Spin Tech Training

Sometimes I ride the 3 miles each way to the studio, sometimes I drive.  I recommend riding there, because once when I drove, I forgot my shoes, and that really pissed me off.  Driving has that affect on people....

Anyway.  I roll up to the front door and am greeted with a vibrant, colorful display of bikes, clothing, accessories, and beer. 

Beer City Bicycles houses Spin Tech Training, a Computrainer facility here in Asheville NC.  I recently signed up to get some help with some training for the  P111K. 

As I walk into the showroom, Frank yells: "  Hey Stephen,  how ya doin',  put your bike in the rack over there and I'll get you set up".  I'm not used to people waiting on me but I welcome the help.  Within minutes, I am warming up on the Computrainer,  waiting for the computer to get warmed up as well. 

We calibrate the bike with the machine, and my 80 minutes of bliss gets started.  In front of me, I can see watts, heartrate, cadence, MPH and also the row of blocks which represent a percentage of my Functional Threshold Power.

My FTP is 247.  We found this out after submitting to a grueling, steady, hard 20 minute time trial.   I'm supposed to do it again after 4 weeks of training, and we are supposed to see some improvement....  I'm not sure if I would rather do that test or go to the dentist.  At least after the test, my mouth is not numb.

One concern when signing up for the training was that I would have to do several workouts inside each week.  As you know it is spring and we all want to be outside.   I was told that I had the option of coming in 1-2 times per week, and the rest of my training could be done outside.  And with the wet cold weather, this had turned out to be a great option. 

Do I recommend this as a training option?  Yes, definitely.  A quality workout 1-2 times per week,  80 minutes of my time, convenient location.  The only better option would be to have my own Computrainer.  The downside being that I would not have access to the wealth of training knowledge at Spin Tech. 

I had to bail on my plans for P111k  but am now planning on the P55.5 the following day.   And with the Fletcher Flyer 100 on the horizon,  I look forward to how much this training is going to help me.