Turbo Trainer Advice

Ordered one earlier, got a good price from CRC with a discount code so just went for it. Is a riser block necessary or is there a cheaper alternative? A minimum of a tenner for a crappy bit of plastic seems steep.

A book of suitable thickness is my weapon of choice. Oxford Book of Modern Science Writings, ed. Richard Dawkins (hardback, just over 400 pages) does the job nicely.

Only other specialist equipment I use is a towel, a fan (or the heating turned off in Winter) and something good on the telly.