Anyone have any idea how many watts you can get out of something like this: Amazon.com: GOREDI Under Desk Bike Pedal Exerciser, Portable Mini Exercise Bike with LCD Display for Home/Office, Desk Cycle for Leg/Arm with Handle, Leg Exerciser While Sitting for Seniors 26042034 : Sports & Outdoors ?
If it’s 100-150 I think it might be worthwhile to do a few hours of base building during the day. Has anyone tried anything like this and did it help?
I struggle with long endurance (anything over 4 hours hard, really) and this could be a great way to get a bit of work done during the day, so to speak.
What about just riding your bike. Get a laptop stand for it if you don’t have one already. I can’t imagine anything that cheap is accurate nor give enough watts to be helpful.
These are for the elderly to get the blood flowing. There’s nothing here in terms of resistance. It’s a good off the wall idea but it’s not a great experience. I tried using one once and the entire motion etc was so weird and off, I can’t see it being positive for cycling training at all
Good to know! I shall seal this away in the Dumb Idea cabinet.
I would love to ride my bike during the day but I’m a videogame developer with a lot of screens. If I set up a standing desk I’m sure I could just about make it work with the MTB and the trainer, but I think that would have to wait until I have a more suitable office space.
Thanks both!
Have you considered the challenge might be something else? A quick glance at your calendar, you are doing these long rides (or at least the most recent) at the upper end of intensity, I recon 0.85 IF is going to start to cook most people at 4+ hours. How is the fuelling, comfort, etc.
Beyond 4 hours, I think a slightly lower intensity is a better idea than a tiny bicycle under the desk.
I can’t find a chart of duration and IF but some older threads suggest 0.85 is on the edge at 4-5 hours and requires perfect fuelling.
I put a bike on a spare trainer as an underdesk bike. I liked it, but felt like it needed to be setup more like a recumbent, so that I could pedal, still use my desk, and not hit my knees on the desk. Its still on my todo list to make a v2 of, but didn’t end up using the 1st version for long.
Works better on a standing desk where you can adjust the height so your knees clear but height is still reasonable for usage.
Treadmill desk? Less specific but might be easier setup.
Errr, 0.85 IF for 4-5 hours is max target pace for an endurance gravel race for me. I can’t imagine wanting to do that as indoors training, and certainly not on a regular basis. I’d be destroyed afterwards.
Yeah, that’s a pretty good point!
I think I’m blowing myself up trying to keep up, basically. My fuelling is decent, my own maurten mix plus a drink at about 120-140g/hr (I’m 97kg at the moment). I think I just need to get stronger and a bit lighter. At 4w/kg this will become way easier to ride the power for the duration.
That’s the point being made—I’m racing 4-5hr gravel races and cooking myself 3.5-4h in at 0.85IF.
Oops, sorry, I misunderstood the context. I think most everyone struggles to maintain 0.85IF at that duration.
You need to find a way to ride at slightly lower IF while still meeting your race objectives. The things that have worked for me in similar situations:
- Execute an appropriate TrainerRoad plan
- Strict race pacing within achievable power/IF ranges, try BestBikeSplit
- Minimize/moderate efforts above threshold, especially fast starts and tough climbs - these will kill your late-race pacing
- Perfect prep and nutrition/hydration
- Efficient riding - drafting, position on bike, braking, cornering, tires/pressure, etc.
- Minimal gains - there’s a lot you can do on a tight budget without replacing the bike or wheels
Longer term - improve body weight/composition without impacting your training or quality of life.
Yeah, I was a little sick coming into the race, just slightly, very cold and hard start following the lead group (silly), then 80km with the second group on the road. BestBikeSplit works for me for something like Mallorca 312, but for these gravel races here in South Africa, you have to punch hard at the start or get dropped. This most recent race, The Gallows, is kind of an edge case - about 10-15km of hard singletrack/MTB trails, some quite brutal gravel and a summit finish (which I rode up at 250w 
). Everyone’s numbers are worse on this race due to the toll it takes on your body, so, I think I just cooked myself, tried to stay 4th-5th wheel most of the time in the group to keep out of chaos, but positional fighting + up/down techy singletrack takes it out of you.
I’ve been doing tons of racewinners/hard start efforts, but basically I need to move from 320FTP to 360FTP and I’ll be able to hang with the second group a lot better. I’ve been 4w/kg before at 360-365FTP and felt very racey, but that was 2 toddlers and 4 years ago 
Thanks all for the help!