We are straining without leaving home - remote training of professional and not very athletes

Surely you are already familiar with some not very honest sportsmen’s technologies (on Geektimes there were already publications about built-in electric motors in racers' bikes and technological plans to combat them), but most cyclists train first of all for themselves and use completely legal methods of training.

Since in order to win the race, you need to go the route again and again, but in reality the competition can take place on the other side of the planet and it is impossible to even reach the place of the future victory - therefore, these same methods are used by racers in the halls and at home, and we are mere mortal cyclists , we can follow their example. And ride in my apartment or office without the risk of crushing your favorite bug.

Many athletes can make a career without departing far from the sofa (attention: next to him, but not on him!). If one of your friends is not involved in sports, because hesitates to leave the house - let him stay there, but give him a link to this article. Spoiler: I will talk about how, without leaving the comfort zone, wind kilometers on a bike.
')
My name is Alexey and I have been thinking all my life that I can ride a bike; but with this delusion I broke up, having got on the bicycle training of Petersburg triathletes . As it turned out, I fall as soon as I sit on the bike (in truth, I really couldn’t sit on it). The fact is that the training was carried out on cycle stations and the ability to keep balance on a bike while driving on a regular road didn’t help me here - the cyclists, which are discussed, do not tolerate unnecessary movements, such as stupid taxiing, which we usually do at the beginning.

I responded to the offer to learn how to ride a bike right away, even though it sounded wild (had I ever done sotochka across the cross-road, especially without straining?). “Get on the bike” helped me these guys, triathletes (professional amateurs as I call them now):



From near to far:

• Oleg, director of the construction equipment rental company, repeated finisher of the IRONMAN series competitions;
• Natalia, female trainer, nutrition consultant, is now preparing and preparing for the IRONMAN distance;
• Ivan, coach and triathlete, who took 3rd place at the World Championships IRONMAN 2016 held in America on the island of Hawaii. And the repeated winner and medalist of this series;
• Alexey (my namesake), an entrepreneur, until (like me) falls off the bike.

It all starts without space technology: with a roller bike. Riding on it looks boring, but try putting a bicycle on it and what you used to know about the ability to concentrate, keep balance and stay calm - now you need to make the most of it. Actually, for athletes the ability to “ride a bike” means the ability to work without difficulty on such a machine, i.e. You can learn how to ride only in the gym (or, at home, under the bellowing of a remote trainer or the meowing of a local cat). Roller blades are used by professional cyclists (not to be distracted during the race and not to waste energy on constant steering and maintaining balance) and amateurs to improve their skills: the ability to concentrate and focus.

Rolling machine, photo from the Internet

On a roller machine, as in real life: first, gently, holding on to the wall, then more confidently, but occasionally falling. Therefore, it is recommended to go between the wall and the easy chair, for example. Once you have learned how to stand on the machine (you need one or two workouts), you can start working closely with the trainer and move on to a more interesting machine.

Out!

The idea is quite simple: we remove the rear wheel from a bicycle, put this machine instead, and pedal. Something like this you probably saw from friends who bought an exercise bike, which most likely now only collects dust. In fact, you need to get used to the horse on which you will be jumping at the crucial moment, and the bike station allows you to train on your bike (not only on the highway road, but also on the hybrid and MTB).

The electric motor, which, on the contrary, makes the life of the rider harder

Inside the machine - an electric motor (quite legal), which creates the necessary load on the cassette (a set of rear stars of the bicycle) according to a given program. You can start with simple exercises and diagnosis of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems of the future rider under the supervision of a coach. But it is much more interesting to play Need For Speed ​​to ride on a virtual track. Take, for example, the French Alps:

Alps home delivery

The bicycle machine connects to a computer, a computer to a projector or a TV (the guys with whom I trained have both, the projector is almost not visible in the photos), and - oops! we are already going to the mountain or from the mountain. We have beautiful landscapes in front of us, and the bicycle pedals have to be rotated exactly with the effort that would have to be rotated in real life on this very ascent. The system allows you to imitate driving along the same route that you, for example, go to after competitions 4 months or ride the nearest serpentine with an attached smartphone to the steering wheel and then pour it into the network - this is how anyone can please their bike brothers who are not lucky with serpentines. You even have to overtake or pass cars passing by it (figuratively, of course, because the wheel of the bicycle is not connected to the machine). It would be cool to even connect VR glasses (full immersion) - I hope that this is a matter of the near future, but for now - you are going, looking at the screen and not suffering from the dreary feeling of driving to nowhere or to the wall.

How tracks are recorded

Now it is not necessary to look at the wall

Of course, there are a number of differences from the real route: first of all, this is the absence of wind, hot sun and other weather conditions (for athletes, when the bill goes on for milliseconds, any whiff of wind, lighting of the track, etc.) is important. Secondly, it will be necessary to “remember” how to take turns, while already training on the street. To recreate the atmosphere of racing, you can put a powerful fan on the contrary (there were such conversations in training, only I did not understand if anyone was joking or not) or ask your friend to push you sideways from time to time - anything can happen on a real route. But thanks to indoor training, the bicycle organism will be completely ready to work in freedom, and as soon as possible, you need to go on a real road and practice there. With the bicycle machine there are no specific requirements for the track for training - prolonged lifting and maintaining the body in good shape in the winter with ease on it are worked out.

Virtual finish

Now about the guys who “taught” me to ride a bike. The team is now preparing for the triathlon “Ironman” competition - this is a multisport race, when the athlete first swims (3.8 km in open water), then actively pedals (180 km), then runs the marathon distance (42 km) on his own. The race itself is an international event, and it is not surprising that athletes from all over the world and at different levels take part in it. Some of them train remotely by connecting a webcam and enjoying collaborative virtual training and chatting with friends. Remote cycling is another argument for that friend of yours, who, although he does not dare to leave the house, still wants to play sports and communicate with his own kind.

Warm tube homely atmosphere. In the photo there is a catch for attentive

Only professional athletes do not have to participate in triathlon competitions - most of them are amateurs. The latter do not hesitate to use GoPro on their bike rides and send all the footage to their trainer to get valuable instructions for the next day of training. The situation is more complicated with the pool: the pool is expensive (you can’t build it alone), and in a rented (read - public) local trainers may ask you to leave the institution, even if you train with your elder friend - there’s no space for telebridge and conferences. But nevertheless, the trainers themselves remove the training material (in common people - “video courses”) and instruct their students, and our team learned how to conduct full-fledged on-line training.

Unusual combination of equipment for triathlon

Obviously, cycling trainings should take place on a smooth and dry track in the middle of an eternal summer, but what to do when there is snow around you for 9 months a year and there is not a single long and fairly steep climb, but you need to prepare for Mallorca serpentines?



Aleksey sportfactory has already appeared on Geektimes (number 4 on the first photo) - he can also be asked questions on triathlon.