I have two workouts I need to do while traveling, one an endurance workout and one a threshold workout. I did not bring my power pedals with me. My two spin bike options (at different gyms) are a Schwinn Carbon Blue with no display (so would be going off of heart rate only) or a Keiser (don’t know the model) that does have a display with power, etc. Getting to the gym with the Keiser is a little bit of an extra hassle since it is a longer drive.
So my question is, would it be worth driving the extra distance to the gym with the Keiser at least for the threshold workout so I can do that one based on power? I’m thinking the endurance workout can be done primarily based on heart rate and/or RPE such that driving the extra distance to use the Keiser probably isn’t worth it. But maybe it is for the threshold workout, unless the power numbers generated by the Keiser are likely to be so far off compared to my power pedals that they are worthless.
Same as Power13 said. In fact, I might not even worry about the structure. Treat it like an outdoor ride, get in an hour or two, and reduce the mental stress. If the bikes are busy, go for a run, hit the elliptical, do some strength work. Just basically moving my body so I can feel less guilty about enjoying the food while traveling.
I count myself lucky in that while I have a work trip coming up this week it also aligns with a recovery week on my master’s plan.
What I’ll do is my 2x endurance workouts using HR, and maybe 1 or 2 Wukarfit. So I’ll bring shoes, bibs, base layer, hr strap, maybe a cadence sensor since I have some that got replaced with crank arm pwms.
So I’ll record the “ride” on my Garmin watch and then match it to the TR workout in the calendar. In an ideal world I’d bring a bike and my feedback trainer, but not really worth it for a week.
I’m heading to Taipei on Sunday for a week and I am brining both of these items with me…although at this point, the weather looks like I won’t need the trainer.
I have gotten pretty good about breaking down and rebuilding my bike…plus my travel bag is pretty easy to move around (as opposed to my previous hard case), so now I bring it with my on almost every trip, even if it is only for a day or two (assuming I travel to somplece where it worth riding).
I just got the Feedback trainer but haven’t used it yet…but I will be traveling to some areas this year where I am uncertain about the riding options, so it will be good to travel with. As Unbound is my big goal for the year, I really need to be focusing on volume and don’t want to miss too many riding days if I can avoid it.
I have a Keiser and use it for almost all of my TR sessions. I love the bike, but have power meter pedals on it since the readout on the Keiser display is a bit divorced from reality. (If it’s the only source of info you have, then it’s great! For a couple of years this was my only power number source for training and it worked wonderfully.)
Oh, I just noticed this…why not just bring your pedals with you and install them on whatever bike you decide to use? That way you can still do your workouts as planned.
@bmarum when I travel I try to stay at hotels with a Peloton. The power accuracy isn’t always there but it’s something. I also only do endurance rides by re-arranging my week to do the high-quality workouts at home. I find anything more almost unbearable without cooling.
I used to do workouts on a Keiser M3 that was in a spin bike room at work. I would put my Garmin Vector3 pedals on it to do my workouts. Depending upon which bike I got on it was out by up to 100W. So I wouldn’t trust the reading of the Keiser to be accurate to your power meter anyway. Heart rate might be a better option as long as you have sufficient cooling. The spin bike room I was in had no fans and the cardiac drift I would get from overheating made sweet spot workouts unbearable until I started bringing my own fan.
I would suggest that just getting on and riding might be the best thing with no specific power targets in mind and just ride to feel to avoid much de-training. It is unlikely that you will nail the workouts anyway basing them off heart rate or an unreliable power meter. Just pick the one that’s convenient and put in some time pedalling.
When I travel and have to use hotel spin bike, I usually go for RPE and HR.
Prioritizing:
-Rest week, spinning the legs with no care to power
-Z2, if possible changing also the plan in advance
-VO2 max, no need to go with power when you have to smash it no matter what
-if Treshold, I don’t do on/off intervales, but I smooth the ramp up to a couple of minutes, just to gradually get the HR where it needs to be and the RPE to be on point
