GamJams Reviews: Trainer Distractions

[All cyclists are experts, at least when it comes to our equipment choices. We know why we chose what we chose, and what we think of the product after we've been using it. GamJams Reviews channels that collective expertise - category by category - into a tidy package of articles designed to help all of us make better equipment decisions. Buying what pros get paid to use is one way to go. But the candid testimonial of fellow racers who paid out of their own pocket - that's an endorsement that really counts.]

This week's GamJams Reviews is on Trainer Distractions, a companion piece to last week's Trainers and Rollers. If you want to add your own review, do it in the comments or on your own blog and throw a link in the comments.

• Sweet Home Algomaha swaps pro race DVDs with his friends, mingling screen images with his own memories: "I snapped out if it in time to see 55 minutes gone. Five minutes of cooldown later, I was done. I'll be back for more tomorrow. Because I'm a racer."
• Plain Jane has had to trade Spinervals for TV when she switched to rollers because the standing sprints became hazardous. Which is not to say that TV on the rollers is not without its dangers: "during a Soprano's episode ... one of the characters swept a bunch of clothes hanging up to the right, finding someone dead behind ... I was so surprised at the revelation that I steered in the direction of the clothing on TV ... right off the rollers. Ouch."
• FirstDropped's RealAxiom (computer-connected) trainer IS his distraction: "ride Alpe D'Huez without boarding a plane. Simply select it from the menu on the RealAxiom and within the first mile you're hitting the first of 21 switchbacks on this ~eight mile mythic climb. Need tunes you say? Load all the tunes you want into a play list and you can ride up the mountain listening to whatever tune spins your crank."
• Nick Mulder, from Europe, offers a very European perspective - hardstyle music: "If you dont know what hardstyle is, well then youre obviously not very euro, and you probably dont have a mullet or white bartape and shoes."
• FIREbike uses the same motivation a lot of us use to get outside - group rides: "I have had teammates meet and we get together and either put in a video or someone makes up a workout."
• Stormyworld is as meticulous about his trainer distraction technology as many of you are about your bikes. I think this qualifies as a Training Hack: "I have backed up all of our Spinerval DVDs to the Buffalo LinkStation Network Attached Storage device.  In the process of backing them up I converted each DVD in to two files.  One is the full size DVD and the second is an Ipod sized conversion.  That way I can listen to the Spinervals workout on my iPod when I am on the road or watch the “DVD” while riding the trainer.  For the trainer rides I take the MacBook out to the garage..."
• BethBikes goes techno-weenie also, but with decidedly less hardware: "I have started downloading movies (yes, I pay for them) onto my iPhone and watching them."
• Flamenco Chuckwagon offers a list of 6 distraction tools, the last of which is, "Variety. More than any individual thing that gets me through the time on the trainer, having several different tools in the arsenal makes it work. When one gets boring, bail on it and move to the other."
• Ro Loves 2 Ride listens to music 20 years older than the iPod she plays it on: "the Beastie Boys, Cowboy Mouth, Depeche Mode, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, Jay-Z, Kanye West, LL Cool J, Ludacris, MC Hammer, Naughty by Nature, NSync, Pat Benatar, PM Dawn, Rick Astley, The Sugarhill Gang, Tenacious D, and U2."
• the uff da! chronicles recommends watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Battlestar Galactica for their very strategic training format: "Basically these shows have a mixture of fight scenes, character development (i.e. dialogue) and humor.  So you can go hard but not need to actually hear anything and then slow down and hear enough to keep you distracted from how much your ass hurts."
• Pedal'n Around spends countless hours on the rollers perfecting his position in the mirror: "My beautiful face along with my statuesque legs are paired with a horrible looking torso. I mean just god awful. You know how you see some hot chick with a beautiful face walk around the counter revealing the rest of herself, and you go damn what the hell happened there. I got that."

Next week's Reviews: Winter Tights

Comments

[Beep Beep]

Nothing beats watching Wile E. Coyote trying to chase down the road runner while listening to Motorhead. Wile E should have been a bike racer as he's forever trying to bridge the break, but never quite gets there. The Motorhead dulls the pain.

[Jim]

Porn. Porn all the way.

Failing that, Lifetime, TV for Women.