Indoors at the V and Dime
If we liked breathing stale, recycled air, we’d all take up a sport like wrestling or indoor fly-fishing. But we love the feel of a gale on our faces. We cherish the smell of cow manure filling our nostrils with its almost tangible grittiness. We hold scared the privilege to breathe in diesel fuel while doing hill repeats up l’Alpe d’Huez.
But such whimsy is not for every day. Occasionally, we find ourselves faced with the prospect of an hour of solitude upon the wind trainer or rollers, where our sport is transformed from a glorious experience of powering ourselves along with only Nature for company to one where a ride of 30 minutes is barely tolerable, 45 seems like a lifetime wasted, and 60 minutes is more than most of us can even consider enduring. 60 minutes on the trainer at a leisurely pace or a 4 and a half hour death march up a barren, heat-riddled climb? I’ll take the 4 and half hours every time, thank you very much.
We all have to do it, and there are even some redeeming qualities to be had. You get better at Rule #5, for one. You develop a more magnificent stroke, for another. Whatever the redeeming qualities, we all have our way of coping. Jeff in PetroMetro returns with his view on how to make it suck just a little bit less.
Yours in Cycling,
Frank
—
Either due to life-threatening weather or poor scheduling of life’s lesser priorities (see Rule #11), we Velominati spend a little time each year riding indoors. Whether one enjoys a ride on rollers or a trainer, and no matter if one methodically spins (as all good recovery ride specialists do), grinds out intervals, or practices ways to improve one’s magnificent stroke (scrape the mud off your shoes, scrape the mud off your shoes…), death-by-boredom is always a possibility. I’m not one to go for videos, or read books, or hook up to a computer. Call me old fashioned. I like to meditate on the V with only the voices inside my head screaming for mercy from the pain of a complete lactic acid meltdown.
Or, sometimes I like a little music.
Back in the Dark Ages, I used the yellow (sweatproof) Sony Walkman to play my favorite homemade training cassette tapes. But in our modern days of inexpensive digital storage, and with the brilliant invention of the “shuffle” command on my iPod Nano, I have some seven hours of musical motivation to keep my indoor sessions lively and loud.
I thought I might start a little conversation regarding favorite training tunes. Now, I know ALL of my fellow Velominati strictly adhere to Rule #62 when riding outside. And of course, we prefer strict adherence to Rule #9, but, as I stated above, shit happens.
While I have eclectic taste, I don’t fancy Al Green, Buck Owens, or Duke Ellington when loving a Rule #5 beatdown. No. I tack to the loud and fast. My preferences are punk and “classic rock”. (It was just rock when I first heard it.) So here’s a little flavor of my indoor training selection, in no particular order.
Hate to Say I Told You So“”The Hives””from the album “Your New Favourite Band”
Tick Tick Boom“”The Hives””from the album “The Black and White Album”
American Idiot“”Green Day””from the album “American Idiot”
The Rock Show“”Blink 182″”from the album “Take Off Your Pants and Jacket”
I Fought the Law (Live)””The Clash””from the album “The Clash: Live at Shea Stadium”
Batman Theme“”The Jam””from the album “In the City”
Communication Breakdown“”Led Zeppelin””from the album “Led Zeppelin”
The Real Me“”The Who””from the album “Quadrophenia”
Rock Around the Clock“”Ten Pole Tudor””from the album “The Great Rock’n’Roll Swindle”
Of course there are many, many others. But I offer these few picks-to-click to perhaps start a little discussion and get some musical ideas for my next indoor shopping spree at the V and Dime.
A-Merckx
@xyxax
and don’t forget JANE’S ADDICTION-‘mountain song’…..
@scaler911
I heard “Story of My Life” on the local “alternative” (read: half our playlist is from the 90’s) station a few months ago and discovered that my old Social D stuff somehow didn’t make the transition from analog to digital. I went right to i-tunes and remedied that.
I’m a big fan of putting on some AC/DC in vinyl form and just enjoying how awesome the songs are, how complete the albums are from top to bottom. Sweet as, and I can get to those forty minutes!
I want something that will put me in a groove and keep turning the pedals, like Thievery Corp or Future Sound of London. I’ve thought about putting on some dark ambient like Lustmord just to make increase the suffering.
That is unless Shimmy is on FitTV, those belly dancers alwats get my HR up.
Happy b’day Cyclops. Tell those bastards at AARP to f*** off, this is no time to slow down. Good luck at State.
