Riding IM courses at home -- how to?

One of the great things about a CompuTrainer in my opinion.  Not exactly the same obviously, but I rode the first part of the IMCdA bike course several times on my CT before getting to Coeur d'Alene and the course was instantly familiar when I rode it before race day.  Unfortunately, they changed the back part of the course, so my Real Course video wasn't exactly current!

If you're interested, you may want to check with some local bike shops.  We have at least two around here that will charge you a nominal fee to go in and ride a particular course on a computrainer.  Especially good for rainy day long rides.

Other than the videos, you could do it with the Tour De Lance spin bike by ProForm, you can put it any route in the world and it will map it and adjust resistance and tilt up/down with the terrain.  You don't have the visual, but you are getting the workout.  Wish I had room in our homegym for one of these.

http://www.proform.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/Product_-1_14201_16002_29511_177903

I don't see anything technology wise that would prevent them from doing so.  Just a matter of if someone is willing to put in the time to design the workout.

I use the Tacx Fortius trainer to simulate my rides.  The software has an option to use Google earth, and either 1- Get a GPS file off the net from the course (any garmin works), or 2 - Just map the course out manually in Google earth.  When riding, it does not give you a video view per say, but it does give you a moving Google earth view, with resistance change for elevation, and an animated 3d bike drawn for your location on the map.

I trained this year for the Calgary Ironman 70.3 using this, and it was crazy how acurate it was in relation to the real deal.  I even came in within 1 minute of my goal time based on trainer test races...

I've had the Tacx setup for years now, and while the software was total junk a few years ago, the new stuff is very solid.

Mike

I have two computrainers, and after the novelty wore off, I havent used the "Ride a real course" feature since the first two weeks of ownership 5 years ago.  

You certainly CANNOT use the time it takes you to complete the realcourse or the pC based video to suggest time.  I find it very different- you cant coast down hills being the obvious problem. ALso, getting the computrainer to talk to your PC is VERY VERY fiddly and mostly doesnt work.

I love my computrainer, dont get me wrong- I just dont find this feature very useful. 

Actually, just noticed this in the "ideas" section of the TR website...