To get to the punchline of this blog before I get selling the idea to you, we have just taken delivery of a healthy stock of Wahoo smart trainers, both the KickR and the KickR Core, with more of the fabulous Wahoo KickR bikes to follow at the end of February. are in the shop ready to for pickup right now, and can be reserved over the phone or purchased on line. Don't miss out, these babies are in high demand and, like many bikes, not such great supply.
UPDATE:& WE ARE DOWN TO OUR LAST KICKR AND ONE CORE BUT WITH MORE DUE IN AT THE END OF THE MONTH. PLEASE RING TO RESERVE IF YOU WOULD LIKE A KICKR OR KICKR CORE OR KICKR BIKE, WE WILL CONFIRM STOCK WITH YOU.
If a KickR bike is what you are after, please ring to reserve. The last batch were nearly all spoken for before they arrived.
So, what is all the fuss about? What can you do on a smart trainer that a normal old fashioned trainer can't do?
Firstly, your trainer doesn't have to be smart to be able to send information via Bluetooth or ANT+ to your computer. A dumb trainer with the necessary sensors would be able to do that, or even a bike with sensors on a dumb(er) trainer, would achieve that minimum. This would allow you to ride in a virtual world such as Zwift or Fulgaz, or training programs such as Trainer Road. But what if the computer could control the trainer? What if information about climb gradients and resistance could be fed to your trainer so that resistance increased and decreased automatically as you ride up and down hills? The game becomes more immersive, more realistic... and more fun!
Where would this take you? Well, there are many interactive cycling apps out there both for ipad and PC. Many of these allow for group riding, meeting up with mates online and going for a virtual rag around the mountains, racing, league racing even, training sessions together with your friends or club - or just riding along a piece of scenic road chilling with some sounds, meandering up the climbs and flying down the descents. Almost as good as riding in real life (IRL). You won't believe the fitness gains you will be quickly making by just having fun!
Add a couple of accessories like the KickR Climb, which raises and lowers the front of the bike while you are riding up and down hills, and a KickRHeadwind which connects via Bluetooth ot Ant+ to your heart rate monitor and the Wahoo Eco-system (the trainer+ the Climb) and blows more wind the harder you are working, and the real world has come to you! (Joking aside, do invest in a good fan if you are going to do indoor training, it's a must).
If you don't want to be bothered putting your own bike on a trainer, the pinnacle of the Wahoo range is the Kickr Bike.
This gives you the full experience; customizable gear shifters for campag, shimano or Sram, front end raises whilst climbing, resistance managed by an app, and completely adjustable to match the set up of your own bike. There are even buttons to steer with once the software programmers have caught up. I can vouch that as the ex-owner of a gym quality Wattbike Pro myself, training on the KickR is taking me to a whole new level. Although I envisage a lot of Zwift crashes if people are steering themselves down some of those mountain hairpins.
