Stupid TT Question

OK this is probably a really stupid question ...

Just bought Chrissie Wellington's IM training tracks off Audio fuel and she's talking about what gears to use (OK with that) but then says about adjusting the TT if you can.

I'm always struggling to get my resistence right as I losen it after a session and sometimes have to stop and get off to change this 2-3 times at the start of a session.

Can I just have the fly wheel just touching and use the gears instead or do you have to have the flywheel causing resistence too??

errm - whatever suits??

there's no hard and fast rule here Pix - and what suits CW may not suit someone else.  they key is to get the benefit of a session no matter how you use the turbo.  if you feel you need to add resistance do so; if not, just have the wheel touching the roller.

our turbos don't have resistance adjustments so we use them just as if we're road riding and use the gears to vary the resistance.  to me that's a much more simple method and still brings rewards so why compicate matters?   

oh that's cool! I was worried I was doing it wrong and therefore wasting my time! I'm much happer changing gears

Thanks

The key to it is to make the resistance feel realistic.

If you overdo the resistance you may knacker the tyre too. 

Once you're happy with the resistance you have on the machine - either count how many turns of resistance you put on it, or time how long it takes for the wheel to stop after youve spun up to 20 mph or so. So you can get it to be about the same for next time. 

cool

was in LBS today and I they are trying to find a turbo tyre for my tiny 650 wheels but not hopeful so may have to get a spare wheel that's bigger or wear out tyres

Are your tyres wearing that fast EP - plenty of people find there's no need to use a different tyre for turboing - but then plenty find they do - if you are lucky tyre wear might not be an issue.    You probably wont use it that much in Summer anyway so if you don't have expensive soft race tyres on over winter that might help too.   

Still trying to figure out how I got a puncture in my turbo tyre last year? WTF? Turbo tyres are quieter if you have the DVD on

Ooh, never thought of that. Did a mind rot 3 hour session last year, maybe that was it. I'll retube and see what happens. Cheers.

Hmm, think I sat around 140bpm so about 65%, maybe a bit less on average coz I needed to get off for a wee

3 hrs? on a TT?

OMG!

Dave the older man in the shop who has forgotten more about bikes than most peeps know thinks the 700s will fit just from the memory of my tiny bike ("suspected 13" frame, blue, enough space for 1 bottle only? Trek isn't it?" - that's customer service for you!!)

I have a definate flat on my tyres already yes which I guess isn't a good thing

I have a 2:15 turbo session which I occasionally do in winter if my mind is on it - but that's the longest.  I once did a 3hr session to see what it was like - once was enough to tell me it wasn't worth 3hrs of my life

Echo that FB

My nuts go numb within an hour.  Maybe I need to experiment with different saddles.

Wasn't it Mouse or Hope that do long turbos sessions when the weather was shite this year?

PhilPub wrote (see)

My nuts go numb within an hour. 

Dirty boy