Using a Turbo Trainer

A turbo trainer is the best way to keep your legs strong through those dark and cold winter months. With a turbo trainer you can keep all that hard-earned summer fitness through the dark winter months when it's too black and dangerous to train on the road. And in any case cycling when the wether is that bad and cold is the best way to get sore knees and open your body up to chest diseases and viruses.

You can put your turbo trainer in any room in the house, if you're single like me you can even put it on the lounge, right in front of the TV, this means less boredom while training because you can watch your favourite moves as you pedal along happily. This avoids the tedium associated with cycle trainers in the gym where after just five minutes you are bored stupid and can barely bear to continue. Simply stick in a movie, get on the bike and start to pedal, oblivious to the wind and the rain and train hard as you watch Clint Eastwood or Jimmy Dean. If you want to watch movies as you train be sure to get a fluid or magneto turbo trainer, this will keep down the noise so that you can hear all the dialogue in your chosen movie as you train.

Another great addition to modern turbo trainers is the ability to actually watch a screen in front of you as you pedal, this screen showing a classic cycle ride through the Italian Alps or a famous stage of the Tour De France. This is another great way to relieve the boredom when you're turbo training and can actually make you feel like you are right there in France or Italy. In fact have a flat French bread cooking in the oven and you'll be instantly transported to Alp D'Huez or any of the great mountain top finishes in Europe's greatest sporting event.

The main thing to remember when using turbo trainers for winter cycle training is to develop a habit of using the trainer, and to stick to that habit closely. We all start off with good intentions and then many of us fall away and get lazy, write a training routine and log your daily training. A record of what you've done will make it much easier to carry on even when you feel tired and can't really be bothered. If you do this then you can retain summer fitness and you may even improve, whichever you'll get off to a flying start in the new season.