The below is a guest blog post by Liz Peak. Liz was living in the UK but has moved back home to Melbourne and is spending two weeks in a hotel, quarantining to reduce the risk of coronavirus.
Liz has some tips on setting up for indoor cycling, something you can do even if in hotel quarantine.
Coronavirus restrictions are finally easing up, giving us more freedom to get back out into the great outdoors. But for some, self-isolation is still the reality, and may be for some time. Whether it’s because of your health or because you’ve just returned from overseas, it’s really important when self-isolating to keep both mind and body active, and indoor cycling is a great way to do this.
Indoor cycling seems like deal breaker for some – you’ve already paid hundreds or thousands for your bike, lights, helmet, kit, panniers, pedals, gearsets, custom flat carbon handlebars…and you don’t want to fork out more for what might be only a short period, but a quick indoor set up doesn’t have to break the bank.
Here’s some great tips for pulling together a quick, cheap, indoor riding set-up.
Utilise the second-hand market
As soon as the lockdown hit, prices for stationary trainers at brick and mortar stores skyrocketed (and are often still sold out). But eBay has a thriving second-hand market where you can pick up a trainer for a reasonable price (and sell it for a similar price a couple of months later if need be).
Subscribe to a training program
There are lots out of options out there, each with its own advantages. The important thing is to get something that will track your riding, just to keep you accountable, even if only to yourself.
Get a smart sensor to track your effort
This can be a smart trainer, a speed sensor or a heartrate monitor. Any one of these will allow you to connect to just about any training program and measure your output. If watts per kilo doesn’t mean anything to you yet, don’t worry, you’ll soon be talking FTPs with the best (or worst) of them.
If you don’t have a big wall-mounted flat-screen to watch your progress along the fake highways of your chosen training program, buy a music stand for your laptop. You can get a good sturdy one for around $50.
Get a Netflix subscription
Unless you’re very keen, watching your own effort gets old pretty quick.
And finally...
If you’re worried about getting an indoor trainer delivered to your hotel room while you’re in quarantine, don’t be – the Department of Health and Human Services are very keen to get you exercising in any way possible while you’re in isolation, and will assist any way they can, even if the result does make your room look ridiculous.