@actor1
Jane’s is better for coming back down…I think going up might be this:
Just know this: I will not be playing The Mountains Win Again by Blues Traveller (however awesome they are, I’m not letting the mountain win!)
@frank
Oh fucking yes! Godsmack rules uphill! (Saw them live years ago as support for Black Sabbath on their reunion tour.)
ala 1981 ass kicking
ala 2002 Ass Kicking via Tool
@all
All this talk of indoor riding sessions while listening to the Hives reminded me of this:
http://youtu.be/VgX8gOV4x6w
@Marcus
In the always-popular game of “Competitive Worthless Currency,” I bid:
@xyxax
Is that a burlap sack you’re bidding? It’s hard to tell with the money in the way.
@Steampunk
Well, sort of. They’re my artisanal bib shorts. Chafes a bit, but I am comforted in knowing that another lycra tree has been spared.
@xyxax
Lemme guess:
You bought them in a Hipster craft market in Portland alond with the leather handlebar grips and the frame pump with the eco-friendly bamboo handle.
@mouse
Like, totally correct.
They are made by free-range humans of 100% hemp and sold under the brand Assols.
And at 10 trillion dollars, not more expensive than regular Assos.
@xyxax
Well played. You’re a good man.
I should also mention that since I moved 600 miles south last January I have only ridden my rollers when visiting my parents at holiday time. These days I just pull on the wool and head out year round. I’m still not completely sold on this set-up though: yes, rollers suck, but so does 115*F for weeks at a time…
I just put two 70min days in in a row on the trainer. Pure delight.
I did get down to the bike shop yesterday to look at a new ride though.
When trying to crank out a painful session of intervals in the dead of winter, nothing beats listening to metal. Usually I make a playlist that’s something like
Motorhead or Judas Priest, some classic mid tempo metal
one minute blast of grindcore or powerviolence and try to spin out the biggest gear I can the whole time.
Keep the pressure on with uptempo song that keeps me spinning a big gear- Cro Mags works.
Recover to Black Sabbath
Blast of grindcore
Repeat.
Honestly, I love the site, but you really think the V is channeled listening to Blink 182? Go get the album “West Side Horizons” by Despise You and put it in with your usual playlist and chew on your bars a little bit.
JIPM… As a regular commuter to turbo trainer he’ll, great article
I have to confess I’m a DVD watcher whilst I suffer… But cycling related only… Old TdF races, the classics, Chasing Legends, a Sunday in he’ll, etc.
However, will try your playlist and see how that pans out.. Given after 20mins I’ve usually got sweat in my eyes, all I really do is listen to Messrs Liggett and Sherwen anyway (audio porn, basically). However, I would add one more to the playlist… Bulls on Parade, by Rage Against The Machine… Has to be worth at least 45w for the 3:29 duration?
And love the photo of the Prophet on his rollers… The single YouTube clip I use with my buddies as a ‘Sorting Hat’ to work out whether I can talk cycle-speak with them or if I have to pretend to be human
Did anyone mention Pennwise already?
“Fight Till You Die” for track cycling cadence!
Pedestrian selection how about
United by pete and the pirates
Son of mustang ford by Swervedriver
Angel of death by slayer
Any drum and bass and any breakbeat would be a start too!
I’m sitting here thinking about rides and watching you tube videos, most notably Metallica. What the fuck happened to those guys? Fight Fire With Fire was on my TT soundtrack, but before that, my warm up tune before cross country races in HS. Then (later) ‘Some Kind of Monster’? Kinda like Elvis and LeMond to me.
@scaler911
They were all awesome until they cut their hair and released that album called Choad.
I’m all for short hair (news flash, the sixties are over, cut your fucking hair), but rockers should keep their hair long.
Saw Soundgarden a few weeks back, and Chris Cornell has redeemed himself somewhat by growing his hair long and he looks like a total badass again.
Speaking of which, Slaves and Bulldozers is a great climbing simulation turbo ride song.
Ooh yeah! Got the rollers cracked! Was trying to get going in the garage using a workstand for balance but the bike went the other way every time I moved my hand across and down. Moved them inside this evening and put them in a doorway. Still abit hit and miss but now spending nice long periods upright and unsupported. Need to relax my shoulders and arms a lot though!
Winter training here I come. I may have to work on the entertainment side of things as I’m certainly smoother while I’m looking ahead and not thinking about falling off.
