Trainer season is upon us

I woke up yesterday at 5 am and made my way to my computer. The obligatory early-morning weather check. Would it be too cold to ride? We had been really lucky here in NYC, enjoying a nice, long, pleasant fall.

27 degrees.

No thanks! 32 is my cutoff for bike training. It's not that I can't go out in colder weather (I have, and I probably will again), but it's not comfortable. As much as I love frozen booger icicles hanging on my nose, I'll usually pass.

Which brings us to indoor training.

I think we all have a love/hate relationship with our trainers. They keep us busy when we can't play outside, and they allow for us to train effectively in the winter.

But they're SO boring.

I decided to bite a big one and buy a Cycle-ops Fluid2 TT edition trainer on eBay for about $200. It was a good deal on a good trainer. The resistance curve is one that increases exponentially with wheel speed, so all you have to do to go harder is click into a harder gear.

The trainer came with the entire Chris Carmichael CTS training video line. Whoopee.

While I trust Chris and his training programs, (each video is tailored for a certain aspect of cycling- TT's, climbing, Criteriums, etc...) There is nothing, and I mean nothing more boring than riding a trainer indoors while watching other people ride on a trainer indoors.

Couldn't he at least put some decent bike racing clips in the videos? Holy hell! I'm not going to sit there watching some cyclists decked out in CTS gear sweat indoors. (Although I know a few women that might not mind...)

So what do I do to save myself from ITBD (indoor trainer boredom disorder)? Two things:

1) Action movies. Action movies are great for trainers because you can incorporate intervals into it. Here's how: Every time there's a fight scene/chase/ action sequence, Ramp it up. Presto! intervals in an action movie! Much more fun than having Chris Carmichael ask you politely to accelerate your cadence and raise your heartrate to zone 3.

2) MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATRE 3000! - There’s no show that makes the time fly faster than a good MST3K episode. What’s better than watching horrible B movies with hilarious commentary? If you haven’t seen any episodes, do yourself a favor and Check some out on Youtube.

What's your trainer distraction?

Whatever it is, keep doing it. As boring as they are, the more hours you put in on that trainer in the winter are going to pay off in the spring. You can laugh at all of your other friends who use the off season as an excuse to go into Jan Ullrich style guilt eating while you're gapping them up hills. (Sorry Jan, you know I love you). Stay strong, and keep spinning!