After my whirlwind weekend, riding around on super fast kit, it's back to reality. Somehow I've managed to get myself in the groove of getting on the mag/fluid trainer 2 or 3 times a week.
It actually surprises me that I manage to do it. I've always much preferred getting outside and enjoying the fresh air but I've discovered that there are benefits to riding inside.
Last year I only managed to get on the trainer about once a week during the winter. I was focused a lot more on running but it was a struggle, and the sessions only lasted about 40 minutes before I hopped off, and my heart rate stayed fairly low through out.
Maybe it's because I am actually stronger on the bike. And by strong I mean that I can almost get to the point of needing to go to the big chain ring.
Maybe it's because I now have a fan to cool me off instead of sweating buckets until I collapse. L2Drink, as they say.
Or maybe it's the motivation of having a ski race coming up with roughly 700 m of climbing that I haven't done in about 15 years. Or the fact that I am doing the same course, back to back on two consecutive days.
I'm not known for my logic at times. I really needed someone to prevent me doing the second one. 53km is enough.
Top 5 Reasons to Ride Indoors?
- You don't get passed - I get passed all the time when I ride in the presence of others. This, strangely, does not happen when I have the doors to my home locked. This is great for the ego.
- Choice of Beverage - Open alcohol on the streets is illegal, or at least frowned upon, in most jurisdictions, except for Vegas for some reason, and if you ride indoors, theoretically you can pound back a few PBRs in preparation for your next cyclo-cross race, were, I am told, a lot of this happens. (Disclaimer - I have never done a CX race and have only watched one but it's on my to-do list)
- Family Time - Do you get hassled that your favorite hobby takes you away from the house and leaves your spouse with the kids for hours? If you golf or ride, practice indoors and with some artful logic, it can count as you taking care of the kids and spending quality time with the spouse. And, you can pretend you can't hear her talking because the cheap trainer you bought is too loud to have a decent conversation.
- Movies - The 2 Terabytes of downloaded movies you have on your home server aren't going to watch themselves.
- Safety - You will not run into a tree while twittering if you are running or riding indoors.
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