing. I have a friend who spends hours at a time on a Wattbike, but he’s a nutter…
I think I like the fact I can watch cycling races and not feel guilty.
looks like it’s around 13 in the NImes area..why are you on the trainer already? don’t you know that 10 times the amount of brain cells are killed on the trainer than riding outside?… wait…what was I talking about?… crap..need to get off the trainer
It’s windy though.
Get it connected to a little generator and you can power your viewing for nothing at the same time and maybe have enough extra to boil a kettle for a post ride bovril.
Trust me, I thought about it. It could very well be more stable than my power supply here in Nîmes, too.
And on the weekends I get to watch a double bill from an array of action adventure movies and even that doesn’t help to keep the winter flab from showing up. I’ve got a “Big Ass” TV, maybe that’s the problem.
I’m not sure. I don’t even have a TV and my ass is huge right now. I think it’s something else.
Ouch! First turbo ride, 75min. I would have to say it’s more comfortable using one’s own bike than the spin bikes at the gym. Other benefits, I used a fan so I kept cooler and sweated less. I used my computer to watch a Sufferfest video, ouch! I saved time by not going to the gym so (in theory) I could stay on bike longer. I used my garmin to analyse the data and keep the yearly total running. Not sure how to compare the data to real riding though. I have a flat 40km ride I do, and my speed on the Turbo was 3km/h faster. Good call on the turbo Gerry.
Glad I could ‘help’, Luc…although you wrote ‘ouch’ twice in this comment. Not sure how much credit I should take!
I wouldn’t compare speed with the road, if I were you. It really depends on the tension of the roller. Crank the tension handle one way left or right and you’ll see what I mean pretty quickly, I think. As long as you keep the tension the same throughout the off-season, though, you can compare your rides indoors. Even then I’ve noticed a change when the tires get worn down. Maybe that’s just me however.
75 min is pretty good for a first go, by the way!
Congrats on the Etape! It always takes the first step.