Bicycle trainer

Debra bought me a bicycle trainer for my birthday, but I hadn’t taken the time to actually try it out until yesterday.  A bicycle trainer is simply a stand that holds the bicycle and applies resistance to the rear wheel.  It turns your bicycle into a stationary bike.  Quite a handy contraption when it’s cold or raining.

The model she got me is called a CycleOps Mag.

If you’re interested in getting one, I suggest that you try it out at your local bike shop first.  The thing is noisy.  It also takes some getting used to.  You may think that you sit in the same position when you’re biking, but you’re actually making slight movements all the time to keep the bike balanced.  When you’re attached to one of these things, though, you are sitting in the same position, and it gets tiring very quickly.  You also get much hotter, because you don’t have the breeze from your passage through the air to help cool you off.

That said, I’m still glad I got it.  It’ll be a good way to get my exercise when the weather gets colder.  It’s also handy for doing interval training and other workouts that are best done on flat ground.