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Reverence: LeMond Revolution

The LeMond Revolution

I read recently that a number of Pros like to ride the turbo for an hour or so before having breakfast in the morning to jump start the old metabolic system. Which means that now I ride the trainer for an hour in the morning before breakfast. I think the Pros probably do it to lose weight, and I do it partly for that reason but also to burn off the hangover which comes as a result of my status as a semi-professional drinker.

I used to ride an old Tacx trainer, but I found riding the device only slightly preferable to shoving bamboo shoots under my fingernails. Then I got a LeMond Revolution and now I actually look forward to my morning sessions. I’d been interested in the LeMond Revolution trainers for some time, but it wasn’t until I discovered that the device is based on a direct-drive trainer that Greg’s coach built for him in the 80’s that I decided to embark on my new morning ritual at the mercy of one. After all, if it was good enough to help LeMan become a Tour de France winner, then surly it was good enough to help me get less fat and become less of a weakling.

The first thing you notice about these little numbers that you remove the rear wheel from your bike and mount the Revolution in its place. This means no wheel slippage on the mag and what amounts to a remarkably pleasant ride feel. The second thing you notice about the trainer is that its bloody hard to spin up; I start crossed in a 53×26 and can hardly turn the pedals at first, but there is no way I’m shifting into my little ring on a trainer on account of my not being a giant sissy. The third thing you notice is that it’s actually fun to ride; I turn on some old Cycling movies and before I know it, I find my buzzer going off indicating the hour has already passed. I had no idea riding a trainer didn’t have to suck.

But lets be clear: we are road cyclists, and we ride on the road. A long ride in the cold wind and rain is preferable to even an hour on an indoor trainer. But trainers do represent an important training tool and as such should be a part of every Cyclist’s arsenal. I’m on it every morning, and as the season looms I’m looking to it more and more for intervals and power work. Not to mention that as I prepare for my Hour ride on Festum Prophetae, I’m training Obree Style on my Revolution.

Before we get too carried away with this indoor riding business, let’s review some examples of acceptable reasons to ride a trainer:

Strength and/or interval training.
Pedaling technique work.
Hour Record simulation training.
Pre-breakfast rides to help lose weight, assuming you still hit the road after breakfast.
Recovery from injury.

Examples of unacceptable reasons to ride a trainer:

Its raining outside and you don’t want to get wet.
Its cold outside and you don’t want to get cold.
Its windy outside and you don’t want to get blown around.
Its cold and wet outside and you don’t want to get cold and wet.
Its cold and wet and windy out and you don’t want to get blown around while getting cold and wet.

[dmalbum path=”/velominati.com/content/Photo Galleries/frank@velominati.com/Revolution/”/]

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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View Comments

Chris says:

Jan 22 2014 at 1:14 am

@ChrisO It might be understandable (if not forgiveable) when buying from the mass produced market but to be pictured wearing ill fitting kit from your own range...
Nof Landrien says:

Jan 22 2014 at 2:53 am

Re: rollers skillz. Got the one handed thing mostly dialled, although kinda depends which bike I'm riding, the twitchy Ti one needs a bit more care and attention than the more relaxed C one. Can sometimes steel myself to do no handed. Standing up is hard, am still getting it dialled - can't get far off the saddle. Although on a long session, I find standing up very helpful (to get blood back into my c#ck - undercarriage goes a bit numb). Not at level where I can really bury myself on rollers, can get cadence up or power up but not both in same way that I can when I don't have to worry about balance.

Rollers good for mechanically inept - no need to remove any wheels!
Chris says:

Jan 22 2014 at 3:26 am

@Nof Landrien

Rollers good for mechanically inept - no need to remove any wheels!

If wheel removal really is a problem for anyone on here, can I suggest that you close your browser now, proceed straight to your garage, basement or wherever it is that you keep your bike and practice taking your wheels on and putting them back on until it is no longer a problem, until it becomes second nature.

I'm going to hazard a guess that if you're afraid of removing wheels, you are probably in massive contravention of Rule 65. It's basic and absolutely fundamental skill, ffs.
Mike_P says:

Jan 22 2014 at 4:36 am

@frank

@Mike_P

I'm sure the Revolution is a good bit of kit, but by the looks of it, I'd need to build a new wing on the side of my house just to accomodate the thing. And could I really be arsed with the whole back wheel on/off thing. Nah. Oh but I'm forgetting that Frank has a squillion bikes so has no worries on that front.

