I've been riding my bike on the trainer for quite a while now, about 3 years. During that time I've had three separate "pain caves" as they're affectionately called in cycling circles. That's just a cheeky name for a space in a room, basement, garage, or anywhere where one can ride one's bike indoors. My first setup was in the the partially finished space of my basement in a previous home. Then while I was having the basement renovation completed I moved my operation upstairs to a spare bedroom. Finally, my third and best ever pain cave setup is ready to show to the world. We down-sized and moved into a smaller home in May of 2016. The new home has a basement as well but it's unfinished and wholly unsuitable for anything but storage. With the approval of my wife I converted a spare bedroom into my I love me room, as she calls it.
The 10' by 11' room features a, homemade shelf along an entire wall for awards and medals, Amazon Basics 5-shelf shelving unit with plastic bins for cycling, running, and swimming gear, 2 racks with hooks for helmets and hydration belts, a bench to sit on, small table, tv small cabinet, Whitmor 6267-13 organizer collection over-the-door shoe organizer for water bottles and sunglasses, 2 CycleOps Fluid dumb bike trainers, each with a bike for me or my wife, 2 fans (1 Lasko 3637 remote control air flexor floor/wall mount fan and 1 similar non-remote control fan), a Bikehand pro mechanic bicycle repair stand with a homemade laptop computer tray, and a foam floor mat covering much of the hardwood floors in the room. I also have a Vibrelli universal bike cellphone mount, Plantronics BackBeat FIT wireless bluetooth headphones which replaced my TaoTronics TT-BH06 BL bluetooth wireless earphones, and CliC adjustable front connect reading glasses. I have 2 Tripp Lite 7 outlet (6 individually controlled) surge protector power strips and an old computer monitor for video streaming or use as a larger display for Zwift. My WiFi router is also located in the same room. I purchased 4 nice 18"by 24" poster-sized picture frames of which I've used 2 to frame Ironman triathlon posters I received at previous races. The other 2 frames are mounted but haven't been used yet. I've been looking for the right poster. A digital clock and analog scale round out the room's accouterments. All that in such a small room means that there's not much room for anything else.
Awards on the "I love me" wall
Shelves and bins for everything
Bikes and gear
The cockpit with laptop, cellphone, Zwift shortcut list, and fan remote close by
To be thorough I'll include a few additional comments about some of my gear. I replaced the inexpensive TaoTronics earphones with the Plantronics equivalent because the longer strap on the Tao's always flopped to one side. It was irritating. The Vibrelli cellphone mount works well but without a hinged clamp it feels like I'm going to break it when I stretch it open to fit around my handlebars. It hasn't broken though. The $90 BikeHand repair stand works great and performs a dual purpose of providing a stable platform for my laptop and a bike holder when I need it.
The only things I might add are of course a smart trainer, a new smart TV, and a new more powerful laptop to run the Zwift App. I think I'll stick with what I've got for now though. It seems to be working since my Cheaha Challenge Ultra race results were much better than me or anyone else had expected.
And before I go I'll add images of the routes available on the Zwift Watopia course. As Zwift continues to improve their platform they add small changes that make the experience even better. Recently they added route maps at the start so riders can choose the map that best suites their needs. That's nice because previously I had to guess and usually opted for the Surprise Me route.
1 - Volcano Circuit
2 - The Pretzel
3 - Hilly Route
4 - Mountain Route
5 - Mountain 8
6 - Figure 8
7 - Flat Route
8 - Volcano Circuit CCW
9 - Volcano Flat
10 - Group Riders Nearby
11 - Surprise Me
Of course I haven't even included the various routes on the Richmond and London courses.
And I organized my closet too. All bike and running related stuff in the same place.
