Cyclops

OCN: Obligatory Cycling Note - ORN: Obligatory Running Note - was a tradition started by the Dead Runners Society back in the day of bulletin boards and listservs. One can talk about anything, but one must enter an obligatory note about your sport. Today's OCN: Thanks to Cycle Scenery on YouTube for today's workouts: 5 min warm-up on city streets; 16 minutes on city streets in traffic on the way out of town, eventually I was out of the road for a thirty-minute ride in the Virgin-Islands. I still have some issues with changing gears on the hills. It 's new to me. 

CycleOps Trainer a Dream Come True

So at church I was lamenting not having been able to train due to the rain and upper-respiratory infection and immediately one of my buds from Choir was quick to offer the use of his CycleOps trainer. Unbelievable! Most units are close to three-hundred bucks and even the ones on sale are close to two-hundred dollars. I was going to see if Cycle-Logic Bike Shop had a used set of rollers or a used trainer - last I looked they had a trainer for around one hundred used.

Today was the first time I rode a workout on a trainer. I rode a full hour plus; it was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I wanted to try-out a trainer because a few years ago I noticed a bunch of my friend's training take-off when mine stagnated. I didn't want to admit that it was spinning that made a difference, but it would seem that the addition made a difference for my friends. A lot of what I do is cheap based! Yeah, I'm cheap! I know my limitations; a 200 to 300 dollar purchase is not possible.

The dream come true started a few weeks ago when I got a shop in the house for the bikes (read: man cave for a bike geek :-). I worked out the repair stand not long ago, and now I have a trainer set up. I was limiting myself without knowing it just because I wanted to stay true to the outside. I enjoy riding out in nature and that makes a difference for me, but that shouldn't mean letting my training suffer because I can't get out. A few weeks ago I had a upper respiratory thing that got worse before it got better. When it did get better, we had three weekends of rain that was great for God's good Earth, but limited me. (Why, because I became a fair-weather rider when on the day after a very wet Friday I crashed badly at 34 mph when my front wheel hydroplaned). Ouch!

This morning, after getting the trainer from Big Mike at church, it started to sprinkle when I was taking the dog out. "No problem," I thought, "it gives me a chance to try out the trainer!" I still don't quite know how to adjust it, but I had great fun getting an hour in on the bike!

A little while ago, I heard lightening, still not a problem! My bike, is comfortably hooked up to the trainer without any issues. I look forward to riding inside tomorrow somewhere around the world virtually if the rain makes it too wet for me to ride outside. I'll just have to show my Brasil cycling jersey a little later this week :-)