Learning to Like the Trainer

You noticed I said like there…..definitely not love.

This has been my first cycling off season in six year as I’ve been always living somewhere with great weather all year long.  But now I’m living in the beautiful and incredible, Comox Valley…..but winter exists here.

Most years, there really isn’t much of a real winter….but the temperatures are still much lower than I’m used to.  However, this year the weather man decided to create way more snow than this area ever gets….just as a little welcome home gift for me.  Hahahaha.

I’ve been actually quite good with my integration back to winter…..the biggest adjustment being the use of a bike trainer.

I’ve written before about my un-love for the trainer, but this year I had to face the relationship and see what I could do.

I won’t keep things going in play-by-play story mode, and just list off the things that have made riding the trainer “okay” for me.

Watching Gary Vee – I’m a huge fan of Gary Vaynerchuk, but typically I don’t get a lot of free time to sit and watch any of his shows.  Due to my time on the trainer, I’ve been able to keep right up to date with absolutely any content he is putting out.

Treat Myself – If you’re like me and don’t overly enjoy riding the trainer, treat yourself after a couple weeks of successfully putting on the indoor miles and buy yourself a cool cycling gift…..or something from thatsweetgift.com.

Time with my Boys – By getting my miles done indoors on the trainer, I’m able to hang out with my boys while I ride.  Sometimes we play Xbox together while I ride, other times we do our own thing….but are together in the same room.  I love that.

Zen – It’s easy to get into that zen state while out riding the roads, but inside not so much.  I’ve been working at getting into that same state while on the trainer.  This has been a good mental test for me to go through.

Time – Okay, I’m reaching a little bit on this reason for getting to like the trainer….but time is always a factor.  There’s definitely less preparation time, and no riding side roads to get to main cycling routes.  I can get in a bunch of miles in less time on the trainer.

So, as I finish of my first off season in like six years…..I’ll continue getting my miles indoors.  How about you?  What enables you to tolerate your time on the trainer?