The 2001 season has been over for at least several weeks for most athletes, and some of you may be looking ahead to 2002. For most people the only way to get in winter bike training is on a trainer. There are several options available, from the basic trainer to those that give feedback on watts, cadence, speed, etc. At the top end is the CompuTrainer, which gives graphic feedback through your computer or TV screen.

Below is an example of how one athlete used his CompuTrainer on his way to his best season ever:

Erik Prince ended the 2001 season as the World Champion in the 25-29 age group at the Duathlon World Championships at Powerman Venray. He finished third overall (first American) and his time of 2:57 for the 15k/60k/7.5k race was just 12 minutes behind Pro World Champion Benny Vansteelant. Prince made significant gains in 2001 on the bike, and his progress started in the winter of 2000/2001. Prince lives in New Jersey, which had a rough winter. He also has a regular workweek and as a result he did most of his winter rides on his new CompuTrainer.

After two weeks of full rest his training for the 2001 season started in December. Over the next 3.5 months leading up to Powerman Alabama Prince did a total of 60 training rides, and all but 10 were done indoors on his CompuTrainer. His training began with easy rides which included high cadence and one leg drills. After the start of his base work he added moderate hill workouts (the grade is easily controlled on a CompuTrainer) and longer intervals, and eventually progressed to shorter and more intense intervals, done almost exclusively on his CompuTrainer.

Despite the cold weather in his hometown, Prince was ready to go at Powerman Alabama on March 25. He finished second overall, just missing first place in a sprint with Gabriel Urban. His 1:40 bike split was the third fastest in the age group ranks.

How did the CompuTrainer specifically help Prince? According to Prince, he liked the fact that it closely resembles riding outside in terms of terrain, and also really being able to focus on specific workouts. There was no place [outside] where I could do 5 minute intervals on a flat road to compare to against a later interval. When you are outside the circumstances always change because of cars, stoplights, and other things. Here I can concentrate on keeping a steady flow.

Other benefits of a CompuTrainer include:

The SpinScan graph charts the power
output of your pedal stroke

Because of his long commute to work, during the summer Prince still did a large number of his rides inside during the week. He also used the CompuTrainer data to adjust his bike position. I have used it to do bike setups. I usually try and get comfortable on it and then spin for ten minutes and look at rpms, the spinscan, heart rate, and watts, and then I will move the seat up and down and compare that data to another position.

To learn more about CompuTrainer visit www.computrainer.com.

Note - CompuTrainer is a long time advertiser on this website. However, as a CompuTrainer user and a coach of several athletes that use a CompuTrainer (including Erik Prince) I have seen first hand the benefits that can be gained by using this product.