Reverence: 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/”/]
LeMond Trainers are definitely the business – only a Wattbike or fixed ergo is better (but cost/space/noise (for ergos) can be an issue) – but one must also own a set of rollers to assist with maintaining one’s souplesse.
@frank
or we just hit the track. (thankfully ours is covered and indoor)
http://www.bikerumor.com/2013/12/06/merckxs-musings-track-racing-is-the-ideal-training/
Rollers.
Good post. Are you familiar with Sufferfest videos? Interval training with cycling videos (and some humor mixed in). I got ‘The Downward Spiral’ and it’s pretty intense. Makes riding the trainer fun. Check them out at: http://www.thesufferfest.com
p.s. They’ve also created something called ‘Sufferlandria’…check that out at: http://www.sufferlandria.com/
Excellent device, and very good real road feel. A buddy runs a spin studio that is equppied with several of these. After a couple of years of mercyless flogging by countless class attendees they are all functionion perfectly. Amazing. They do (although I know nothing about it) have facility to approximate power which may be handy for inveral work. I’d have one if I had a lazy $900 or so.
The other trainer I like is the Wahoo Kickr. Despite a crap name, it is very similar to the LeMond, only utilizes a flywheel rather than a fan. It also is a computrainer is that it can vary the resistance for you to force a specific power output. Handy for MAP testing and the like. Also allows you to hook it up to a computer and ride a route with or without the video. As the road, so does the resistance. Want to train for an event that is too far away to train on the acutal route? No worries, this can allow you to. Awesome, but also expensive.
http://au.wahoofitness.com/devices/kickr.html
Seriously??? I’ve been eye-balling these babies for awhile now and also the Sufferfest videos. If this snow keeps up I may have to pull the trigger…
Not seeing any evidence it’s being used. Where’s the pic of you looking fantastic on it?
Or aren’t you a morning person?
The Sufferfest videos are only around $12 or so – pretty reasonable. And they have a 3 pack starter kit for $32.
I’m sorry, but when the high is -26C, I’m on the trainer. No, on second thought I’m not sorry.
Mrs Boltzmann and I continue to put the trainer time in on our >10 yr old LeMond RevMaster – indestructible beast that it is! Quiet, stout, and will likely outlast us.
At what noise level does the Revolution operate?
I find this whole topic unsettling, mainly because it’s been a very long time since I had the discipline to use a trainer–and when I did use a trainer I used it mainly for long anaerobic threshold intervals. Which is maybe why the memories are painful and I find it easier to eat live rodents than to get on a fucking trainer, even though I own one and live rodents are expensive and hard to digest.
Cold, wet, and windy don’t bother me at all. I’m out in it every miserable Seattle day on my motorcycle commute to work, at the very least, if not the road bike as well. But as I commute an ungodly distance across a stupid body of water on a big dumb boat, I spend a ridiculous level of time at it. This means I both leave and return in darkness for much of the year. Cold, wet and windy makes you strong. Darkness, at least out here in the murky sticks of The Shire, is libel to get you killed. And nobody wants that.
I don’t have quite as snazzy of a trainer (CycleOps fluid) but nonetheless, I’ve come to really enjoy the bugger. I set it up in front of anime on the Netflix and the km’s just fly by. I’ve just been alerted to Sufferfest and will be checking that out soon. In the mean time, I’m doing intervals to Attack On Titan and slicing huge V’s into the backs of marauding giants.
@ChrissyOne
I have to ask you this, then: can you, if you are willing, describe to me the similarities and/or differences between what goes through your head when you corner a) a sportbike, b) a road bike, and/or c) a mountain bike.
This is neither a test nor a troll. It is a question asked in good faith, with the best will in the world, by someone who has ridden all of the above, all poorly, with various, minimal, levels of success.
@PeakInTwoYears
Interesting question. And one that will handily cause me to bogart this thread, Merckx have mercy. You asked for it…
a) Cornering on a sport bike is the funnest thing I have ever done in my life. And it will bust your quads like no one but a road bike racer will understand. This is, in fact, why I train on the road bike. (Or at least why I started to. Road biking has become its own beast for me, I’m happy to report) There is simply no feeling I have experienced like throwing my R1 into the long left-hand turn 6 at The Ridge Motorsports Park, dragging my knee (and sometimes my elbow) with my head inches from the tarmac. It’s incredible.
