As surely as spring brings daffodils out of the ground, cyclists too start emerging from their garages and basements, where they’ve spent the winter safely but boringly spinning the wheels but not moving.

Still, Spring weather can be as changeable as it is promising, the days are still short and sometimes the dreaded turbo trainer is the only option for keeping up the training. Apart from iron will power, how do cyclists keep up their efforts on the human equivalent of a hamster wheel?

Motivational videos are one approach. We tried some at T-Zero recently, but weren’t overly impressed. It made a change, but it also made us resentful of those lucky people who live in places with 300+ days a year of sunshine and have the option of swimming in the ocean in the morning and cycling into the mountains in the afternoon. Not only that, the commentary and music both irritated after a short time.

One suggestion is to use the video but turn off the sound and use your own music, which is OK, up to a point. The accompanying music is often set to match the tempo of the pre-recorded ride and unless you’re prepared to spend hours mixing your own playlists (we guess some people are), yours will not.

So how about ditching the screen and music entirely, closing your eyes and relying on your imagination. After all, in the land of make-believe you can beat all-comers and complete Ironman distance rides in a few minutes. When we tried this, we found perceived effort dropped and time flew by.

We just wondered, although measured time and heart rate did not change, if you perceive it as easier and shorter, does that lesson the training benefits? We’d be interested to hear from an expert on this.

Just don’t try this on the road!

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