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7 accessories to make the ultimate pain cave

Get your trainer room dialled in for the winter season

A woman wearing exercise clothing styled after the 1980's and 1990's pedals hard on a stationary fitness bike in a vintage room, complete with wood paneling on the walls. She wears a leotard and a fanny pack and talks on an early mobile phone dubbed the "brickphone". Photo by: Getty Images

Riding indoors has never been better. With smooth and durable direct drive trainers, virtual training apps and a whole host of accessories, it’s no longer the uncomfortable slog it used to be. Forget staring at the wall counting the minutes, with a crummy fan doing a lousy job of keeping you dry. You no longer have to worry about choppy pedalling on a noisy trainer. Now, you can ride smoothly and comfortably, and the time will fly by. But a proper pain cave isn’t just about having a state-of-the-art trainer. There’s a bunch of things you can get that will not only augment your training sessions, but also make you feel more comfortable.

1. Fan

Proper ventilation and maintaining a cool, dry environment are essential factors to consider. While a sweaty workout can be a sign of hard work, you’ll undoubtedly feel much better if your workout space doesn’t resemble a sauna. Enter Aria, Elite’s smart fan is engineered to authentically recreate the outdoor cycling experience by adjusting airflow. The device adapts to the intensity and data from your workouts, delivering wind speeds of up to 50 km/h, while integrating with sensors and devices to regulate airflow based on your speed, power, heart rate, and body temperature.

2. Gradient simulator

Elevate (literally) your cycling experience with Rizer, Elite’s gradient simulator featuring integrated steering.

This addition to the Elite indoor cycling line ensures that your bike rises and falls, providing you with real-time inclines and declines as you conquer challenging climbs alongside your trainer. It will make indoors feel even more realistic.The Rizer will provide true-to-ride inclines up to 20 per cent and declines as low as – 10 per cent.

3. Steering plate

To make riding on training platforms like Zwift even more fun, why not consider a steering plate?

Sterzo Smart by Elite is an electronic steering plate that will level up your indoor bike training sessions. With the ability to accurately measure the rotation angle of your handlebars as you steer left and right, the wireless connection will transport you into a truly immersive indoor riding experience, making it feel as though you’re out on the open road.

4. Dry Mat

The Elite Dry Mat is designed to provide exceptional resistance, grip, and floor protection, it guarantees a dry and comfortable workout environment thanks to its removable terry cloth section.

The detachable design not only enhances your convenience during workouts but also simplifies the cleaning and maintenance process too.

5. Hydration

You may not be a pro, but why not drink like one? Being fuelled and hydrated is important when you’re suffering in the pain cave. The Elite Fly Tex is the most popular bottle in the WorldTour.

It uses the Elite ergonomic structure, making it easy squeeze, resulting in a generous liquid flow with the gentlest pressure. It also comes in all sorts of colours and has a new texture that helps with the grip. You don’t want to drop it and have to unclip to pick it back up again!

6. Bottle cleanliness

Everyone knows it’s always good to wear fresh kit on trainer rides, but how often are you washing your bottles? If you’re using a drink mix and leaving them on your bike after you ride, they could develop harmful bacteria. Neto by Elite is a plastic bottle steam sterilizer. This device offers a rapid sterilization cycle, taking just one minute in the microwave, which effectively eliminates 99.9 per cent of bacteria and molds from all bottle components using water vapor–there’s no need for any chemical cleaners.

 

7. Training table

Last but not least, you need somewhere to put your laptop, tablet and phone. The Elite Training Desk, is workout table that not only works well, but looks good. It’s sturdy and stylish and made of steel and bamboo wood.

To find out about these products and more, including trainers themselves, go to elite.com

 

This story is presented by Elite