Thursday, October 14, 2010

"Oprah calls it 'Multi-tasking'."

Bonus if you can name what movie that came from! Well luckily, Jesse and I have been able to do some very productive multi-tasking lately with our new trainer...
No not this guy!

CycleOps Mag Indoor Bicycle Trainer
This one!

We welcomed the CycleOps Mag Indoor Bike Trainer into our family. With the crappy weather we experience here in the NW, it was a must if we wanted to stay in shape. At first we had our eye on his better, older brother (the Fluid) but he wanted too much to put out so we settled on the louder, possibly more annoying, but much cheaper, younger brother! Actually so far, he has been great to us. Remember when I mentioned that multi-tasking, well, it happens to be catching up on our DVR'd shows and riding at the same time! Hey, priorities people! But the important thing is we are both able to hear the TV and it is a great distraction for the rider. Of course, we have to turn the volume up, but same thing with our treadmill, so that isn't a big deal. Coach has ridden it more than me, so I will let him give you a bit more in depth review of the sucker (don't forget to mention the buckets of sweat sweetie, just so they know what they may want to purchase to go with it!)


Coach- So like Adorable Wife said, the new trainer has been a welcome addition to our little family. So far this week, I have been able to log about 2 1/2 hours on it, with another half hour on the schedule tomorrow. It was a bit different than I thought it was going to be. I'm not sure what I thought it was going to be like, perhaps a bit more noise and a lot less sweat. Side bar: I am a sweaty beast! That towel that is under the bike... soaked completely through it... and then some, those bike thongs would do nothing for me.

Anyway, now that you are all thoroughly grossed out by my beastliness, I will tell you a little more about the trainer. I got it last Saturday while Adorable Wife was off gallivanting with Stacie. I was at home with the boys, attempting to get them ready for their overnight stay with the grandparents, when suddenly there was a knock at the door. This was not your friendly "we're just friends stopping by to say hello," or even the "would you like to read our pamphlet?" type of knocks, this was the "beat down your door with three swings of my sledgehammer" knock that could only mean delivery. I rushed to the door to find the Fed Ex man hopping back in his truck. I ran out to his truck and kissed him full on the mouth gave the delivery man a thumbs up and grabbed our package. I proceeded to set up the trainer, which was astonishingly simple, and jumped on to make sure it worked. It did and I sent Adorable Wife a picture message to let her know that our new baby had arrived (if only the real ones were that easy). Unfortunately I wasn't able to get any spin time as I rushed to finish packing before I had to leave. It turned out I did a packing fail; leaving several important items of mine at home (eg. underwear).

It has been a good first week with the trainer and I can already tell that we are going to be the best of friends. Just being able to shift with the gears on the bike seems to be sufficient and we also got a riser block holder thing, which I would very much recommend to level out your bike and help stabilize it. The only negative would be that there is quite a bit more vibration on the trainer than the road. My hands started to get numb from the vibrations. This could probably be cured with some sweet riding gloves. Perhaps we should name the little guy. Is that weird? I still haven't given my bike a name yet... I don't feel like he's earned it yet. Maybe after a good winter he'll have earned a name.  
Don't forget to enter our giveaway from Chrissy's Knee High Socks so you can do all of your training and living in sassy style! Go HERE to enter!

8 comments:

Unknown said...

I've been wanting a trainer, actually this exact one, for a little while now. I think I'm going to hunker down and use my 20% off REI coupon and buy one. All i want to do this winter is sit in front of my TV, watch Glee and spin

Unknown said...

You'll really like the trainer. It can get a little monotonous, but it's a good winter alternative! :)

Big Daddy Diesel said...

I am a huge believer in the trainer, you can train on certain aspects of the bike that are not safe on the road. And you already found the secret of surviving the trainer, GOOD TV!!!

I suggest looking to but some Spinerval DVD

Here is a tough trainer workout I think to do

Total time 40 mins
5 mins warmup - big ring
5 mins intervals, all in the big ring, every five minutes click to a higher gear, so on your fifth 5 min interval you will be 5 clicks. then 5 min cool down in your small ring. Your legs will burn, but you will be a monster on the bike next season

PS - We all are sweat beast on the trainer

Big Daddy Diesel said...

http://tridiesel.blogspot.com/2010/06/how-to-name-your-bike.html

KovasP said...

I don't mind the trainer, the only thing I don't like is how hard you work and yet slow you go (or maybe it's just me).

Clarissa said...

Sweet Home Alabama??

The Boring Runner said...

Whenever my wife watches Oprah, I always become the worst husband ever. That woman has some kind of power over other women. (but, I DO do a mean Oprah impression... "YOU get a car, YOU get a car, YOU get a car!"

lol - re: forgetting stuff while packing. Just two weeks ago I forgot running shirts. (done underwear too - hello commando!)

Allison said...

I loathe the trainer.... seriously loathe it. I hope it treats you much much better than me :)