@Chris
It’s a challenge the first couple of times right enough. I like to stick on a DVD which reminds me, next time I have a few quid, Cycling Weekly have some cycling DVDs that might be good watching.
Any suggestions anyone?
@snoov
I’ve got an old surround system to stick in there along with a dvd player. Just need a decent sized telly and it should be quite the place to be. Got a a Guinness Surger mounted on the work bench for post ride recovery drinks!
Need to shop around for some cut price box sets but like you I’m on the lookout for good cycling dvds. A trip to The Works, I think.
@Chris
If you are like me, don’t try to watch racers bombing an alpine or dolomite descent whilst trying to stay upright on rollers!
I’ve heard that the SufferFest titles are pretty good because they use actual race footage instead of filming a room full of jokers on spin bikes. They are priced pretty well, and are a direct download instead of having to wait for a physical disc to arrive. I’m going to purchase one tonight and see if they are any good.
@mcsqueak
Read a pretty cool revew of their latest offering over at GS Gazzetta. Seems to be an acceptable method of flogging oneself during days where Rule #9 observance would be suicide.
@Mikael Liddy
I wound up downloading the “Revolver” video from Sufferfest. Basically it was something like 8 mins of warm-up, 15 1-minute intervals with 1-minute breaks, then a 4 minute warmdown at the end.
Overall pretty entertaining… made the 45 minute trainer session fly by. There were audio cues so you knew when to start and stop when not looking at the screen, but the creator of these had a pretty funny sense of humor and threw in some funny taunts and whatnot. Pretty good music too. I was certainly tired at the end, and I was sweating buckets. A longer warmup would have been nice, but I can figure that out on my own next time.
I’ll probably buy a few more since they are so cheap and mix it up with a two or so a week after work. Better than what I was doing last year, which was trying to just do my own boring workouts on rollers, but more often then not just skipping using them all together.
If im driven to the trainer and lets be honest if got to be forced into it by either shift work of snow I quite like a bit of opera, it doesnt matter what opera it is, and honestly im not against opera per se, but it can be a bit painful on the ears therefore extra rule V..gotta love that Wagner bloke…
@northern hardman
No idea what you look like, but this is still a pretty funny mental image I’m getting here. Ride of the Valkyries pumping, rider snarling in pain from legs and ears…
All Velobeats for me at the moment. Good fun if you like dancy stuff, commentary and interviews dubbed in nicely.
@northern hardman
You must be a fan of “Breaking Away” (which is not a bad thing in my book!)
Does anyone have any recommendations for making a trainer not shake an apartment?
I was a very happy Velominatus Budgetatus when my brother, who is much less enthusiastic about cycling then I am, told me if I wanted it I could have his CycleOps Trainer for free, that he had ridden maybe, maybe, 50 miles. I was just way too boring for him.
My initial excitement has quickly diminished as the trainer is loud and I’m afraid I’m going to piss off the neighbors. Its not so loud in noise as it is in vibration. I’ve tried using it on carpet and tile. I’ve tried piling up magazines and books. the floor rumbles. What can i do to keep things reasonable?
@King Clydesdale
They sell vibration dampening mats at Home Depot/Lowes/etc, maybe try that and see if it helps? I’ve also heard of people inflating old tubes, laying them down on the floor, putting a plywood board on top, THEN putting the trainer on top of that – but that seems like a fucking huge PITA.
The folks that live under me (I live in an old house that has been converted into a split level duplex) practice music rather loudly for a crappy metal band, so my revenge is loud trainer sessions with my electronic music playing. I have a small mat under the trainer to keep it from hurting the wood floor, but nothing to dampen vibrations.
@King Clydesdale
Is it a fluid trainer? If so, I’m surprised it is so loud. Are you living above someone? If no one is below you, it’s probably not as loud as you think. You could always ask them if they can even tell. And if it does bother them, ask when would be a good time of day to ride it.
@Buck Rogers
Fluid trainers can still make a bit of noise when you’re running at a high RPM, I’ve found. I have a Kurt Kinetic Road Machine, which is a pretty well regarded fluid unit. At slow speeds it’s pretty quiet. But if I’m really hammering on it, it makes a bit of noise through vibration – my thinking is that small imperfections in the bike, it’s connection to the trainer, and the inexact tolerances of the trainer, etc. all act to effectively magnify any vibrations and oscillations into the floor.
