Well, an indoor cycle trainer, a couple of Wahoo sensors and some Apps on my iPhone. About as close to virtual cycling as I’m going to get!
When I noticed one of my friends selling an indoor cycle trainer on FaceBook for £30 it seemed like too good an offer to turn down. I’ve been thinking about buying something to put in the garage to help my cycle fitness, and I couldn’t go wrong for the money.
He even agreed to bring it around and show me how to set it up, which was remarkably simple. Simply swap the rear wheel quick release with the CycleOps one (which is metal, and not plastic) and then fasten into the trainer with a lever (to lock in the wheel) and tap (to connect the tyre to the roller). And I was surprised how smooth and realistic it felt!
I could have just started cycling like that, although would have had no idea how fast or quickly I was peddling, so it was time to find some cheap and simple to install sensors. I ordered some Garmin Speed & Cadence sensors on Amazon, only to find out they weren’t Bluetooth compatible, and just Ant+. Amazon happily refunded them though and even told me not to bother returning them (so they’ll be on eBay shortly!). I ordered some Wahoo sensors instead and fastened these onto the back wheel (speed) and pedal crank (cadence) very easily.
I’ve been playing around with a couple of virtual cycling Apps, namely Zwift and Rouvy, although haven’t really decided whether that makes cycling on the spot in the garage any less boring than it actually is!
Anyway, I haven’t really tested things in anger as I need to create a little more space in my garage. I got rid of 5 boxes of books last week, which had been in there since we moved in over 9 years ago! I also tried to get rid of the old exercise bike on FaceBook, although even for free there was no interest so that might be heading to the local skip.
I’ll post some more detailed thoughts once I’ve done some miles…
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