Fresh off the trainer having viewed my new video "California's Pacific Coast Highway" by Bike O Vision Cycling Journey's series here are my impressions and thoughts.
I liked it. I rode the trainer for 20 minutes and it's the first time I didn't reach inside my bike basket for the timer to see how much time was left until I only had 5 minutes left. That's a record. Really the only reason I looked was to determine if there was enough time remaining to bother getting off and turning on the fan because I forgot to before I got on the trainer and I was working up a little sweat. Even while watching something on TV I usually go to the timer several times in a session to see how much time is left.
The video - the first section was flatter scenery than what I experienced when I drove a portion of the coast. After I finished my session I flipped through the chapters and saw that indeed much of the rest of it was viewing the high cliffs I remembered along the Pacific coast. The part I recall most about my drive was the section between Carmel and Big Sur and also north from San Francisco to Napa The quality of the video was good, the music was ho-hum and if it really mattered or I felt like I needed more motivation I would mute the sound and kick out my own tunes. However I don't have an iPod or other such device and I'm not sure I'd want to blast out tunes that would be motivating through the stereo which isn't close enough to plug in headphones.
The experience - that pleasantly surprised me the most. I wasn't expecting a lot, after all it is an indoor trainer and it is a DVD on TV. Neither of which gets me excited. I found that the speed of the video was faster than what I ride, however it was realistic enough. Just into the video a bit there was a section where sand had blown across the road and I'm not sure if it was me, the DVD player, the video or what, but I felt it slip a bit. It sounds silly, it was almost imperceptible but I felt it none the less, or I have a vivid imagination. That imagination is so vivid that when I saw sections of the road in subsequent minutes that were sand covered most sections of the road, I got apprehensive and gripped the hand grips tighter. Again, not sure if it's just me but it felt like the video slowed a bit on inclines and gained speed on descents I know I pedaled like made during the flat straight stretches. The video is 90 minutes and with my normal sessions being either 20 or 30 minutes it's going to take a few rides to explore it all and I really look forward to it.
All in all, I'd recommend this to others. It is relatively inexpensive at Amazon or other places on the web and it makes a torturous exercise a bit more pleasant. I also ordered another one from them on Pureto Rico, however that was on back-order and just shipped a day ago. I'll post a review of that one when I get to try it out.
Click here for a link to view it at Amazon (full disclosure, I am in no way affiliated with the creators of this video or Amazon)
Have you had any experience with training DVD's and what did and didn't you like about them?
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