Do you live in an area where it’s not always a convenient option to mountain bike outside? Many mountain bikers are unaware that there is a small piece of equipment that can be used to convert your mountain bike into a stationary bike. It allows you to ride your bike in the comfort of your own home. In this post we’ll explain how trainers work, we’ll review 3 of the top trainers on the market and I’ll also hook you up with 3 of my favorite trainer workouts.
So, how do mountain bike trainers work? A mountain bike trainer is a machine that hooks up to your rear wheel or takes the place of your rear wheel. It converts your mountain bike into a stationary bike that can fit in the comfort of your own home. Mountain bike trainers allow you to ride your bike even when the weather is not permitting outdoors. Trainers also allow you to adjust the resistance to increase or decrease the intensity of the workout.
In this post we’ll offer you some tips on how to set up your trainer properly. We’ll also check out the top 3 trainers on the market today and finally I’ll show you 3 killer trainer workouts.
Setting Up Your Trainer – Best Practices
Find The Best Location
So before you jump on your trainer it’s important to find the best location in your house, condo or apartment for working out. Here are few things to think about when you are making this decision:
- Ease of Use – Personally I want the trainer to be in a place that I can easily convert it back to hit the trails in minutes. If your trainer is tucked into a closer behind a bunch of other items the chances of you using it go way down. I would find an area where you can easily set up your bike on the trainer and then also quickly convert it back and store the trainer. The easier it is to use the more you’ll use it!
- Technology – If you plan on doing online classes you’ll want to find a location where you can set up the technology required. The Peloton Bike was the leader in online spin classes. There TV is built into their bike. If you are using a trainer you’ll need a set up where you can view a TV or Ipad to watch the class.
- Avoid Damage – Don’t set your bike up in a heavily trafficked area. If the chances of someone or something bumping into your bike seem high I would move it to a better spot. Your bike is in a vulnerable position when it’s out in the open and you don’t want an unforseen accident cause damage to your bike.
- Noise – Keep in mind that most trainers are pretty loud. You’ll want to take that into account when you find your ideal spot. You don’t want to be a nuisance to your family members or neighbors with a loud annoying bike.
5 Tips To Set Up Your Mountain Bike On A Trainer
- Protect The Headset – You will tend to sweatmore when you are riding on a trainer because you have no wind cooling you down. Your sweat will also fall directly onto your headset because you are not moving. The best practice here is to drape a full sized towel over the headset for the entire workout. This will prevent the salty sweat from causing corrosion on your bike.
- Keep Your Nutrition Close – It’s nice to have a shelf or table close by so you can reach for your nutrition during the ride. If you are going to be racing you would want to keep your water in the same place as you normally do so that you can build that muscle memory for grabbing your water bottle during the ride.
- Protect Your Carpet – If you are riding on a carpet be sure to put a beach towel down to prevent sweat, grease, dirt & rubber from getting into the carpet.
- Avoid The Vibration – Put your bike down on a yoga mat or soft flooring of some sort to prevent the bike from vibrating. This can cause noise pollution to those around you and also do damage to your bike from all of those micro vibrations.
- Air Flow – On a trainer you won’t be moving. It’s important to put in a fan right in front of you during the ride so that you don’t overheat. You can also create this situation by opening doors to get a flow through breeze.
If you follow the tips above you should have a safe & convenient set up at your home for riding your bike!
7 Reasons You Should Get A Trainer
Inclement Weather
During those long cold Winters its hard to get motivated to gear up and go on a ride. If you live somewhere with a lot rain you’ll also lose a ton of riding days based on the weather. Trainers are a great option if you want to stay in solid bike shape when the trails are muddy or frozen.
Time Crunch
If you are pressed for time as most of us are these days a mountain bike trainer can be a huge time saver. Just factor in all of the time you spend driving to a trail to go ride. If you want to get a workout in and don’t have time to commute to a trail you just hop on the trainer and start pedaling. I recommend leaving your MTB trainer set up if you plan on riding multiple days in a row. That will help you save the time of setting up the trainer.
Lack Of Safe Roads
One of the reasons I got into mountain biking was the lack of safe roads near me. Personally I felt like mountain biking was safer than road biking. Some will disagree with me on this but I feel like I have a better chance of survival if I fall down on a trail than if I got hit by a car going 60 MPH.
