Spring into Action – with Elite
by Larisa Chinces
It’s been a few months since we started testing the interactive trainers from Elite, and it’s been amazing. It’s something new for me, as I’m a multi sports athlete, and so usually outside all year around. don’t have a previous comparison with other trainers, as the Elite Direto XR is my first interactive trainer, but it was easy to set up – Viola.
It looks complicated, but it’s actually easy and linking it to the Elite ‘My E-Training’ app is easy too. You just follow the instructions on the site and Elite have made these easy for anyone. Then you have so many training options to choose from, but my favourite is the mapping option, being able to create my own rides and watch as I climb the gradient on the screen.
Having used this app a lot and the Elite Nero interactive rollers, I’ve seen a good general improvement in my aerobic resistance and my endurance. Going back outside for early spring, it felt good, with less muscle soreness than usual at this early time of the season – even on longer rides of 70 km and longer. It definitely was a sign of improvement for me and I was enjoying the riding more, which is important and a nice feeling.
I combined this indoor training over winter with ski touring training, which is also good for endurance, working the whole body. The good thing is that the Elite trainers have also improved my condition in ski touring – allowing me to benefit in other sports, not just cycling. Due to its interactivity with the app, the Elite Direto XR is not so boring as pedalling on some other indoor trainers, which is why I’ve not used them before, other than the rollers a few times. With the Elite app, you have the roads there with you and you can create routes very easily and quickly and then ride and watch as you concentrate on performance – with music of course 😉
The gradient resistance is smooth and very realistic too, as the Direto XR simulates slopes up to 24% – which we have lots of here in the mountains of Transylvania! The OTS (Optical Torque Sensor) built into the trainer ensures DIRETO XR the greatest data accuracy while you’re training too. This is an innovative integrated power meter for the hometrainer to measure power output with a ± 1,5% accuracy, 0.5 % more to the original Direto trainer; so you can be confident that it’s racing are good and you can rely on the performance increases. The real test is out the road and in the mountains, and as I say, I have noticed the increased endurance and power on the bike and on the skis. The Elite DIRETO XR is the only hometrainer in the world with the original Drivo, Drivo II, Direto and Direto x trainers to actually measure your power output via an integrated power meter. That’s why it sets itself apart as one of the most accurate hometrainers on the market.
All that I can say though is that it’s a great interactive trainer, easy to set up, easy and fun to use, with so many interesting training support features on the app. I’ll be trying out the ‘My Real Video’ next and taking myself on some virtual cycling trips – so keep reading my blogs and let’s train with Elite together 😉 – bringing the outdoors indoors.