Turbo Trainer Advice

Ah yes. Forgot about this and not far off now.
Not fussed about the lack of variable resistance. Don't see an issue with using my gears as I would in real life...? (unless I'm missing something here).
Would only be used for TrainerRoad and other targeted sessions, none of this casual Zwift BS.

@Smallfurry will probably have a different opinion, but I find using gears feels like using gears on the road, in that your wheel/the flywheel goes faster and takes longer to spin down, whereas using variable resistance is like changing the slope of the road, you get less inertia on the wheel and it's more of a grind.

This sounds fair.

On trainer road intervals the profile is square. So you kinda jump into each effort anyway. So not like hitting a climb as such.

My personal hobby is hitting the mountains. Plus mraces all seem to have a selective climb at the start to split the pack up (much safer).

So mostly I do sweet spot intervals these days. With some more intense suffer fest vids thrown in to mix it up.

puncture horrors

Rookies.

do I need a 'smart' trainer?

No.

Rookie = most definitely

@Smallfurry - I don't race (but maybe I should) this years target was to get up mont ventoux and alpe d'huez in respectable times and to do dragon devil. I know I'm dangerously veering into another thread topic, but I just want to raise my W/kg from about 3.6 to say 3.9 to beat @HoKe

Tacx Flux also looks interesting. Coming soon at £700. Budget Neo. Was going to get a Neo on Finance from Tredz but may wait for the Flux.

Well my aim this year was W/Kg for NIbberittet. Its been the focus for a few years. A race that simply Climbs 1500m at a constant 7% gradient. So I can share my own experiance on this. Ipeaked at 4W/Kg this year which is a personal best (ex rugby player though. Bit Heavy)

I've tried pulling my FTP up from above (doing intervals over FTP) a couple Winters ago. This is kinda fun and time economical. Then last Winter I tried pushing my FTP up from below (doing sweetspot). The pushing from below worked better for me. A lot better InFact. It means more training time. But I started doing 2x20, then 3x20, 2x30, 4x20. Just doing whatever I had time for ( I watch spring classics on youtube to pass the time and motivate me). The bonus is that you dont stress Your body so much, and also burn more fat.

I saw Dragon Devil on Your Strava feed. Not many off the forum Climb as much as me due to location. So I noticed it. was a little shocked at the total elevation gain. Undulating stuff like that is pure endurance. I reckon repeated SS interval would be good for that too. Maybe With less recovery inbetween.

This is just whats worked for me though.

I'm glad to hear the pushing up works, that's what I'm trying at the moment and it feels odd not to be harder, shorter intervals.

I'm a bit old School (well just old really). If my legs dont burn it cant possibly be making me stronger. So it felt well odd to me.

But the last 3 years I've started the season With a cycling holiday somewhere warm and lumpy. This year I was much better prepared after my Winter of SS.

Also Nibberittet (21km Climb from sea Level to to 1500m) results.

2015 - 1:34, 168bpm AvHR (old FTHR was 168, set New of 169), 249w
2016 - 1:27, 169bpm AvHR (very nearly 169bpm), 261w

The time difference will have been partly Down to weight loss. Plus the Power difference is exagerated because the extra 7 mins at altitude would have been at low Power pulling it Down.

But I was definitely stronger. Thats having spent Winter watching spring clasics and mildly suffering on the turbo. Instead of smashing my self doing VO2 intervals til my ears bleed.

Specificity

I tried pushing my FTP up from below...

Can you explain (in simple terms) what you mean by this?

Asking for a friend.

Doing intervals / workouts at below FTP

Moving to a flat and will need to turbo indoors. I presume my lemond will be too noisy!

Any quiet, but good direct drive turbos?

Depends how much you want to spend! I have a Tacx Flux on pre-order, so hopefully it doesn't turn out to be shit. Seemed ok on DC Rainmaker's preview vid...

I live in a flat and turbo outside when I can. Neighbours love seeing someone as sexy as me in tight clothes grunting and sweating all over the place.

Where did you pre-order from? Had been looking to do the same.

Yeah I do have a garage. So could do it there. But it's down 3 flights of stairs. And no electricity. Bit of a pain.

I guess during the day I can make as much noise as I want in the flat. But sometimes I turbo late or early.

Yeah the Neo at £1000 made me cringe. No way.

Wahoo Kickr? Marginally cheaper.

Where did you pre-order from? Had been looking to do the same.

Evans.

https://www.evanscycles.com/tacx-flux-smart-trainer-EV285688

Although the date they're expecting to have stock has slipped to the 20th of October apparently, despite it saying the 10th on that page.

This and mudguard thread needs to stop bumping when its above 15 deg and sunny.

Not meant to be very life like.

I like my lemond a lot, the training I do on it seems to translate to better road power.

I've heard its pretty comparable with the Neo. But yeah.

Yeah, I have that interlocking gym flooring on my bedroom floor under the Computrainer to minimise vibrations.

To be fair though, most of the noise is coming from my techno / thrash metal randomness :)