Recently I was on the Canadian Cycling Magazine podcast discussing whether it is wise to keep your trainer setup over the summer. You can listen in the player below or visit their website here.
While at first you may be caught off guard that anyone would consider riding indoors it is worth pondering how disruptions to your training can affect your fitness. How many days do you miss due to weather, darkness, equipment malfunction or even abandon a given workout due to traffic and busy roads/trails on the weekend?
As I am fond of saying, “The Trainer is like a Batting Cage, it is not Baseball”. By this I mean it is a tool we should use but not one that we should use at the exclusion of specific training (like riding off-road, with people, up hills etc)
In the summer I will add an easy spin on the trainer some mornings or evenings. I have used the indoor trainer to dodge a rainy day when the trails are not suitable for mountain biking and even for some heat adaptation if the weather is not hot enough outside.
Many clients I have in big cities will get those critical Threshold workouts done on the trainer where they can focus on the long efforts (ie. 2 x 20 min) without worrying about finding a long stretch of road or about the safety of city streets and paths.