Seriously? Seriously?

Taking the wheel out and mounting it on the trainer is a fuckton easier than messing about with clumsy trainer mounts and trying to get the tension on the turbo set consistently. Not to mention swapping tires and skewers.

If you lack the skills to be able to easily remove your back wheel, however, I think you might be due for an entirely different discussion before you start worrying about riding the turbo.

In my defence, being space poor, I have to assemble and disassemble and store my whole fucking training rig each time I train on it, which right now is 3 times per week and a right royal pain in the arse but a routine I've got down to a couple of minutes [pauses for breath]. I'm saying my personal preference is not to swap the wheel out, not that I'm incapable. What the fuck do you think I am? I'm wounded.
RedRanger says:

Jan 22 2014 at 4:38 am

Whats the side to side motion feel like. Lemond should create a trainer that combines his design with a Kurt Kinetic. That would be dope.
cyclebrarian says:

Jan 22 2014 at 7:11 am

@frank

@cyclebrarian

@ChrissyOne

I was under the impression that Seattle was a bike friendly city and drivers were aware of cyclists. I live in a small town in Maryland and we're just starting to get bike lanes - the group that's doing it is also attempting to educate drivers about looking out for people on bikes. I don't know how well it's working because I see drivers within town limits acting like idiots. Oddly enough, the motorists on the back roads seem to be a lot more aware of cyclists, so I prefer to ride out there.

I feel very safe with my lights and - wait for it - reflective tape on my rain bike here in Seattle. But the other side of being bike-friendly is that we are also an IT hub which means drivers here often feel they have more important things to do while driving than watch the road.

Do you have a picture of said rain bike, Frank?
norm says:

Jan 22 2014 at 8:07 am

+1 on the sufferfest vids. 'Blender' and 'It seemed like a good idea at the time' are the ones I use the most.

The music is a bit rubbish but this is explained by the fact that they are made by Australians.
frank says:

Jan 22 2014 at 8:20 am

@Chris

@frank There have been discussions in the past on this site about The Things That Are So Obvious That They Don't Need To Be Set Out In The Rules; surely kit that fits would be one of them? Those sleeves/arm warmers are as baggy as @ChrisO's granny tights.

Its a long sleeve jersey, you fucking git.

@cyclebrarian

Its my resurrected R3.
Chris says:

Jan 22 2014 at 10:51 am

@frank

@Chris

@frank There have been discussions in the past on this site about The Things That Are So Obvious That They Don't Need To Be Set Out In The Rules; surely kit that fits would be one of them? Those sleeves/arm warmers are as baggy as @ChrisO's granny tights.

Its a long sleeve jersey, you fucking git.

Whatever, it's still too baggy, you lanky great poof.

And while we're on the subject of LS jerseys; given that it's been established that there no place for bib tights as regular bibs and knee warmers do the job perfectly well, should LS jerseys not also be redundant?
andrew says:

Jan 22 2014 at 11:01 am

@ChrissyOne

@cyclebrarian

@ChrissyOne

I was under the impression that Seattle was a bike friendly city and drivers were aware of cyclists. I live in a small town in Maryland and we're just starting to get bike lanes - the group that's doing it is also attempting to educate drivers about looking out for people on bikes. I don't know how well it's working because I see drivers within town limits acting like idiots. Oddly enough, the motorists on the back roads seem to be a lot more aware of cyclists, so I prefer to ride out there.

The problem is that I live in a small town across Puget Sound from Seattle, but I work downtown. The country road where I live are exquisite for riding, and I can go out my front door and put in 100km of gorgeous riding. But the roads have inadequate shoulders, are rough and poorly maintained in places, and the drivers are a mixed bag of courteous sympathizers and homicidal maniacs.
[...]

I've driven from Bainbridge Island to Port Townsend, and just the thought of riding some of those narrow roads with those drivers in the wet is enough to bring on vicarious testicle retraction. Respect.

I live in the officially least-bicycle-friendly city in Germany, by the by, but I'm out into the surrounding countryside quickly and the roads are primo.