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Inspired by the many turbo threads I’ve bought an Elite Turbo Muin Smart B+ and am unsure which app to use. The free one from Elite has awful reviews and at this stage I don’t really want to start a Zwift sub. Is there anything good and free-ish that will give me a basic training regime? Ta.
you get some free trial time on zwift, and I bet with alsmost all the rest too
Get all your shit together first in temrs of hardware, internet signal etc before you sign up though
you want "training", racing or just to do something like riding but indoors ?
https://www.rgtcycling.com/ is now free for Premium features, but check hardware requirements.
I've got a three TrainerRoad referral codes that let you have a free month to try it out.
If anyone wants one drop me a PM with your first name, last name and email address and I'll sign you up. Since @Watty started the thread I'll reserve one for him unless he indicates otherwise.
They’re all good for different reasons.
Traineroad is very data led and great for proper, structured training.
Zwift can be used for that but has a much bigger group element and is arguably more fun.
Sufferfest sits somewhere in between.
I prefer Zwift, but as above, most do a free trial so try them all.
scaredypants, something a bit more structured than just ‘riding indoors’ I think. I’ve pm’d you whitestone, thanks for the offer.
Thanks for all the other replies and advice, cheers.
DCRainmaker has a decent section he's just posted on free offers for apps, worth a look:
Zwift is of course the biggest, and if you like racing it's probably the best.
BKool has racing and also videoed rides you can do - ride up Ventoux and it sets the power / difficulty. There are other apps that do this too. It also has structured training.
Personally I like Sufferfest - the sense of humour is a bit laddish at times, but the workouts themselves are excellent as is the video footage. It also has strength and yoga stuff if you're interested.
But try them all out, loads of offers out there and it'd be stupid to just sign up to the first you try.
If you want great rides in good quality video try the 14 day free trial from https://www.bigringvr.com/
In addition they've launched https://bigringvr.com/Challenge.aspx?challengeID=44
which gives a subset of the rides free until 18th April.
Some general points that apply to all these programs/turbo in general.
1. An hour's turbo is much harder than an hour outside, there's basically no coasting or drafting it's continual effort, maybe not at full power but you are riding all the time.
2. The bike doesn't move under you so it's completely different even to riding a road bike and not getting out of the saddle. It will take a while to get used to this, I think I (or rather my arse) took a month.
3. Riding outside you have roughly five cubic metres of air passing over you at 25kmh. Indoors you need a decent fan or fans to provide that sort of cooling.
3a. Allied to the above, have fluid at hand as well as some towels. You'll also need a towel or some protection under the bike to catch your sweat.
4. Have everything set up ready so that you only really need to get dressed and fill your water bottles to start a session. The less barriers you put in your way the more likely you'll use the trainer.
2. The bike doesn’t move under you so it’s completely different even to riding a road bike and not getting out of the saddle. It will take a while to get used to this, I think I (or rather my arse) took a month.
A rocker plate makes a big difference to this. I have a Coplate one built from a kit - just add plywood - and a Kurt Kinetic turntable front wheel block. The combination means it all feels a lot more natural than a fixed turbo, even though it's not identical to riding a bike. At least the saddle/butt interface has some give in it.
Fwiw I think Zwift is probably the most involving option out there, but as above, jump on some free trials and see what works for you.
I used Fulgaz and have done for since October 18 they are doing a Euro Tour at the moment https://fulgaz.com/tour-of-europe/ with a code to cover the tour.
Longest ride I've done is about 3 1/2 hours non-stop since using, it's been brilliant during the bad weather Feb and now the spring lock down.
For me it's not so much training but just riding my bike, the training is a bonus of that, as I am not structured it's just rides. Hence Fulgaz works for me as it's just rides in the main, bar this Tour of Europe which that put together for the lock down across Europe.
I've used the Tacx (now Garmin) app. Loads of video rides, enjoyed it and like the interface, but found it dropped quite a lot and a lot of slippage whilst pedalling (which I initially blamed on the trainer). I've used Zwift as well. Didn't like the fact it's all virtual (no videos) and found the interface not ideal (for instance Tacx tells you the whole time what you're riding in terms of climb or descent percentage, and you can see what is coming up). Zwift doesn't seem to do this (though I've only used the free trial version) and I found it disconcerting as the screen image doesn't really make it clear when you start to climb. However I could easily have missed stuff as only used it a few times
I’ve been watching Sprung. I click up a few gears and pedal hard during the race segments then I sit back and chill a bit during the jumpy bits.
They last about 50 mins so it’s perfect.
Check these out on youtube
CTXC
https://www.youtube.com/user/CTXCvideos/videos
rides from 20 mins up to 2 hours
Golden Cheetah is free. Can give you loads of data, and options for workouts etc.
Blimey, thanks all, lots of options. I have to agree with Whitestone on all of his points. I set it up yesterday and dressed in just bibs and a t-shirt managed 45 mins (Cate le Bon - Reward), but did I sweat! AND it was cold in my loft room! I also went through a whole bottle of water which I wouldn’t have done outside. It felt a little odd tbh, but I lost myself in the music and really felt I’d done some exercise. So: towels and a fan for today and I’ll have a look at all the options above. Cheers.
A fan is a game changer for indoor cycling. I got one of those massive floor fans from Screwfix. Even in the depths of winter when it's only a couple of degrees in the garage I'm usually only wearing bib shorts and still have the fan blazing away.
I've been a long time Zwift user and the global community is really rising to the challenge of the current crisis. A lot of the Pros are on there at the moment leading group rides and workouts. I organise a club ride on Zwift every Friday night and we're getting more and more riders joining.
Tacx (now Garmin)
??
I've got Golden Cheetah but TBH haven't used it that much, in fact I probably haven't opened it for three years or so. I haven't updated it so there could be a lot more options in it nowadays.
Recently I've signed up to intervals.icu (free) which pulls ride data from Strava. Obviously if you don't use Strava as a ride logger then it's not going to be of use.
There's also Training Peaks as a data analysis tool but I've not used it.