Bike Trainers

If you are a triathlete wannabe and you don?t own a bike than indoor cycling is the perfect way to get started on your off-season cycling. If you are a recreational cyclist and you?re thinking about getting into triathlon or duathlon in the upcoming season there is one piece of equipment you can not do without. The indoor bike trainer. While indoor cycling or spinning classes are great, they are not your bike, and they are often taught in a way that does not mimic road riding close enough to be beneficial. A bike trainer however, puts you on your bike, on your saddle and begins the ?getting friendly? period so you and your saddle are ready come spring.
Bike trainers are simply tripods that elevate your back tire onto a resistance wheel. Once resistance is applied the rider will change gears to provide a more intense workout. Resistance can be provided in a number of ways but magnetic and fluid (often silicon) resistance are the quietest as well as the smoothest. Prices can begin as low as $250.00 for a quality trainer and go up from there. One or more riser blocks can be used to elevate the front tire to level or higher to simulate hill climbing. To assist you in your bike training you can purchase workout DVD?s from Spinervals or Carmichael Training that lead you through a workout session. These DVD?s are usually graded by difficulty and have titles such as Hillacious, Dropping the Hammer and Big Gear Strength.
If you are an experienced cyclist or triathlete and you are looking for ?the? one thing that is going to take you to the next level than it is the Computrainer by Racermate. The Computrainer is a bike trainer that is hooked up to a Computer and is the gold standard of bike trainers. Real courses such as Ironman Canada, Ktown tri and Central Park are loaded and can be viewed on a computer, TV screen or through a projector. The computer then drives the resistance wheel to simulate what you would experience on that course. You can race against yourself from a previous ride, against a computer generated rider or with two units against another person. According to Timothy Carlson from Triathlete Magazine the Computrainer is the sole reason that Canadian triathletes dominated the bike portion of any Ironman race from the late 90?s on. Computrainers are more expensive, $1650.00 but are easy to use and well worth the money. The newest edition to the Computrainer family are their Real Live videos in which athletes have done Ironman courses and video taped them. With video of other competitors and spectators the program is mentally engaging and physically challenging.
There is no resting or coasting when you ride a bike trainer so you get in the habit of sitting and spinning which makes you more efficient and will make you a bike force to reckon with once riding and racing begins.