What is it that has you on the trainer before/after work? Vanity? Health? Pride? Weight? Youth? Competitive Spirit? Giving in or avoiding other addictions?
I’m not a betting man… but I’ll put money that you want to be fit enough to earn a nickname from your friends this summer, and I don’t mean things like: Gramps, Fatty, (not you! 😛), Bricks McGee either.
Have you been following Rule #39? Hmm? You don’t recall Rule #39 of OREC? WHAT? Okay… you should know some, if not most of the Official Rules of the European Cyclist… Rule #39 states:
Motivational music during training shall consist of late 90s trance or progressive house, hereby known as ‘euro beats.’ NO EXCEPTIONS.
Rule #39 is a rule… no.., a law etched in stone and written in blood. Its as PRO as White bar tape, and should be taken as seriously. If you have been on the trainer or rollers listening to White Snake, Led Zepplin or Aerosmith or something else… Stop right now. Go on youtube and make yourself an hour long eurobeat quicklist. Once that is done, get on your bike and let the music direct your cadence. Eurobeats create perfect warmups, ten minute long intervals in Zone 5 heart rate, and sweat all over your trainer mat. This is a workout very similar to those high pace spin classes. The video and auditory stimulation decreases performance fears, while focusing you on footage of other cyclists doing what you want to be doing outside.
Being on the trainer should leave you feeling tired afterward. Your goal may be attainable (some of you have already lost hope reading this), and some may even emotionally benefit from all of this beginning of the season training… Just don’t forget why you are doing this. Your feelings for riding a trainer/rollers are precisely your motivating factor. The underlying feeling that you have when you have disregarded everyone’s remarks but your own is what drives you.
You want to be out on the pavè in April kicking ass and taking names. When you fly past the barely moving grupetto out on some random stretch of road, they will all be like “Who was that?” You may even get that nickname you were wanting; something like Il Trattino.
Get on that trainer or do something non-sedentary in order to become the echappee tearing up the climbs. Work on those endurance miles. Lose that weight, gain that extra percentage of confidence. Just Ride. Ride lots.
Let us see that fancy footwork.
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