Well tonight a change from the norm. 20 minutes on static bike, full body weight session then 1 hour on the turbo. All before dinner. Lol.
Whilst on the turbo, (and not being distracted from my true intention of the training session) I got thinking, during recovery periods, on the thought I left in last nights blog. The turbo trainer potentially holds many variations in order to enhance your training requirements. Let me enlighten you with our thoughts. These were considered in a brief conversation today with my Carbonaut buddy Dr. Andrews:
1. Uphill. Simply prop the front wheel up to increase the resistance of your ride. This can give you anything from a gentle rise to the North Face of the Eiger (chock size dependent obviously and also space availability. You may also need a harness.
2. Wind resistance. As I found out last night you can get wind hitting different directions dependent on atmospheric conditions. Employ a fan and strategically position it to give you desired effect depending on how your workout should proceed. This can be combined with the front wheel chock to enhance the difficult on a multidimensional level.
3. Swirling winds. Simply purpose a tower fan with the oscillation mode ability and position again to give you that all round wind battering effect.
4. Increased resistance. Ring up some attachment to the seat post (preferred location) and attach something like a small trailer. This will give you the additional weight to pull. Especially suited to riders who wish to increase their cycling power performance. I haven't tried this yet as I am limited for space in the garage until after the car boot on Sunday. Also I don't have a trailer, but Alan over the road has a good one. Might be able to use this on a Sunday while he is at church.
5. Altitude training. This again is a tricky one if you are stuck for space and would require quite a bit of internet research to get the correct effect. Simply build an air tight canopy around your turbo trainer and attach to a good industrial rated vacuum system. Employ atmospheric pressure monitoring also. The internet research comes in by choosing the country and altitude at which you would like to ride and set the atmospheric pressure of your new cocoon to give you what you require. Note: Please ensure that there is some means of controlled air ingress to your tent in order to prevent death by suffocation and lack of oxygen.
6. Altitude and heat. Again research the country as above but with natural temperature profiles. Rig up some good quality infra red heater lamps and have them thermostatically controlled. This way you can have the right altitude and heat.
7. Altitude, heat and wind. As points 5 & 6 but with the inclusion of the fan system. Please note however, the inclusion of the fan may cause pressure variations and lead to severe ear popping issues over time.
8. Should you decide to choice a dessert area for your ride, enhance your experience by rigging up a fine sand drizzle into the air stream to give you that wind blown and sand blasted effect. Other effect may be to borrow the Iguana off your neighbours and have it running around on the ground as you train. At least it gives you something to dodge occasionally.
9. Sun tanning. Don't ever forget this important factor of why we cycle in the summer months. Cycling is by far one of the best ways to achieve that not quite all over tan. Well I mean you get partial arm coverage and with only hair on your thighs as you have had the bottom half of your legs waxed, you will end up looking like a chicken with brown legs below the Knee. But as long as you keep short sleeved polo shirts on when not riding, who is to know. To experience in the atmospheric pressure and temperature controlled cocoon environment, simple obtain an ample rated UV sun bed mobile upright unit and position to suit. I would advise directly in front where it will catch both arms and legs. However, to give you the overall experience you could build an arc slow moving platform which will move the light incrementally from left to right to give you the riding south over time natural sun movement. Would advise strong UV protection glass and a good factor sun cream. Be good to see during the depths of winter when the neighbours comment on your tan and you reply "That's the benefits of cycling my dears"!
10. Undulating terrain. Get some competent engineer to give you a pneumatic height adjustable chock which can be preprogrammed to numerous level changes as you ride. That way not only can you only go down, level or up, but you can constantly change and mimic the ride to Elgin that myself and Carbonaut Bob experienced only several weeks ago.
So as you can see from the above, the turbo trainer gives you endless possibilities on how you can enhance your riding and training experience within the confines of your own home. Be adventurous and try new things to give you the overall riding experience.
If anyone has any other thoughts on this, please feel free to let me know and we can publish.
Enjoy your training, and don't forget you heard it here first.
Cheerio
Hindo
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