Kickr It

On Wednesday I mentioned that my wind trainer had arrived. I meant to talk about it yesterday but just didn't have the chance. Anyway, I thought I would take the chance now.

So anyway this is it:

Spinny Good

As some will know from looking at it, it is a Wahoo Kickr (yes there is no 'e', spellcheck loves that) and it is a pretty nifty device. Now any opinions I give at this point are going to be a little bit uninformed, since I haven't actually ridden it yet. The bike session I had last night would have been a perfect opportunity, but I had to get home from work somehow and doing my ride session seemed like a good way of doing so. Anyway I will probably jump on sometime on the weekend to give it a spin. But apart from the riding bit (which admittedly is a pretty major factor) everything else has been really impressive so far. Solid build, and by that I mean SOLID, this thing weighs about 25kg. Most of that weight is flywheel, which bodes well for how it will feel once I do get a chance to ride it.

The support arms, the locking pins, everything just has a solid, 'built to last' feel to it. Well built too, little things like the height adjustment being premarked for certain wheel sizes, having a carry handle etc, all just give a good impression. Nice and compact as well, I was surprised by just how small it is. I have seen pictures and so had an idea of the size, but the image I had in my head was still a bit bigger. It isn't a bad thing, it doesn't need to be bigger, and this will make storage easy, just smaller than expected is all. 

Whilst I haven't ridden it, I have set up everything else. For those unfamiliar, the Kickr is controllable, ie you can dial in power levels, it gives speed and distance read outs etc. The easiest way to access these features (there are other ways) is by downloading an app to your Apple device. I am far from an Applefanatic, but I do have an iPhone, so downloading the app etc was really easy. Once I had it I was very impressed with how easy it was to get the phone and the Kickr to talk to each other. In this day and age of interconnectivity everything talks to everything else, but some of those connections work better than others and this was an example of one that worked easily. The only issue I have is that I am more of an Android person than an Apple person, so if I switch back, it is going to be a pain. You can use it with a PC as well, but it isn't as easy.

I love the idea of the direct drive trainer. Ever since I first saw the Lemond, I thought it was a good design, the Kickr just builds on that. One of my biggest issues with wind trainers is the wheel to roller interface. I hate the wear, I hate the feel, etc. Some of this may be due to all my trainers being cheap ones, but it is more than that. I don't like the idea behind how they work. Direct drive, I like that.

So all up I am looking forward to getting into it. Wind Trainers are something that I have been aware of for a while, and have been aware that I probably should use. I get that they can be a very powerful tool. However, previously my dislike of them has stopped me going down that route. Hopefully with this new one I can get over that. The plan at the moment is to use the trainer when the weather makes riding outside unpleasant. But more than that I am hoping to use it for a session a week or so anyway. As silly as it sounds I think there are some things that you can do more effectively on a trainer than on a bike. We shall see.

Away from shiny new gear that spins, I went swimming this morning. Probably the best way to describe the session is to say it was a lot like my run from yesterday. That is, not heaps of fun. I got through fine, but I was off the pace, and it hurt. It wasn't helped by the session being a pretty tough one as well. Like the run yesterday I am not all that concerned, it takes a few sessions for the body to get over the shock of being asked to train again and get back into it. I am pretty confident that in a few swims time I will be feeling comfortable again. There is no easy way through those first few sessions back. They have to be done, and sometime they are unpleasant. But not doing them won't make getting back into training any easier at a later date. Sometimes all you can do is put your head down, suck it up and get through, safe in the knowledge that it will get easier.

I hope...