Time To Ride – Indoors On A Trainer

Drew gives the “inside” story on trainer selections

‘Tis the season to start spending time inside on the trainer.  There are many factors that come into play when selecting a new trainer – noise, weight, resistance, simplicity and overall performance should all be considered. Select your trainer with care and you will be riding it happily for many Michigan winters.

Are you a weekend warrior just wanting a bit of exercise here and there?  Or are you an elite level rider training to win every race you enter next season?  Whatever your goals, training inside is the best opportunity to start the next cycling season outside already in shape!

So the question is, what is the best trainer for you? Start your quest for your new trainer by thinking about what kind of rider you are … weekend warrior, club rider, touring person or whatever it may be.

Generally speaking, the off-season is when you’ll be riding your trainer most.  That means you will – or should – be working on foundation training.  This type of training is not really hard – it consists of longer rides that are relatively easy.  Any trainer will work for that type of riding.  If you want to do some intervals and hard efforts then you would want to think about a fluid trainer or an electronic resistance trainer.

Kurt Kinetic makes some great trainers.  Here’s their line-up: (Most to least expensive).

Rock and Roll: This trainer has the same resistance unit as the Road Machine trainer (see next paragraph).  The difference is that the trainer allows you to rock your bike back and forth as if you were outside riding. The idea is that it is supposed to give a realistic ride quality.  This trainer can also be locked out so that it does not rock.

Road Machine:  The most versatile trainer that Kurt Kinetic makes.  With a resistance range of 5 watts to over 3,000 watts this trainer is capable of handling every type of training session.  All the trainers from Kurt Kinetic have an unconditional lifetime warranty.  The resistence unit has 80 cooling fins to cool the sealed fluid chamber.  The trainer also has a no leak guarantee.  Overall if you want to purchase one trainer and never have to worry about getting another one ever again, this is the trainer to purchase.  Lastly, this is one of the most quiet trainers available.

Kinetic Magnetic: At first glance this trainer might look the same as the Road Machine.  This trainer has the same trainer base.  The resistance unit is magnetic with a remote control resistance unit that can be mounted on the handle bars of the bike.  This trainer is still very quiet.  The main difference between the two trainers is that the magnetic trainer does not give the rider as much resistance.  If intervals are your thing then purchasing the Road Machine is the way to go.  For fitness riding and longer endurance rides the Kinetic Magnetic is a fantastic option. One key point that Kurt Kinetic trainers boast is there industry leading fly wheel.  With the largest fly wheel available out of the box for trainers, Kurt Kinetic gives riders a smooth trainer rider experience.

Cyclone:  This is Kurt Kinetic’s wind resistance trainer.  If you are looking for a basic trainer that will offer you a fantastic cardio workout this is the one for you.  This trainer offers 5 watts to 1,000 watts according to the Kurt Kinetic website… however you may find it very hard to get 1,000 watts of resistance from this trainer.  A downside to this trainer is that because it is a wind resistance trainer it will be much louder than all the other trainer options from Kurt Kinetic.

What kind of riding do you enjoy the most?  If you like to get out of the saddle and simulate climbing then get a trainer that offers more resistance.  The same thing goes for doing intervals.  If you like to just sit on the bike and spin easy then any of the quality trainers from Kurt Kinetic will work nicely for you.

For more information visit the company’s website  www.kurtkinetic.com Stop by Two Wheel Tango and we’ll get you going on your winter riding – indoors.