Entering a corner on a sport bike is totally different from a road bike mostly because of front suspension and trail. You enter the corner hard on your front brakes (in fact, you use mostly front brakes on the track) which causes the suspension to compress, increasing fork trail. This makes the bike turn faster and helps you tip in to the turn. If you’re good a trail braking, you enter fast enough to stay on the brakes well past the tip in point. Then it’s gentle transition from brakes to throttle, which is applied evenly and steadily as you apex and exit the turn. Smoothness is the key. If you let off the throttle, you might unload the rear suspension, causing the bike to lose and then regain grip, sending you on a high-side space adventure. Good drive out of the corner is key to overtaking, as is being brave on the brakes going in. I’m better on the brakes than I am on the exit. Something I’m working on.
It’s actually surprisingly not scary, once you get the hang of it. Once they get warmed up to race pace, those big sticky tires grip the track like you could only dream of with your 25’s. I’ve washed both the front and the rear and gone down, but it was fairly predictable and when you crash in full leathers, you’ll most likely walk away with little damage (I had zero both times) unlike bicycle crashes, which have flayed most of my extremities since childhood.
b) Cornering on a road bike is something I’m still coming to terms with. It’s not that I want to be on the brakes, it’s just that I haven’t crashed a road bike enough to know where the limit of grip is. That’s not to say I haven’t crashed a road bike. I still have scars from one about 16 years ago.
I kind of like crashing.
Anyway, it’s a bit like cornering a sport bike, because of the way you move you weight to the inside and push your inside knee out, but on a sport bike you put all your weight on your inside foot rather than your outside. Of course that’s impossible on cranks, but the body positioning is similar.
c) Cornering a mountain bike is totally different. At least the way I do it. I cross up more, staying above the bike with my body more upright, and leaning the bike under me.
Or… do I do that? I can’t be entirely sure. I don’t really think about anything on a mountain bike. I just sit there and magic happens.
(sorry for shitting all over your thread, Frank!)
@Boltzmann
F#$K’N LOUD when you are going for it! Obtaining it’s resistance from spinning a fan, it can get very loud when pushing hard intervals. Last time I used one I went into the granny flat, and turned the radio up to max. At moderate effort it was hard to hear the radio but it wasn’t until later, when I was working at about 80% did I realise that I could no longer hear the radio at all. If you need quiet, this is not the trainer for you unfortunatly.
Merckx used rollers #justsaying
Nice post, monsieur Franque. I’ve often thought that it would be great to rig that contraption up in such a way (air ducts? chain transfer?) that the big fan ends up wafting a firm breeze into the face of the rider. Wouldn’t that – literally – be cool?
Nice post, monsieur Franque. I’ve often thought that it would be great to rig that contraption up in such a way (air ducts? chain transfer?) that the big fan ends up wafting a firm breeze into the face of the rider. Wouldn’t that – literally – be cool?
Whoops – apologies for the double post. No idea what went wrong there
@NickO
I am sensing that @Franks new found fame, worldwide engagements, status as an author and guru are catching up with him and time on the bike for long rides is being limited, hence this lame justification for getting on an indoor trainer. This I can understand. In fact I sympathise, life is busy but to mask this struggle between time on the bike out in the glorious world with a recommendation for a device which requires you to remove the rear wheel (thus destroying the aesthetics of your mochine) is sheer heresy!
If you MUST for whatever sad reason climb aboard your steed indoors (oh IMHO medical rehabilitation is probably the only reason I can think of that justifies this) then surely Merckx above the only true way would be rollers? At least they require some skill and a degree of concentration.
@Deakus Turbo before breakfast as per the article, rollers during breakfast and road afterwards?
On a more serious note, as much as I love my rollers and the smoothness gained from spending decent amounts of time on them, I’d love to have a decent turbo as well for lower cadence out of the saddle efforts and to work on leg strength.
@frank Does this mean you’re putting in turbo sessions before your commute? What time are you getting up in the morning or has the book been such a success that you’ve retired (or been released by your employers to spend more time on activities closer to your heart)?
Sportcrafters rollers with the resistance drum at the back. Awesome. Add the fork stand for the Sufferfest videos where you know you are going to black out just a little and lose balance. Double awesome.
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.
