When Giant send things through to review its like Christmas the anticipation of ripping of the tape and opening the box to discover what delights are inside to try out.

So when in October a month before my birthday a huge box big enough for me to fit in arrived at work from giant I was intrigued as to what I had been sent!

I was so excited to get my new turbo trainer home and test it out that I got it out in the office to have a quick look!

Winter has officially arrived in the UK with nights drawing in, frost on the car and bike lights a must if you’re going out. Having the luxury of being able to train indoors is brilliant and has meant I’ve kept up my training over the last couple of months.

The Giant Cyclotron turbo is very easy to set up, you just change the skewer in the back wheel of your road bike, open up the trainer and pop the bike in. It’s very heavy and feels sturdy and secure when training.

It folds away neatly into a carry bag and can be stored in a cupboard or bottom of the wardrobe which is a bonus.

The turbo has 5 levels of resistance, plus any gears you have and the effort can be made quite hard or very easy. I find I need it on about 3/4 most of the time and then just change my gears. This works well, but takes some getting used to as it took my a while to find what worked for me. It will depend what type of training you want to get out of the trainer to what setting works for you.

The turbo trainer is very sturdy I have done sprint sessions and really given it a pounding and it keeps me and the bike upright.

I tend to use the turbo in front of the TV for long tempo and AT threshold rides as I find these dull in the gym, it’s a great way to train for these rides once you get the resistance right you can just enjoy watching the TV whilst getting the miles in.

I would recommend buying a fan to use when you’re using the turbo as it gets so hot and no amount of window opening seems to cool you down (it also annoys anyone you may be living with who isn’t working out). But they could always go in the kitchen and cook your post training meal!!

The turbo trainer is noisy, but once you have the TV on loud you don’t really notice it.

I have found the turbo very useful and it’s improved my winter training by giving me no excuse not to train, however I don’t think you can beat getting out on your bike and I wouldn’t want to spend more than 2 hours on a turbo as it’s not as enjoyable as getting out on your bike, even when it’s dark and cold. You can’t beat getting out and braving the elements!

Overall my new turbo trainer has helped me put in session where I need to train in a specific heart rate zone which are hard to do out on the road and can be dull in the gym. I would recommend getting a turbo to anyone who is trying to do specific zone training as, like the gym, it’s a controlled environment.

the other great thing about turbo training is hooking it up to Strava.

Check out my other reviews for Giant here.