Trainin'

Down in Rehoboth again. The travel isn't so bad as long as it stays predictable. But with all this crap weather it throws off the schedule. But I did make a purchase that is keeping me from going completely crazy.

Its a Tacx i-Magic VR Trainer. It is their lowest end model. The Fortius trainer actually uses a motor to power your wheel if you are going "downhill". The i-Magic just fakes the speed in the VR environment. Its pretty cool and I am actually making it to 2 hour long trainer rides, which is something I have never done before. And I just bought an add on which lets you ride a 75 mile route up over the Ventoux which shows you real life video - we will see how that goes, but it should make for a 4 hour ride. For now I just set myself at a pretty solid wattage and hold it there for an hour or two while steering through the rather limited amount of VR environments that come with it.

If you have around $8-900 to drop, and need the escape from the crappy weather I would definitely recommend giving this a try. Most people spend that kind of money on a power meter, and this will do a fairly accurate assessment of power (after the v3.2 software update) and it will provide you a bit of entertainment so as not to go absolutely crazy riding indoors.

http://www.tacxvr.com/en/products/i-magic

I do have a tendency to neglect the fact that I am getting in far more training than I would without this new toy. I tell myself, "This time last year, you were cranking out 5 hour rides daily". And I beat myself up over the alternative. Cyclists and probably everyone has a tendency to ask far too much of themselves instead of realizing that what they can give is enough. Its a big hurdle to overcome in your mind and a challenge every day to not beat yourself up. For today, 2 hours on the trainer was enough.