Riding Videos in a heatwave - air conditioning

General discussion of the ride videos.
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Mighty Malc
Posts: 56
Joined: Wed Apr 22, 2015 3:43 am

Riding Videos in a heatwave - air conditioning

Post by Mighty Malc »

Just noticed a reply earlier today about not riding Velo Reality inside due to heatwave.

Maybe not the ideal place to post this, but seemed better than the other choices. Thought other people might be interested as relevant to everybody on this forum.

I have a problem with my eyes due to glaucoma, so am struggling more and more to ride outside when very bright e.g. with a heatwave.
Hence my computrainer and much loved Velo Reality videos now get used heavily all year round - heatwave or no heatwave.

I got myself an industrial 200W fan (pedestal fans are often only 40W) which helped reduce overheating.
But even then I measured the spare bedroom temperature going up by about 4.5 degrees C after an hour of cycling, so the end was a bit like a sauna - the fan was pushing around hot air. And in a heatwave when the room starts hot...

So earlier this year I got a portable air conditioner for the bedroom.
I calculated the air conditioner cooling level required based on the room size and an assumed additional heat source of over 1 KW (say 200W cycle power produces 4 or 5 times that heat output. Plus laptop + screen + hifi amplifier)
This resulted in getting roughly the right size of air conditioner because now the temperature during an hours cycling stays pretty constant at the starting temperature. Yeah.
And if I cool the room by say 4.5 degrees before I start as well, then I am 9 degrees cooler at the end than I used to be; and with the big fan that is quite pleasant still. Yeah yeah yeah.

Yesterday with a 'heatwave' of about 26 degrees outside I did 1.5 hours inside cycling and really enjoyed it.

I love competing on the segments against myself, so indoor cycling was already a load of fun before my eye problems made indoor cycling a necessity.

Hope that inspires you all. And Velo Reality love me for encouraging you to get more videos!!!
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