ADVICE ON PUSH BIKE AND TRAINER PLEASE

zagatoes30

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20,759
OK, so Santas pennies burning a hole in my pocket, was there a final list of what is needed to make this all work? And how many of my pennies are going to get eaten?
 

GeoffCapes

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14,000
Bit of thread resurrection.... I decided the best way to sweat out a few calories was to do an FTP test, and got 226W...

That is just under a 10% increase, and I’m quite pleased with that!

View attachment 53254

Darren / Mark - are you using yours?

Loving it. My FTP is up to 210 (I think) although Christmas and being in Finland is stopping things.
It enabled me to do over 1000 miles on my bike this year. And with it help I’m hoping to do 1500 next year. Maybe more.

It’s just so handy to jump on a sweat it out for an hour.
 

JonW

Member
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3,259
Andy

Lots and lots of variables, but to do it properly you will need:

A bike
A “SMART” turbo trainer
A device to run Zwift on (iPad, laptop, Mac)
A way to connect the trainer to the device
A tv
A big fan

Depending on how many of these you already have, the price could be as little as £500, or a couple of thousand...
 

rockits

Member
Messages
9,167
I've done it from scratch Andy with this for this cost:

Voodoo Marasa Hybrid - 360
Tacx Flux S - 399
Shimano Cassette - 22.99
Tacx Bluetooth - will check
Tacx Heart Rate Monitor - will check

My budget was 1k and that is easily achievable and I'm comfortably inside this so far.
 

Oliver6796

Member
Messages
497
Andy

Lots and lots of variables, but to do it properly you will need:

A bike
A “SMART” turbo trainer
A device to run Zwift on (iPad, laptop, Mac)
A way to connect the trainer to the device
A tv
A big fan

Depending on how many of these you already have, the price could be as little as £500, or a couple of thousand...

Just to add you can use your phone and put it on your bars, nice to have a big screen but helps keeping costs down. Got to be Bluetooth 4 though so iPhone 6 onwards ish I think.
 

rockits

Member
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9,167
Forgot about large screen as I have a few knocking around in stock I bought cheap. If you need one happy for you to have one at cost. I'm sure I paid silly money like 150 each for a 42" I think they are but will check.

I've got a plan to put a motorised projector screen up on the ceiling that I got from King they were throwing out. Got their projector too but not sure how good it will be compared a nice large screen display.
 

ChrisH

Junior Member
Messages
89
I wouldn't worry much about the size and quality of the screen for apps like Zwift. Whilst the functionality is great watching cartoon men on all of 3 different circuits doesn't grab you for long. Perhaps some of other more simulation related apps would be better in that regard but I've not tried them.

Personally I tend to setup a routine of some kind using the large screen... then just ride that with the companion app on my phone... and flick the TV over to something to watch... i.e. an episode of Top Gear... Movie... YouTube etc.
 

rockits

Member
Messages
9,167
You probably right....forgot about TV or car stuff to watch. Will be useful when Openreach take off their stupid, ineffective and 1800's slow shoes and get my 330mb Internet line live!

They say Rome wasn't built in a day. They also says that Openreach are hopelessly ineffective at doing anything faster than snails pace. If it were a competitive environment surely they would have fallen out of business years ago.
 

rockits

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9,167
Maybe a split screen for cycling app on one and watching cars on the other

Or maybe a screen for each! What the h3ll it's Xmas right?!!
 

rockits

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9,167
Well I am temporarily setup until garage is finished and permanent solution is in place.

Didn't realise how unfit I was so might be a long road back to recovery!

5122ef74faf845afc8de42c309e64a15.jpg
 

D Walker

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9,827
When I had mine, I had some race videos and sufferfest videos for doing 30-40 minute hard sessions.
If I was going longer, I’d stick a video on and ride tempo with some efforts every 20 minutes..
 

rockits

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9,167
Don't think I'll be doing 30-40 min sessions for a while! Or sweating that much

My cardio has always been very weak since I was very young so not my strongest point. I always got lots of coughs, colds and had bronchitis many times. Always had a very low cardio/aerobic capacity. I guess long term regular training will help this though so has to be good.

On a football pitch I always got away with it using brain over speed but even that is getting noticeably harder now.
 

D Walker

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9,827
You will be surprised, I reckon 3/4 times a week, start with slow 30/40 minutes with bouts of 10-20 seconds as hard as you can go every 5 minutes and slowly increase up to the hour..
On a turbo you have to keep thinking of ways to change it up and do different stuff as its mind numbingly boring at times, hence the race videos where you feel you are in the pack, came 5th every time tho-lol....
 

JonW

Member
Messages
3,259
Well I am temporarily setup until garage is finished and permanent solution is in place.

Didn't realise how unfit I was so might be a long road back to recovery!

5122ef74faf845afc8de42c309e64a15.jpg

You need a fan. A big one.... otherwise it’s unbearable. This is my setup...FFB022E4-71F4-487F-BC0F-F78A5F4A7D89.jpeg
 
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rockits

Member
Messages
9,167
Gees....now that is a fan. Garage is pretty cool most of the time. I have a couple of fans of needed though.
 

D Walker

Member
Messages
9,827
Gees....now that is a fan. Garage is pretty cool most of the time. I have a couple of fans of needed though.
Yep, you will need one, used to go on mine in winter when it was freezing, dressed for warmth and end up in a tshirt n short bibs...
 

rockits

Member
Messages
9,167
Ok...will do bosses.

Got windows on three sides and two garage doors so should get a nice breeze flowing though in summer with those lot open
 

ChrisH

Junior Member
Messages
89
You can gauge my work effort because I have mirrored walls in a small home gym... when they get blury you know you're working... when you can't see anything in them you know you've worked hard... when they start sweating themselves... it's time to stop :D

Works been cr4p for months though so I've barely turned the pedals since summer. Motivated to start again this week...

...sounds like we need a virtual SportsMaserati ride? Unfit and overweight seen to be common themes (check check here) so I can't imagine it'll be too serious... I've never done a group ride on Zwift so if there's keeness I'm game to try.