I can’t agree to this. We’re not professionals, and there’s no reason why pre-breakfast we could not eat a banana, get on our bikes, and go ride for an hour or more–to work, for example. Snow and ice will, should, keep us off the roads, but for such days there are cross-training options. When it’s dark, we can clip on lights. I suppose if you travel a lot for work, you could, as your only option, end up on one of these things in the hotel exercise room, and in that case, you have my deepest sympathy. Other than that, the only reason I would ever get on one of these is during recovery from injury.
@Ruud
That’s a bit over simplistic.
I don’t travel much as part of my job but my wife does so I’m often limited to the roller/trainer option – leaving the kids alone in the house is not an option that I’d wish to take up.
I don’t mind riding around in the dark but darkness, interval training induced hypoxia (or even just peaking in two months belly breathing induced wobbles), pot holes and traffic aren’t high on my list of things to mix.
Besides, whilst I’m not a pro, there’s no reason why I can’t approach my training in as pro like manner as possible, it’s more likely to get results than fannying around. I all for the Graham Obree method of reducing the variables down to the rider – that way if I don’t go as well or better than last time or as planned, I’ve only got myself to blame. Can’t see how that is in any way Anti V. They’re not meant to be a substitute for getting out on the bike but they are complimentary.
@TBONE
Check this out for track school!
Keirin racer school in Japan
@Chris
+1
It’s easy to say “Just get some lights”, but I could strap a white dwarf star to my stem and it still wouldn’t make Seattle area drivers any less stupid and blind. And I suppose there are places where streets are lit and there is a bit of shoulder to ride on, but not where I live. And to top it off, adding a lot of lights makes my bike look ugly. So riding outside at night just isn’t my bag.
My argument here is, if you think that riding should not be done inside, I hope you never, ever sit and watch TV. If you’re sitting and doing nothing in front of the flat screen, you could be pedaling. And you should be.
@Chris points taken! (certainly about not leaving kids alone in the house); it’s personal, which is why I took care to phrase in personal terms–from the (admittedly little) experience I have with these things, I hate them!
Nice, but Obree does spend quite some time in his training book stressing that your trainer must have magnetic resistance only, in order that all your efforts are directly comparable.
Too much scope for variance with air pressure/temperature changes with air based resistance (and fluid based) apparently.
There is nothing (exept for smashing hill repeats) than a awesome wattbike session. When pushing 310 watts for 20min then doing 5 min intervals is awesome fun. #Rule no.5 becomes more and more aplicable in those dark sessions of pain while pedaling your ass of and not going anywhere.
I love the feeling of an indoor trainer on your own bike but wat bike is awesome!
If Sir chris hoy loves it i forsure will bust my ass for those quads!
I hope pasting in from Excel works, but @Frank you might find this table helpful – it is my own-derived power matrix for the Revolution trainer with gear down the left hand side, cadence across the top, and roughly what power that should translate to. I calculated this using the Lemond Power Pilot, which I have since “calibrated” against my SRM – LeMond gives about 7 – 9% lower readings, to be expected since there is the friction-loss from the power train to take into account (SRM measures at crank end, Power Pilot measures at cassette). Wow, that almost sounds credible when I read it back… have no idea if it’s right, but it sounds like proper ‘science’.
You’ll need to visit Sheldon Brown to translate my girly (no offence, girls) 50 tooth compact to your macho 52/53 chainring (hey, I like my knees; and anyway, I Look SO Fantastic, my compact chainset acts as a brake on how awesome I look, which means other people will sometimes ride with me), but shouldn’t be too hard.
Obviously, the important ratio for you to work out is the 53×14 at cadence of 90rpm, given you are going for the Hour on The Prophet’s birthday (north of 350W?). You go, sir!
Oh, and welcome to the Revolution. Helps with the Turbo vs. Bordeaux debate, but only if you have ear mufflers or you live under a flight path of landing 747s
OK, it didn’t work. I’ll try pasting it as a picture, or @Frank, I’ll email you the spreadsheet. Sorry for cluttering up feed… you might want to delete the above post.
@ChrissyOne not if I just got home from a ride I shouldn’t! Is there a better way to spend the first couple of hours after a good ride than watching the race of the week/day?
@Ruud, @ChrissyOne that did spring to mind. I’m not riding my bike whilst watching the classics live. It’d make me feel a completely inadequate.
When I started using rollers I was using Sufferfest’s downward spiral. It took a couple of attempts before I didn’t automatically try to turn left at the end of the Trouée d’Arenberg with the pack.
