1 hr trainer spin - 1/10/12

Making this entry a day late..

One of my coworkers often sends me an Amazon gift certificate for $40 around the holidays.  I usually spend a couple weeks trying to figure out what to spend it on - something I wouldn't necessarily buy on my own, unless there is something really pressing that we need.  So in this way I try to make it a treat to myself.  It had recently occured to me that with having the trainer over the winter, it'd be a good time to improve my cycling fundamentals, and one of the ways I hear that is best done is to make sure that cadence is at the right speed - around 90 rpm.  So in browsing around the other day, I stumbled across the fact that Garmin makes an accessory that is compatible with my HR monitor that measures cadence.  And that accessory was on Amazon for $40.  Perfect!

I received the sensor yesterday, so I was excited to install it and give it a whirl.    Turns out it measures speed as well - while I already have a cyclometer and my HR monitor with its GPS functionality gives me speed on the road - it doesn't provide speed on a trainer.  My cyclometer does, but having a speed profile from the Garmin is nice because then it provides a complete picture - speed, distance, time, HR, cadence, etc.

While I'm not yet at the official start of my base building phase, I'm taking the next couple weeks to iron out some scheduling and logistics for my training in the 24 remaining weeks before Lake Placid - and that 24 week countdown starts on Feb 5.  So I'm hoping to have all these kinks worked out so that I can concentrate on training at that time - my work schedule with travelling will present enough of a scheduling and logistic challenge as it is.

Thats a long winded way of saying that this was the perfect time to give it a test ride.  I decided on an hour, partially because thats how much movie I had left after the two hours on the trainer on Saturday, and it's long enough to get some workout without going overboard.  And wouldn't you know - I immediately hit a cadence in the mid-90's - just about where I need to be.  So thats good news - because I have a good sense and feel for that speed, and at least now I know it's the proper speed as well.  However, I think the real value of the sensor will come when riding on the real road - those are the times when it will be much more varied.