Training on Vacations

Hey All, I’ve a training plan start date of December 28 (taking an extended period off to rest a grumpy knee) but I’ve a cruise trip departing Ft. Lauderdale on Jan 18. Yeah, I want to take my pedals with and a couple sets of kit along.

The plan is to spin off the existing pedals, put on my pedals, and pull up the workout du juor. I did this on another cruise but did so using RPE (this was before the pedals). Have you done this or similar before? How cooperative are such gyms about clientele wrenching on their gear? Are they typically okay, do they jump in and do it, or is it a problem all around? I’m guessing it all depends on whoever is there at the time, eh? I’m also guessing, the existing pedals could be on their real tight. Its a long cruise and so at least I want to get some workouts in and I suppose worst comes to worst I can do some RPE work.

Thanks in advance.

What pedals do you have? Depending on the spin bike you might not be able to use them? I know Powertap/Assomia’s can have trouble because you need to get behind the pedal. While Garmin’s you use a pedal wrench which can fit.

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I haven’t done a cruise in a long time but did a few (inconveniently) during training periods. The first issue is whether you’ll have access to the bikes. If memory serves, I recall both NCL and Disney disallowed using my using the bikes outside of supervised classes. The class sign-up for NCL was also setup in such a way to deny back-to-back days: sign-up for the next day was available only during class and they fill up quickly

YMMW. You may want to check with the cruise line, reviews, etc to know more about bike availability. Once you’re there, most likely the pedals on the bikes will need a hex wrench rather than a pedal wrench, but again, that will vary. And if you need a pedal wrench, remember the spin bike pedals have probably never been removed and your wrench might conceivably be considered a weapon in carry-on luggage.

If you haven’t traveled with power pedals before, my advice is to remove the batteries before travel to make sure they won’t accidentally activate & drain in transit.

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I used to travel a lot for work and what i’d do is just sticky tape my phone to the screen of a gym bike and do a basic RPE workout for an hour. It’s not going to be perfect but it’s easy enough to pedal at a particular effort level for a particular time and get 95% of the benefits.

Your biggest problem will be sufficient cooling. I used to create a puddle of sweat under the bike and i’d look like i’d had a bucket of water thrown over me. Other gym users would look at me in horror and no doubt disgust. :joy:

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I’ve done it when traveling to Asia….some excellent tips above, so I’ll just add a couple more.

  • Bring a pedal wrench AND Allen keys AND an adjustable wrench. You don’t know which you might need.

  • check with the cruise line re: what bikes they have. If they are just exercise bikes, it may not be worth your time. Also, if they are Peloton or another spin bike, they may already have one-sided SPD pedals…in which case just bring MTB shoes if you have them w/ SPD cleats.

  • bring a small bottle of penetrating oil. Go in the day you get onboard and lube them up really well, on both sides of the crank. Rust is a major problem and getting pedals off can be a beyotch. Even with penetrating oil, it has felt like I was stripping threads backing out old pedals.

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I’ve not done it on a cruise, but in hotels it really depends on who is around. If you’re alone, the only issues are having the right tools and being strong enough to free the pedals. Hotel staff tend to give you the stink eye when you break out the wrench, but I’ve never had one actually approach me.

In the end, it just wasn’t worth the trouble and I went back to just doing the occasional workout based on RPE and focusing on enjoying the vacation and time with loved ones rather than being a cyclist. It makes you even more motivated to ride when you get home.

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The new Garmin Relays so I’m good that way.

Thanks, I’m on Celebrity and when I was last on one of their boats hitting up the generic spin bikes wasn’t restricted. Also, any tooling that comes along to support this will definitely go into our checked bags instead of a carry on. Thank you

Cooling yes! I did a workout or two on my last cruise (an Alaskan cruise) and I was praying for people to go through the outdoor access – that would allow a cool air in. IIRC this sort of thing was addressed on one of the podcasts and the suggestion was to opt for short intensity – its over before overheating becomes too much of a problem.

I am a repeat customer on Celebrity, they had the usual dual sided pedals – side A was SPD and the other side had toe clips.

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That makes it easy…just bring MTB shoes with SPD pedals. Done.

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I assume he’s talking about the pedals cause they’re power meter pedals. But I could be wrong.

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Ahhh…you’re right. Forgot that part.

Revert back to my previous tips then!! :rofl:

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While I would probably bring my pedals and a coupe tools in an attempt to try it…

I would also recommend just not dealing with it. Just do some workouts without TR or power. I don’t think a couple weeks of non structure (but still put some thought into what you are doing and why) will hurt your performance.

I only did one cruise and I was more a beginner triathlete then (almost a decade ago). I did some stationary rides and treadmill runs, but my highlights were running in the places we pulled into port. I didn’t care about the numbers, just enjoyed running new places.

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I would skip the pedals and go RPE or use a HR monitor. Just not worth it. I did a few cruises and did some rowing plus stationary bike. It was a good cross train week

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