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Indoor round-the-world training

Posted on: Monday, January 7th, 2008 at 4:19 pm by: Norman G. Gautreau
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Racer mate What could be better than training on a bicycle race course in Brazil on Monday, Hawaii on Tuesday, Australia on Wednesday, Arizona on Thursday, and Switzerland on Friday—all from your own home, even during a blizzard, and without having to buy airplane tickets and carting your bike to the airport? It can be done with the amazing products from RacerMate . What’s more, you can do all this while scientifically working on your leg strength, pedaling technique, and cardiovascular fitness.

I shudder to remember the hours I spent training indoors during the New England winter on my wind trainer. Nothing, nothing , could be more boring or painful than spending up to two hours pedaling like crazy while looking at the walls of my living room. Now all of that has changed with the computrainer from RacerMate.

The RacerMate Computrainer is a sophisticated bicycle ergometer with integrated hardware and software that is plugged into a television monitor for a life-like simulation of hundreds of different courses. You can download free almost 300 videos of actual courses—from the Hawaiian Ironman, to World Championship, and Olympic courses. What’s more, there are features that, using satellite navigation and topographic technology, allow you to build your own courses. With this software running, you can cycle these courses, experiencing the curves, the climbs, the dips, and the scenery in realistic high-definition interactive graphics.

Not only that, you can get information that you could not get if you were riding on the actual bicycle course. In addition to typical cycling data such as speed and heart rate, you can also get data that analyzes your pedal stroke for flat or dead spots so you can increase power and efficiency. Furthermore, there is an adjustable aerodynamic drag factor that will help you improve your riding position. And all of this data is displayed on the screen in front of you under the moving graphics of the scenic bicycle course.

With the Computrainer you are working with your own bike. RacerMate also offers the Computrainer package with a bike, the Velotron .

As you might expect, all of this comes with a fairly steep price tag. You can expect to pay anywhere from about $1,600 to several times that. However, the features described here are available at the low end of the price range. At the higher end you can get additional functions that you would ordinarily find only in a sophisticate sports lab or perhaps an Olympic Training Center.

But think of it this way the next time heavy snow is in your forecast: for that price you get to take virtual cycling vacations and training rides in scenic places all over the world like—say, for example, Hawaii with its beaches and swaying palms. About the only thing the computrainer won’t do for you is pour you a Mai-Tai after you get off the bike. But you’re in serious training anyway, so you should pass on the Mai-Tai.