I also think the floor itself makes a difference, as having it on a concrete slab basement with carpet won’t vibrate the same way as a second-story wood floor will.
@mcsqueak
True. Good points all around. Best to be on the ground floor on concrete. But, do what you have to in order to ride is the bottom line!
Rode my new-to-me 2.25 inch Kreitler Dynamyte rollers today for the first time. HOLY SHIT they are awesome.
Coming from a world of fluid trainers for the past 4 years, and never having used rollers, it was quite an experience. Sooooo much more work required to keep it upright. The first 5 minutes were pretty painful as my rear wheel would start to swerve then I’d try to compensate and then the front would swerve and I would try to compnesate for that then the rear wheel again and I was ssss’ing all over the rollers while trying to get it back straight.
Rode for 1 hour and 5 minutes and only went off once. Thought that that was not too bad! Awesome. Rollers are infinitely better than stationary trainers. Only thing was that my ass got really sore as I am not able to stand up yet while on the rollers and it became painful locked onto the seat for over an hour straight!
Ttoally into the rollers now for indoor training. Obviously nothing beats the road, but if you’re indoors, rollers are the way to go!
Another vote for the Kreitlers. I have the 3.0 Kreitlers with the flywheel. Great alternative when a road ride isn’t in the cards.
@Buck Rogers
YES! Only takes one ride on rollers to realise how much better they are than a trainer. You use your core a little more, no?
Tip for standing/changing seating position – you can take your arse off the seat pretty regularly and easily by doing just that, but not moving your body forward, like we usually do when standing up on the road. This way, you keep your weight in a pretty similar spot and you stay balanced. The faster you are going on rollers, the easier it is to keep straight – due the “gyroscopic effect” apparently.
Disclaimer: I don’t pretend to know what the gyroscopic effect actually is, but I feel really clever writing it.
@marcus
The gyrosocpic effect is what causes the toilet water down there to spin the opposite way.
No?
@marcus
I will have to try that. Man, almost killed myself whenever I took a drink from my water bottle. Getting it out of the cage and back again was never so hard as on the trainer! The core was really feeling it. Already can feel how this is going to make me such a better rider.my awesome stuff compared to the stationary fluid trainer!
@Buck Rogers
Yeah I wish I had not purchased such a cheap set of rollers that I don’t like to use them- they really are a good complement for trainers and indoor training.
@Buck Rogers
Welcome to the Kreitler Klub!
Here is a playlist I’ve been working on recently. It works out pretty well if you want to spend around 1:30 on the trainer or rollers.
I built it using Spotify, so you can easily find all these songs using that service.
Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody
Kraftwerk – The Man Machine (Live, from the Minimum-Maximum album)
Genghis Tron – Recursion
Pink Floyd – On the Run (Live, from the Pulse album)
Senking – Breathing Trouble
Genghis Tron – Board up the House
Genghis Tron – The Feast
Bacalao – The Robots (Die Roboter, from the 8-Bit Operators cover album)
Skinny Puppy – Convulsion
The Crystal Method – Vapor Trail
Skinny Puppy – Scrapyard
Genghis Tron – Endless Teeth
Underworld – To Heal
Genghis Tron – Things Don’t Look Good
Kraftwerk – Prologue
Kraftwerk – Tour de France ’03 (Long Distance Version 2)
Kraftwerk – Tour de France Etape 3
Skinny Puppy – Rodent (DDT Mix)
Autechre – Eutow
Skinny Puppy – Tin Omen 1
Kraftwerk – It’s More Fun to Compute
I just use one of the many Velobeats mixes. Broken up with quotes from Phil and Paul, and many other Pros they are excellent to ride to. Being in the navy I spend a lot of time on a spin bike so this is crucial to keeping me motivated when on deployments.
http://www.velobeats.com or check him out on fb.
@rhys
EXCELLENT idea! I’ll have to check them out. On the stationary trainer I always would watch the cycling dvd’s but now on the rollers, I caqnnot loose myself in a TV anymore. So I just end up listeneing to Phil and Paul and occasionally glancing at the TV.
Thanks!
@rhys
alright, I must be old or somehting. I did not see any music I recognized in any ofthe play lists. Where’s the Zep? The SRV? :)
@mcsqueak
No, that’s the Coriolis Effect you’re thinking of.
Refer to the Simpson’s episode for a proper scientific explanation of this and all things Aus.