Trainers

With the winter months rolling in, sometimes temperature or road conditions make it impossible to ride outside. There are a number of trainer options that have had a dramatic impact on cyclists ability to ride and train indoors. Smart trainers have combined magnetic resistance with software. You can now get on a trainer and have it automatically take you through a work out, ride in virtual landscapes.  An hour on a trainer can yield some amazing results. 

Software options 

Your trainer is the hardware that can be matched to some very cutting edge software. What you choose depends on what your desired outcome is. Wahoo smart trainers to have a companion app called Wahoo fitness that will allow you to connect to your trainer and control its settings. It can be used to train with, but it is very basic.  Your trainer can do some amazing things when connected with some of the software partners out there. If you are looking to reduce the boredom the comes with riding inside, you ride in virtual roads. Some are copies of actual locations. NYC, London, people logon from all over the world and train or race in groups or by themselves.  There are training programs that you can choose that will let you do your work out while riding in the virtual surroundings. All out store locations have trainers setup allowing you to see what the experience is like. 

• Road Gravel Tours  Wahoo's Direct Training Platform
• Trainerroad has the most extensive and event specific training plans $15mo or $129 annually
• Sufferfest combines actual race footage with training sessions $12.99mo or $99 annually 
• Kinomap train virtually on user submitted footage from all over the world $10mo or $60 annually
• Rouvy Provides footage on 2,000 famous routes for you to ride virtually $6.25 or $10mo for premium

Accessories

You got the bike and trainer set up. You got your work out in, do you really need anything else?  

There are a few things that can make a big difference once you have the basics covered .

• Fan - This is almost a must. The right fan will keep you cool much longer through sessions, and keep sweat evaporating instead of pooling all over your floor. Check out 
• Floor matt - Keep sweat drops off the floor as well as making it easy to move around if you need to. 
• Distractions -  Music, Netflix, movies, Zwift, will all help make the time go by a little faster.
• Wahoo climb - If you are looking for something to spice up your work outs or add a degree of realism to Zwift of virtual rides check it out.