Pain Cave

The weather has been swinging dramatically from unseasonably warm to unseasonably cold. And when it gets cold, the cycling goes inside.

A pain cave can be put together almost anywhere.

Our coach can be transformed into an awesome pain cave with multiple screens to help amplify the glorious pain and suffering.

Takes a bit of effort though.

The trainer that I use, a Tacx Neo, is a wee bit heavy at roughly 48 pounds. I stow the Neo in the passenger side forward bay. It is somewhat challenging to move it out of the bay and into the coach on my own. With Lorraine’s help, no trouble at all.

We spread foam mats underneath the bike to protect the tile floor and to absorb the energy being transferred to the trainer. The Neo, fortunately, is very quiet and very stable.

A few towels are spread out to catch all the sweat. Not unusual for me to drop 4 or 5 pounds of sweat in a typical 1-hour spin. Although not visible in the picture, there is a fan to push some air around to create the false impression of being cool on the bike.

The bike itself is stored in a bay that has a pullout tray. I store it with both wheels off. I bring in the front wheel and set it aside. I bring in the bike — without wheels — and attach the front wheel when I am inside the coach. Then the bike gets attached to the trainer.

I attach a sweat guard to the top of the bike. You can make it out in the photo above. It is the triangle shaped black and red material near the handlebars. Two water bottles at the ready.

I fire up Zwift on the Apple TV if I am doing a recovery spin or the Sufferfest on the MacBook Pro for some real pain and suffering. With the Sufferfest, I use AirPlay to throw the computer screen to the two front screens of the coach via Apple TV.

The Neo and my heart rate monitor connect via Bluetooth, transmitting all of the metrics of the ride to the software apps I am using (either Zwift or Sufferfest). My Garmin bike computer also tracks the ride.

The software app takes control of my smart trainer and the fun begins.

Great sound in my custom built home theatre system and the coach’s blackout system really does conjure up a cave-like experience.

Takes about 10 minutes to setup and roughly the same amount of time to tear down.

This was a video tour of my old pain cave at our former house.

Doesn’t matter where you are though. Suffering is always available.

Even in a motorcoach.