Build Yourself A Wind-load Trainer
Keep your aerobic capacity at its peak even when bad weather stops you from taking to the highway with this easily made bicycling exercise machine, including diagrams and instructions.
September/October 1986
By the Mother Earth News editors
Keep your aerobic capacity at its peak even when bad weather stops you from taking to the highway.
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Bicycling is widely recognized to be an excellent form of aerobic exercise, and it's also great fun. However, bad weather and lack of time can sometimes make it difficult to keep up a regular training program. During the short and often cold days of winter, when you're probably not able to get out on the asphalt at least every other day, a session or two per week on a wind-load trainer may be the answer to staying in top condition.
Is It an Exercise Bicycle?
No, it's better than an exercise bicycle. A wind-load trainer uses a fan (rather than a friction device) to resist pedaling, so the effort required increases nearly exponentially with speed. This more accurately mimics actual conditions encountered when riding a bicycle. Furthermore, you use a wind-load trainer from the platform of your own, familiar bicycle, so you stress the same muscle groups as you do when cycling. Working out on a wind-load trainer can also improve the smoothness and speed of your cadence, while using an exercise bicycle may have the opposite effect.
Features
MOTHER's wind-load trainer is built from wood — unlike most commercial models — because it's the easiest material to work with. Nonetheless, our trainer doesn't sacrifice features. The 28"-wide base makes it as stable as any, the drive shaft rides on sealed roller bearings, the bicycle is supported under the bottom bracket so that no unusual load is imposed on the machine's front fork, and a channel along the right-hand side routes air from the fan to an adjustable nozzle that allows a cooling breeze to be directed on the rider.
Construction Details
The only significant disadvantage of MOTHER's wind-load trainer is that it isn't widely adjustable. The wooden front wheel braces could be slotted to accommodate different widths of tires, but the height of the bottom-bracket clamp — built from a 1-1/2" X 10" pipe nipple, two 1-1/2" floor flanges, parts of a kickstand, and assorted hardware — can't be easily altered.
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