That said the greatest thing about a mountain bike trainer is that you don’t have to worry about falling or getting hit by a car. You can ride in the comfort and security of your home. The only thing you have to worry about is pulling a muscle.
Riding Online Classes
New stationary bike systems are coming on the market left and right these days. Technology has advanced and you can now take a class from some of the top spin class teachers in the world. All you need is a wifi connection. If you set your tech up right you can set up your trainer and plug into these fun and intense online classes.
Recovering From An Injury
When I ran triathlons a few years back I would over train from time to time and my coach would prescribe “spinning” for a few days until I finally recovered. Spinning is simply riding on a stationary bike at a very easy gear. You can spin on the road or trail as well but you might hit some hills which will take you out of the “easy” zone. Spinning is not only effective at muscle recovery but it works extremely well for injuries. If you are coming off of a more serious injury you can spin to building up your muscle strength.
Specific Training Needs
If you are a more serious rider you might need to train for a specific style of riding. Building endurance, power and speed all require different methods of training. Mountain bike trainers are actually more effective than riding on trails when you want to target a specific type of training. You can ride hard intervals for a specific amount of time and then recover in between intervals. Tracking your heart rate is also recommended when you use the trainer in this manner.
Save Money
Another added benefit is the money you’ll save by not going to a gym or spin class. You are essentially creating a workout facility in your own home. So if you were planning on going to a spin class you can simply stay home and save the money you would be spending.
Will The Trainer Damage Your Bike?
In my experience and from the research I’ve done my short answer here is….not really. But if you were to experience damage to your bike from your trainer it would probably be caused by 1 of these 3 things.
- Set-up & Take-down – The process of setting up and taking down your bike from the trainer requires some mechanical contacts on the bike. As with anything you do with tools and wrenches you want to make sure you are careful to not damage the spokes or cranks. I did notice some scratches on my bike from inserting it on and off of the trainer. Currently I use a trainer that requires me to remove my rear wheel. Cycleops trainers that don’t require rear wheel removal will probably not experience any scratching at all…if you are careful.
- Exterior Objects – Because you can set your mountain bike trainer up in your own living space it will be susceptible to things around it. A chair might fall into the spokes, or you might drop something near the bike. It is always recommended to set it up in an area that is not highly used.
- Excessive Lateral Rotation – While I have not experienced any damage from this I do think it’s worth noting that your bike is designed to rotate from side to side a little bit as you climb up hills and adjust your center of gravity. When you are locked into the trainer your bike can’t rotate side to side. From experience I’ve felt a little tension on the bike when I try to create hill intervals in a really low gear. I will catch myself and then reduce my lateral movement. Again, I never damaged the bike doing this but I do think its something to think about.
My Top 3 Recommended Indoor Mountain Bike Trainers
#1 – CycleOps Fluid2 Indoor Trainer
So when my current trainer burns our or breaks I will be purchasing this trainer. It’s reasonably priced under $300 and you can pick up the matching mat and and riser block for under $400. Although this trainer is priced a little higher than my other recommendations I would still opt for this product if you are seriously considering purchasing a trainer.
It’s currently got a rating of 4.5 stars on Amazon. It’s quiet and doesn’t create excessive noise. It also is extremely stable with a rugged 2 inch round 16 inch gauge steel frame. This particular trainer is the #1 selling bike trainer in the US. It’s also very compatible with Zwift which is one of the most popular training apps for stationary biking.
Here’s what a few other customers had to say:
“This is great. I haven’t tried others – but it was easy to set-up, it is standard and easy to find in the various on-line programs – I’ve used Zwift & TrainerRoad so far, and it has really been helping a lot with my training when I can’t get in an outdoor ride.”
Dewey (Customer)
“Not only is the trainer great, the company is amazing!! Bought one of these about 4-5 years ago and use it at least 3 times a week for 45 minutes each time.”
DPKeith
“This is perfect for those crappy winter months when it’s just not fun to ride outside. It was easy to assemble and took maybe 10 minutes to get my bike locked in and get to riding indoors. I don’t really have a personal reference, but there are a lot of reviews that say it is quiet. Well… if others are louder than this, I’m glad I chose this one. It’s not quiet by any means, but also not so loud that it bothers me. The ride is smooth and comfortable. I also purchased the tire block that’s made for it, which I highly recommend. Having ridden for a week without it, it makes a huge improvement.”
