I’ll have to borrow a DVD player to use in that room but I already have a spare Television that can be installed in front of the gym bike.

Check your email Gene!

I’ve only tried the fixie on the turbo once. I have Tacx fortus, you ride along to a video and when you go downhill it spins the rear wheel to simulate free-wheeling. There was something very wrong about being on a bike with a motor straining to make you pedal quicker.

It’s a cheapo gym bike (£125). I’d like to have bought something better e.g the Greg Lemond Revmaster but I couldn’t afford one. The bike I ended up with doesn’t have enough saddle height adjustment for me. I only have a 32″ inside leg measurement but the saddle was still about 4″ too low at maximum height. I bodged it higher with a piece of timber bolted under the saddle! I also have to raise the front of the bike a few inches to get the front up high enough.

It doesn’t have a fixed-wheel but I pedal it as if it has i.e. I pedal steadily and continuously, only stopping to stretch and drink every 15 minutes. It’s definitely more tiring on the resistance setting I use than riding a road bike, even on the hills round here (at the slowish speeds I normally ride at). I can pack a lot of effort into 45-60 minutes. I used to do up to 2 hours but if I worked hard on those sessions they used to exhaust me. If I didn’t work so hard, they were boring and a waste of time. I decided that harder, shorter sessions were better so I rarely go over an hour now. I had intended to only do 45 minutes yesterday, but I wanted to listen to the last few tracks on the CD so I carried on for an extra 15 minutes. I can feel in my legs that I did something fairly strenuous yesterday.