After coming back from a longish tour of Ladakh on Monday, I got down to setting up my bike for the home trainer on the very next day. My HbA1C level has gone through the roof and I needed to do something about it. The whole set up sounds rather simple. My Merida road bike attached to the Elite Qubo smart trainer. I had used this combination extensively before my Darjeeling trip. I had Zwift subscription back then.
Simple as it may sound reviving old machines that have been lying idle is a daunting task. So I set about it step by step. First I took the training wheel, lying alone unpumped for several years now. It held pump fine and I was delighted for it. Next I pumped the front wheel and later the rear wheel just in case I want to go for a road ride.
Next I installed the training wheel on the bike. The chain looked a bit dry and I decided to lube it later.
After this I hauled out my trainer. It had an inch thick dust all over it. Cleaned it copiously with isopropyl alcohol. Then came the difficult task of installing the bike on the trainer. It is not an easy task. You have to align the rear wheel correctly and then clamp it from the two sides.
It happened after some trial and error. The notches on the clamp has to match with the skewer. Now I turned the switch on for the trainer and it showed the light. I was very happy. Electronics of the trainer was working fine.
My bike had two sensors. A cadence sensor attached to the pedal and a speed sensor attached to the hub of the rear wheel. Obviously the batteries were down. I took them off and replaced the batteries. Opening the battery chamber out and releasing the batteries was quite a chore.