The revolution is definitely a good trainer, but I have too much reverence for my ear drums and others in my family (who often sleep while I use the trainer) to use this option. It is by far the loudest trainer made, but I understand it has remarkable road feel. I just can’t use it in my environment but I’ve been very happy (such as one can be while not moving on a bike) with my CompuTrainer.
On the matter of pre-breakfast trainer rides, I recall reading that Der Kaiser (Jan Ullrich) would ride 30 minutes on the trainer before every outdoor ride. Has anyone also heard this rumor? It motivated me to try to do this, but I found in the summer it was simply too hot and during the winter it would have me leaving the house sweaty into the cold. It seemed like a bad idea all around.
I use a Kinetic Rock n Roll trainer. Love it. It’s essential here in WI with the winter and cold we’re having this year. -4 today (before wind chill) and, as I found out on Sunday, many back roads are still covered in snow and ice.
@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.
Also if you live somewhere with shit roads, hostile drivers and poor air quality, indoors starts to look like a better option. I’m clocking plenty of roller time these days and its mind numbingly glorious. I don’t wear my old shit either. I kit up like a V hero in my spare room. My socks are perfect.
And when I drain a bidon I give it the hookers and blow…
I was sure I was going to get a pass until I scrolled down and read that.
I have faced the harsh and sad fact of indoor riding is that if I want to get really fast I will at some point have to succumb to the reality that doing intervals in a controlled measurable environment is superior to riding on the road. I suppose a track serves the same purpose, but the turbo is just better than the road for this purpose.
@Deakus
Removing eggshells from a broken egg requires my entire focus, I’m certain trying to do so much as carry on a conversation while doing such would cause me to fall on my face, forget riding rollers.
I just read that Team Sky have signed a deal with Wahoo for their trainers. Good enough reason to buy a Lemond.
I’m with @Chris re the need for my trainer and rollers. Time poor, kid rich. I couldn’t do without my home training devices. But every minute I spend on them is a minute I’d rather be on the road.
@Boltzmann
That’s one thing I should add about the Revolution; it is not quiet. I have the newer model which I’m given to understand is quieter than the original, but it is still very loud.
A few years ago I used to use a Cyclops Fluid trainer until I used it so much the fluid ran all over my floor (guess I gutted the bastard-I think being in Iraq and riding it so much didn’t help) and so I switched to a Kurt Kinetic Pro fluid trainer and that was great but I bought a used set of Kreitler Dyno-Myte Rollers, 2.25 inch drums, on ebay and I have never looked back.
If I have to ride indoors, the rollers it is for me. I still watch the cycling videos and can do the sufferfest vids as well. I can spin it up to 120 cadence or down to 60 and stand on a huge gear and get the massive leg burn for 5 minutes at a time.
The Leman trainer does sound great but rollers are quiet, require a shit load of skill (which comes surprisingly fast and help road skills in my opinion) and you can adequately KILL yourself on them as good as any indoor trainer.
Just my two cents.
@Deakus that video is absolutely absurd. Everyone knows you caramelize the onions before adding the eggs. Jeez.
@Buck Rogers
Shit load of skill indeed. I love my rollers but I’m screwed if I can watch a cycling movie while I’m on them. That’s a sure-fire ticket to an embarrassing floor, bike, rider combo.
@Mike_P Actually, I also cannot switch out a movie while riding. I can stand on the rollers for a long time but it requires full concentration.
And yes, I have hit the floor more than once, esp when I first started using them. I now have chairs on either side so that I can grab one quickly if I start to lose my balance!
My earlier comment, I realize more and more, was not only a personal take, it’s also facilitated by my living in Holland, as in: relatively mild winters and less and less contact with drivers thanks not only to bike paths everywhere, but also country roads that are off-limits for cars during rush hour. Easy for me to me to dislike these things!
@Deakus JeeeZHUS! Talk about MAD SKILLS! Now THAT was impressive!
@scotjonscot
Gord Gallant has put you to shame.
@cyclebrarian
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.
Seattle itself has *slightly* better drivers, but far worse roads. In my younger days (in the mid 90’s) I did in fact do the bicycle commute to downtown – nearly 50km per day. But after countless close calls and even being hit by a van once, it lost its appeal. Now to make it work, I’d have to leave an hour earlier, and get home an hour later, all for the privilege of riding through the crappy streets of West Seattle. I’d rather get home earlier and ride on my quiet country roads. It’s just the dark winter months that become a problem, so the trainer has supplemented that time nicely.