Wind Trainer Blues
It’s raining out and the wind is blowing, the options are sitting on the couch or heading down to the wind trainer to spend 30 – 60 minutes sitting in one spot spinning your legs. So you put on the Bib nicks and head to the garage/bike room, where next to the car is the training bike set up on the trainer. Before mounting the beast you get the shoes on and clonk around setting up towels to prevent sweat from touching the pride on joy (the bike that is). Setting the water bottle onto the boot of the car, this will serve as a team car while you attempt to picture yourself tearing along with the boys on the TDF or TDU.
Your all set and finally get onto the beast, you mind starts to wonder “Why are we doing this again?” the reality is so that you wish to smash the bunch on the next club ride or attempt to maintain a good average speed on your mid week 40k TT you attempt. Attempt is the optimum word here. The legs start to turn over and the whining of the trainer slowly picks up to then settles in as it warmed up into its usual hum. As the cadence reaches the ideal 95-100rpm you let those quads start to warm up for the allotted time allowed for your session.
Eventually the whining of the trainer starts to get the better of you and the iPod comes into play, something slow as “The System of the Down or Rammstein” have been known to sent the Heart Rate into the red zone and beyond on blowing the training session from a 1 hour spin session into a 35 minute smash fest that destroys the mind body and soul. Once Cat Stevens settles into him routine on the iPod the legs are warmed and the mind is settle it’s time to flick up a gear or two building the HR and maintaining the cadence. It’s normally at this stage where you start to dream of race days or club rides and the planned training session goes out the window. The planned 15 minuet warm up is behind you and the team car is slowly coming into play so stop the boredom of riding nowhere due to the weather starts to take over. The mind can do wonderful things on the trainer, suddenly you flipping through the gears and the speed is up around the 45km/h mark., yes the quads are asking “what the hell are you doing” but the mind is doing a TT against Cadel, Levi, Cantador and the man himself Fabian Cancellara is breathing down your neck. The time splits have nothing in them, Cancellara and Cadel have the better of you by 12 and 15 seconds respectively at the 24km mark of a 54K TT, Levi is just 1 second behind your time, the team manager is calling the road and conditions ahead… suddenly you snap back to reality… The Quads have taken back control and enticed the brain to bring the gear ratio back to a sustainable tempo. As you sit there spinning the legs in a daze of dehydration watching the heart rate slowly drop below the 95% mark your fitness is suddenly questioned as the HR does not drop like it did 9 months ago before your extended off season post race break.
45 minutes in the boredom and fatigue gets the better of you and you stumble off the beast sucking on the water bottle, the team car is once again the suburban run around you remember. Tomorrow is another session and Cancellara and the boys will be waiting for you and another epic challange of the wind trainer blues.
The Weather
BrisbaneFriday, 29 August, 2008, 1:02 pm 
Partly sunny
current temperature: 21°Csunrise: 6:04
sunset: 17:34
Forecast Saturday, 30 August, 2008 day Partly sunny
20°CForecast Sunday, 31 August, 2008 day Partly sunny
21°C