The turbo…

As mentioned previously, I’ve got myself a turbo trainer to help with winter training.

I’ve been meaning to get one for ages, but wanted something that met the following criteria:

– Must have a power meter
– Must have adjustable resistance
– Must be as quiet as possible
– Must be under £300

So it took me a while to find what I was after. Initially I wanted an Elite SuperCrono HydroMag, with the digital upgrade. Sadly that’s no longer available as a package and was going to be over £350 to buy the two components.

Eventually I found the Tacx Flow, which met my criteria. Having only ever experienced the Elite trainers before, I was a bit uncertain; however, a read of various reviews led me to believe it was going to be suitable. Once such review was the one from BikeRadar.

The list price for the unit is £385 but I managed to get it from Rutland Cycles for more than £100 less than that – Bargain.

Anyway, I set it up yesterday for a quick trial run and then again today for my first training session. I must admit, I’m pretty pleased with it. It’s very quiet, the resistance available is more than adequate and the computer tells you everything you would need to know (power, cadence, HR, speed, time etc). I’m yet to work out any ‘proper’ training programs for it but for today I just did a pyramid session:

10 min: Warm up spinning – resistance at 0 – Cadence 85+
1 min: resistance +1 – power 220 watts +
1 min: resistance +2 – power 220 watts +
1 min: resistance +3 – power 220 watts +
1 min: resistance +4 – power 220 watts +
1 min: resistance +5 – power 220 watts +
1 min: resistance +4 – power 220 watts +
1 min: resistance +3 – power 220 watts +
1 min: resistance +2 – power 220 watts +
1 min: resistance +1 – power 220 watts +
1 min: resistance 0 – Recovery
Repeat last 10 steps, with power at 230 watts+
5 min: resistance 0 – cadence 90+ – power 220 watts +
5 min: cool down

I’ve got it set up in the coldest room in my flat (the spare room) as it means I can leave it set up and open the window to stop me overheating. Despite these efforts, and training in only my shorts, fluid loss is pretty high! I’m going to get a fan to ease it a little more during longer sessions.

Here’s my setup at the moment. Once I’ve got the winter bike, that will be going on the turbo instead of my race bike. Oh – Excuse the

Tacx Flow Turbo Trainer