the post

book reviews

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workouts in a binder for indoor cycling. dirk friel and wes hobson. velopress $29.95 89 sweatproof pages. ringbound softcover

workouts for indoor cycling

one or two folks have told me over the years that thewashingmachinepost is a little off-kilter - not your average cycling column, and i have taken this as a compliment. normal you can get elsewhere. and while i haven't gone out of my way to be a little bit different (ok, the phrase they used was 'weird') sometimes you just can't help it. and this is one of those occasions

dave trendler at velopress very kindly offered to send me a copy of 'workouts in a binder for indoor cycling' in january of this year. at that particular time the weather in the uk was just ideal for sitting at home in the kitchen astride the trusty colnago with the rear wheel clamped onto a roller, ready to pedal my wee heart out watching the wind and rain continuing their incessant battering on the window (and pretty much everything else)

unfortunately there are two flaws in this scenario. firstly, i am no longer allowed to use a turbo trainer in the house after a 'hole in the lino' situation several years ago, and secondly, the book in question never actually made it to washingmachinepost towers. and due to stock levels in colorado, a second copy of the book ony turned up just a few weeks ago.

the law according to sod dictates that, at the time of writing, the sun has been splitting the paving stones for several days, with only a breath of wind (for islay at least), and definitely not the sort of weather that would drive the avid cyclist onto a turbo trainer. well, not this cyclist.

so, for once in it's life thewashingmachinepost is going to be ahead of the game, because this review will be well ahead of this winter's turbo trainer roundup that you're bound to get in the 'normal' cycling press

much as the thought of spending time on a turbo trainer fills me with dread, it would be fair to say that this is usually because of the terrible, monotonous boredom of pedalling like an idiot for several minutes that feel like hours wearing an ipod playing something motivational. this book is designed to change all that.

the authors are both former professional athletes, friel from the world of road cycling and hobson from triathlons (well, somebody's got to do it:-) they have organised the book into an opening section dealing with explanations of how to interpret the workouts that follow, interpretation of training zones, perceived effort and critical power. if this has put you off already, persevere dear reader, because lots of this stuff was beginning to leave me cold too. but my mind was changed.

since the main body of the book has to be the workouts, i moved swiftly to the first one to see what purgatory awaited, via definitions and descriptions (which actually turned out to be rather helpful) and workout plans that allow the enthusiastic indoor cyclist to schedule a series of workouts over five and twelve weeks (or sixteen weeks if you're a triathlete). but now to that first workout.

now hopefully i have understood this in the way it was meant to be understood: start with a 16 minute warm up, consisting five minutes easy pedalling above 90 rpm, followed by five minutes of alternating 30 seconds standing and 30 seconds seated. the warm-up finishes with six minutes alternating between one minute with right leg only, one minute left leg only.

then on to the main course: set one, choose a gear to maintain 70 rpm for two minutes and repeat six times, observing three minute 'rest periods' in between maintaining 100rpm; set two same procedure but six lots of three minutes. assuming you make it to the end without seeing spots in front of your handlebars, you can spend five minutes cooling down while staying seated and alternating chainrings.

that lot should take you to 63 minutes and is intended to simulate a rolling hilly course. there are another 61 of those, all designed to strengthen a particular area of the cyclist's armoury and all on sweatproof pages. the longest workout i could find lasts for 150 minutes - that's a whole two and a half hours on a turbo trainer - longer than some folks would spend on a bike outdoors. however, because these are structured sessions, it seems more than likely that while the two and a half hours wouldn't necessarily fly by, there are enough variations to keep the mind (and body) well occupied.

the ring binding is a great idea, since it means that pages won't close over mid repetition and the book's size is just ideal for sticking in a jersey's rear pocket (though i've no idea why you would want to). i have not owned a turbo trainer since the lino incident, and i'm not sure that i really want another one. however, if winter weather conditions where you live are particularly inclement, this book could well be considered indispensible. very impressive

the book can be ordered direct from the velopress website in the usa, uk readers can order from cordee

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this website is named after graeme obree's championship winning 'old faithful' built using bits from a defunct washing machine

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as always, if you have any comments on this nonsense, please feel free to e-mail and thanks for reading.

this column appears, as regular as clockwork on this website every two weeks. (ok so i lied) sometimes there are bits added in between times, but it all adds to the excitement.

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