Going nowhere fast!

Hello again!

As I alluded to in my last posting, winter is a good time for hitting the turbo trainer ("TT") if you have one. For many the TT is an instrument of torture. But it needn't be that way. Think positive! My tip is to keep TT sessions short - 40 minutes maximum, but I rarely do longer than 30 minutes The longer you use it, the more likely you will get bored and fed up, which will mean an unproductive training session and you'll be less inclined to use the TT again.

Keep it simple. Get on, warm up for five minutes or so and slowly crank it up. I usually do what I feel like doing. If I'm feeling good, I'll hammer it, if not I'll take it steady. You're in control, not the TT! Maybe go hard for three of four mintutes, ease off for a bit and then go hard again. Try to make it as enjoyable/interesting as possible. You might want to use a heart rate monitor, which sometimes I do, but obviously you need to be using it effectively, otherwise it's a waste of time bothering. But, generally I don't use one - I just get on, pedal and make it up as I go along, much like many of my rides on and off road! If you find yourself really struggling to motivate yourself to get on your TT, spare a thought for a friend of mine who specialises in 24 hour mountain bike races. He sometimes does three hour TT sessions! But, this is a chap who's covered 240 off road miles in 24 hour races - clearly insane!!

Happy "stationary" pedalling!

The Pale Rider