Nashbar Bicycle Trainer

With the advent of cold weather, investing in a bicycle trainer seemed like a good idea. A trainer allows you to turn your regular bicycle into a stationary bicycle. I ended up going with the Nashbar Fluid Trainer.

When it comes to trainers, there are two basic types: Fluid and Magnetic. Magnetic trainers use a magnetic flywheel to create resistance on the rear wheel. The fluid trainers use fluid chambers to create resistance on the rear wheel. As the fluid heats up, more resistance is added.

Both types of trainers are fairly quiet, but fluid trainers are generally a little bit quieter than magnetic ones. Fluid trainers also offer a more "realistic" ride and are considered to feel most like an outdoor ride. 

I opted to go for the fluid trainer for a few reasons. I liked the fact that it was quieter than the magnetic version; I have it set up in front of my TV and it makes watching shows while riding a bit easier. The fact that it was also the closest to riding outside was a large deciding factor, as was the price. While it wasn't exactly cheap, it was cheaper than some of the magnetic trainers out there.

Another big plus to the one I got is that resistance can also be controlled to a certain degree via shifting gears. This was apparently not the case with some of the magnetic trainers available. The ability to change resistance on the fly without having to get off the bike and adjust a lever was very appealing to me.

Overall I like the trainer. It's nowhere near as nice as riding outside, but it beats not riding at all, and I really enjoy doing it while watching TV. The resistance on my model seems decent and I always work up a good sweat when I use it. I currently don't know how "far" I ride in terms of miles as I don't have the computer needed to calculate that (it attaches to the rear of your bike and counts revolutions of the wheel and extrapolates mileage from that, as I understand it, but don't take my word for it; I've done no research on it), but I'm up to between 15 and 20 minutes at a time.

It is very different from riding outside as there is no coasting. If you stop pedaling on the trainer, the wheel stops moving, so it's a bit "harder" than riding outside. Of course, there are no hills on the trainer, so it likely ends up as a wash, but, as I said earlier, it beats not riding at all.

While I much prefer riding outside on the road, the trainer comes in handy too. As stated, I like watching TV while using it, and it's nice to be able to just hop on for 20 minutes and call it done without having to worry about any traffic.

                                 

Swim Workout

I just got back home from swimming 500 yards at the Liberty Community Center. I did much better than I thought I would, and finished 500 yards in 10:04. I had done no swimming since August (right before the Matt Mason tri was cancelled) and was expecting to be much slower than I was today.

The mere fact that I finished all 500 yards without stopping surprised me. When I first got back into swimming this summer, I was struggling to finish 150 or 200 yards without stopping and was expecting something similar this time since I'd been so long out of the water, but was pleasantly surprised to be able to finish all 500 yards.

The pacing was also a bit of a surprise. The last time I swam I finished 550 yards in 10:46. Today would have been a bit slower for 550 yards (I was averaging right around 1 minute per 50 yards today, meaning 550 yard would've take roughly 11 minutes), but after a three month break that's to be expected.

Overall I was very emboldened by my swim today. Yes, it was tiring, and yes I was a bit slower than before and yes my neck got sore from breathing. But I was better than I expected to be, and it gave me a good morale boost. I'm looking forward to doing it again.