Technogym MyCycling Trainer

Paul Horta-Hopkins

A preview of the Technogym MyCycling Trainer.

I have just taken delivery of the Technogym MyCycling trainer, a direct drive ‘turbo trainer’ from the Italian company. Technogym have been around since 1983 and have gone on to be a major supplier to gyms. Pop into your local sports centre and there’s a good chance you’ll come across some of their equipment. So what has the MyCycling trainer got to offer?

Looking like an extra from Star Wars, the Technogym MyCycling trainer

The futuristic looking MyCycling unit is an attractive looking trainer, it doesn’t scream “GYM!” Perfect for all you loft-living millenials! Even the large, black polystyrene carry case it comes in looks good. Technogym have gone for a three-legged base that folds into a narrow footprint for storage. It also comes with a well designed carry handle, a first for me on a turbo.

At 18Kg it isn’t too hefty, which is important if you have to put it away every time. Technogym have also designed MyCycling to be quick to set up, only a couple of minutes from getting it out to spinning the pedals.

The circular carry handle makes carrying easy

That three legged stance is also claimed to be stable enough for sprint training, something that can always feel a little precarious on some trainers. One of those legs has an optical sensor that records your cadence, doing away with the need for sensors on your bike. This sensor is picked up by the MyCycling app which then displays the quality of your pedal stroke as well as its frequency.

The 5Kg freewheel can take a ten or eleven speed block and has adaptors for different axle widths. Inside the cast aluminium body a torque sensor reads your power with +/-1% precision. The flywheel and Road Effect System are designed to recreate a realistic road feeling, without the traffic lights. A toothed belt of the type they use in lifts, drives the flywheel for “less dispersion of energy”.

The MYCYCLING app will allow you to control the trainer and monitor you training

As well as spending a lot of time on the mechanics and design of the MyCycling, Technogym have also designed a whole new training system to go with it. Dubbed Technogym Neuromuscular Training it contains tests, personalised programmes and biofeedback. This plan has been put together by the Technogym Scientific Research Department and concentrates on an eighteen week plan split into three, six-week blocks.

A brief glance shows that Technogym aren’t just focusing on your raw power. They are also looking at the quality of your pedal stroke, what us roadies call “souplesse”. Back in the good ol’ days you would spend the winter riding a fixed wheel to get that magical smooth pedalling action. Here Technogym have created a system called Pedal Printing, that can teach you how to pedal in a circles, improving your power output; hopefully. As well as your pedalling technique the app contains various off the bike exercises. These core exercises should develop a solid base to pedal from, no more wasted upper body movement.

I’ll be trying out the Technogym MyCycling trainer and will let you know how I get on with it.

Technogym MyCycling

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