Hey all. I wrote this a couple years ago intending to send it out to a west coast regional bike magazine I wrote a couple small reviews for, but I never did. I checked, and the product I liked below is still out there, and the website is still functioning, so I figured I'd post it here. 

 "A Better Training Video"

    When I purchased my trainer, I also purchased a couple of DVDs from the Spinervals Fitness Series. “Spinervals 2.0 Sweating Buckets” is a 45-minute ride touted as “a calorie-burning workout,” and “Spinervals 7.0 The Uphill Grind” is also 45 minutes and intended to work on climbing muscles. Both videos are adequate. In both, cycling coach Troy Jacobson––dressed in a sport shirt and khaki shorts––brandishes his stopwatch and shouts commands to a half-dozen people on stationary trainers. The videos are helpful, because Troy tells you what gear to put your bike in and how long to pedal for, and there’s a helpful pair of numbers on the screen and a ticking clock in case you’re a visual learner. Both videos are formatted like aerobics classes; Troy’s enthusiastic voice is about all that really keeps you going. I find them a bit boring.
    I thought it would be a neat invention for somebody to create a simple interface between the bike and my desktop computer, so I could set my computer screen in front of my bike and ride in a live bicycling video game. I’m more inspired by the sight of another rider pedaling away from me than I am by a coach shouting at me to pedal faster. But the only option I discovered like this cost over $1000.
    Eventually, I came across a training DVD called “Race Day with Robbie Ventura.” I ordered a copy after checking out the website (it was $39.95 which is about $15 more than a Spinervals DVD). The producers of “Race Day” hooked up ex-US Postal Pro rider, Robbie Ventura, with a bike-cam and entered him into a 35+ Masters criterium in California. The DVD is a rider’s-eye view of the race with a bar of information across the bottom of the screen that lets you know what kind of power and exertion Ventura is putting out at any given moment, and a ticking clock at the top.
    Cyclists attack and you and Ventura have to sprint to gather them in. They sit up, and you get to rest. It isn’t interactive, but it feels that way. I found myself leaning into corners and standing up on hills. The whole crit last about 40 minutes, not including warm-up and warm-down.
    There are various soundtrack options. The most interesting is Ventura’s live commentary during the actual race (which conveys an enormous amount of inside-the-head-of-a-pro information), but the best for fitness is his voice-over that tells you when you need to work harder and when to step it down. Unlike the Spinervals’ videos, Ventura doesn’t tell you what gear to shift into, he only indicates effort levels. But it’s pretty easy and pretty natural to shift into a smaller rear cog for tougher efforts and a bigger one for when he’s sitting up. If you’re like me, and you find it much easier to put out big watts if you’re actually chasing somebody, you’ll get more enjoyment and more work from this DVD than the ones with a coach and a stopwatch. “Race Day” is now my regular indoor ride. I’m still hoping somebody will invent some cheap interactive training software, but until they do, “Race Day” is a solid substitute.

    For more info check out:  www.realrides.tv

  If you've got insights into an inexpensive interactive computer program or other videos like the Robbie Ventura ones, please comment after the post.