It’s funny how once upon a time, riding your bike inside was something you wanted to do but your mum wouldn’t let you. These days, time on the trainer, ergo or rollers is something many of us dread! Having said that, if you set yourself up correctly and regularly pump out quality sessions, you’ll love the benefits once summer rolls around. Not all of us are lucky enough to have a CompuTrainer or Wattbike, but that’s no excuse for not training well inside. Wade at CyclingTips gives a good run down of some indoor training specifics but I thought some more general advice would also come in handy. Apply the following tips and you’ll find you’ll get more out of pedaling indoors…

Be Prepared…
The key to indoor riding is to make it easy to do. When it’s cold and wet outside, sometimes the last thing you want to do is fuss about setting your bike up. Get yourself a container with your indoor kit in it so it’s ready to go.

My container has:

• An old towel (for under the bike)
• A fresh towel (for me)
• A riser block for the front wheel (White/Yellow Pages)
• An empty bidon (to fill with your beverage of choice!)

Also nearby are a portable fan (to cool, not cheer), your trainer/ergo/rollers and of course your bike.

Mirror, Mirror…
If there’s one easy way to improve your cycling it is through technique. Riding a stationary bike can highlight excessive body movement that often slows us down. On the road, such movement can be hard to notice. By placing a mirror in front of you, you can monitor how much your upper body moves around and the mirror provides a constant reminder to keep your upper body relaxed and relatively still. Concentrating on developing a smooth pedaling style during indoor sessions will see your power and efficiency increase by the time race day rolls around. Now there’s no need to do this every session, it just works well as an occasional reminder!

Enter The Hurt Locker…
This technique helps on race day. We all have days where we struggle to bring the pain on. Getting yourself into the mental zone where everything flows and you enjoy hurting yourself (in a healthy, physical way!) comes easily some days, but being able to methodically do so on any day of the year is a skill worth developing. Chris Boardman, the British time trial (TT) specialist had a specific timetable he stuck to when preparing for a TT (I’ll explain this timetable in further detail in another post). Why not apply the same thing to your sessions? I do this with a play list of music that helps me enter the zone. Start with some fast paced music to warm up, followed by some motivating tunes. For me, that often means something like Pearl Jam or Nine Inch Nails. At times it’s nice to have a pedal in front of a DVD or some cycling on TV, but when you really want to work it hard, nothing compares to some motivating music and a staring competition with your favourite wall.

Get Stuck Into It…
Often, the hardest part about riding indoors is getting in the saddle. Once there, you’re well on the way to another quality session.

What tricks do you use to get the most out of riding indoors?