Psienide K
#2 – Kinetic Road Machine Smart Bike Trainer
This trainer is mid range and is priced in the $240 range. It’s received a 4 star rating on amazon. Another benefit of purchasing a Kinetic trainer is that it comes with a 30 free trial of the “Kinetic Fit power-training app”. Which is an app that runs you through various workouts on your trainer. If you run through about 20 workouts in that initial month you can write them down and use them for free on your own when your trial is up.
Here some comment and advice from current customers of this product:
“The trainer itself somehow varies the resistance to give a road-like feel, and it’s very smooth and not too loud (not sure how loud I was expecting it to be, but it’s quieter than I anticipated).”
DaveBrah
“Make sure you properly contact the roller with the tire. The tire should be properly inflated to its recommended pressure. Hold the roller back and turn to adjustment know until the roller touches the tire then give it a full 2 to 2 1/2 full turn or 8 to 10 quarter turns if that is easier to do.”
Greg Anthony
#3 – Conquer Fluid Bike Trainer, Pro Indoor Bicycle Training Stand
I would consider the Conquer Fluid an entry level bike trainer. You can pick one up for under $150. It’s a solid product and it has an extra wide frame for added stability. It also includes a front wheel riser block to give you more of a actual riding feel. Many reviews commented that this trainer is quiet. Some trainers can be very loud and cause noise pollution to those around you.
Here’s some comments and tips from current product owners:
“High quality bike trainer. The rotor at the back is pretty quiet. The rotor resistant can be adjusted but you can also change to different gear on your bike. If you don’t have a quick release at the back of your bike, I suggest you buy the adaptors from the company.”
Frank (Online Customer)
“I’ve been using this for a few days for winter training, it works great and is super easy to set up. So far I’m happy with it, anything changes in the future I’ll update my review.”
Michael B
3 Workouts You Can Do On Your Trainer
#1 – Song On Song Off (Workout Time Varies)
This is as easy as it gets. You’ll basically be going two different speeds for the entire workout. Create a playlist of your designated workout time of let’s say 30, 45 or 60 minutes. Use the first song or two as a warm-up and then on the very next song pick up your effort. You’re going to push yourself at a higher intensity for the entire duration of that song. Once it’s over take the next song as a recovery.
This workout is similar to a fartleg run where you run hard to a specific landmark and then change your speed for awhile before picking it up again. Be sure to take the final song as a cool down.
#2 – The 5-5 (1 Hour Workout)
This is probably the toughest of all of the workouts. You will be going hard for 5 minute and then recovering for 5 minutes. This is a 1 hour workout.
Here it is an easy to read diagram:
| 10 Minutes | Go at an easy pace to get your muscles loose and ready for effort. You should build up a light sweat. |
| 5 Minutes | During these 5 minutes you will push your effort until you feel uncomfortable. It should be hard to talk. |
| 5 Minute | Take the next 5 minutes to recover. Let your heart rate come all the way back down. |
| 5 Minutes | Repeat the hard effort for 5 minutes. |
| 5 Minute | Recover for 5 minutes |
| 5 Minutes | Repeat the hard effort for 5 minutes. |
| 5 Minutes | Recover for 5 minutes |
| 5 Minutes | Repeat the hard effort for 5 minutes. |
| 10 Minutes | Recover for a solid 10 minutes |
#3 – The 10-2 (58 Minute Workout)
This workout involves a lot of hard intervals. The intervals get progressively shorter so you should be able to go a little harder as you workout your way through the workout. This is a 58 minute workout.
Workout Duration –
| 10 Minutes | Go at an easy pace to get your muscles loose and ready for effort. You should build up a light sweat. |
| 10 Minutes | During these 10 minutes you will push your effort until you feel uncomfortable. It should be hard to talk. |
| 2 Minute | Take the next 2 minutes to recover. Try to recover to a normal heart rate but it will be tough after a 10 minute interval. |
| 8 Minutes | Hard effort for 8 minute |
| 2 Minute | Repeat the recovery for 2 minutes it should be easier to get the heart rate back down |
| 6 Minutes | Hard effort for 6 minutes |
| 2 Minutes | Recover for 2 minutes |
| 4 Minutes | Repeat the hard effort for 4 minutes. |
| 2 Minutes | Recover for 2 minutes |
| 2 minutes | Repeat the hard effort for 2 minutes. |
| 10 Minutes | Recover for a solid 10 minutes |