BKOOL

Electronic Training System Premium Trainer

There's no point in denying it: training inside is a bummer. It's boring, lonely, boring, and boring, which means making it through the winter in cold climes can really take a toll on your fitness or sanity (or both). Happily, though, BKOOL's Electronic Training System Premium Trainer can translate real rides into virtual ones, let you interact with competitors and teammates, and generally make your indoor ride feel like a real-life outdoor one, so you stay motivated and engaged during the frigid times of year.

We should say up front that most of these features, which are in our opinion what set the trainer apart, are a part of the optional 3D World subscription. With 3D World, you can compete against up to 100 other cyclists at once in a peloton, league, or challenge, choose from over 500,000 routes, upload a video of your favorite ride for some real-life scenery, or translate GPS files into custom routes. Perhaps the coolest feature, though, is that when you're riding one of the pre-loaded routes, you can actually "encounter" other real-life riders who are in the middle of the same ride, and even use the voice-chat feature to have a conversation with any rider within 50m of your virtual position, like you would on the real tarmac.

Don't worry, though, the trainer itself hasn't been forgotten. It can serve up 1200 watts of resistance, which is the equivalent of a 20+ degree grade, and it moves smoothly through resistance changes so you don't findyourself going from flat to Alpe d'Huez in no time flat. It also comes with an ANT+ USB that can record your data to the cloud, a quick-release rear skewer, and a quiet design that only generates 64 decibels of sounds, so you won't drive family members, coworkers, or neighbors crazy when you go for a spin.