Virtual Realities

Turbo training addicts reveal their hard-won tips, gathered over countless indoor sessions, for thriving throughout the winter

- John Whitney

01 Chain reaction 

While little gets eroded on smart bikes such as the Wattbike or Tacx Bike, it's a different story with the bike rigged up to your turbo. Even if it's kept indoors all winter, it doesn't mean it's maintenance-free. "I recently took my turbo bike into a workshop and in the words of the mechanic, my chain was 'drier than a camel's scrotum'," says Kate Allan, winner of the RTTC National 50-mile and 10-mile time trials in 2022. "You still need to oil your chain or it's going to get very dry. You can get a sweat capture that sits over the top tube and stops chain erosion, too." 

02 Weapons of distraction

For Andrea Parish, time triallist and current Chair of CTT, the national governing body for time trialling in Britain, a turbo session requires all manner of distraction to take her mind off the fact she's feverishly pedalling nowhere in a humid nook of her house. Online platforms such as Zwift and Discord, which allow her to talk in real time to fellow gamers, is that distraction. A mass, messy organised Zwift ride, she says, is the way to sharpen your focus, as you try to maintain your power output and hold your place in the virtual peloton. "If you're trying to control where you're at in the group, not let people past you and to stay with others, it's all the distraction you'll need." Kate Allan has a similar outlook. "Training indoors, by its very nature, isn't exciting, so make it as interactive as possible. Go onto Zwift, do a group ride, a race, pick a challenge and work towards it."

03 The sound of music