Elite Training Mat and Front Wheel Block

by Rick Schultz

About a week ago, a large box showed up at the front door. It came from Elite and contained a trainer mat and a front wheel block. Sweet! It couldn’t have come at a better time, because the next morning I was invited to setup a tent at the Orange County Wheelmen / Bicycle Club of Irvine Bike Rally. These are two great bicycle clubs that I highly recommend you check out if you are in the Orange County area of California.

I decided to share a tent with the physical therapist. I had a table, but needed a table covering. What better choice than the Elite mat, especially since I was going to showcase bike fitting?

There had to be 60 or more cyclists in attendance, and you can see some of them eating lunch in the background of the photo above.

Back at the bike fitting studio, I am in the process of replacing the Computrainer bike fitting platform with an Elite Drivo II system shown in the photo below. Although the Computrainer is running flawlessly, the company is out of business and there are no spare parts available without going through eBay, and that source is drying up. Before making the switch, I still need to thoroughly test the Elite system.

When purchasing the Drivo ii, I also received a three year subscription to My E Training, a training app that runs on a PC or smartphone. You can easily program workouts with the app to meet your individual requirements. One program I just added is an FTP test for clients. The other program I added is real time power, so we can get an indication of how effective each step of the bike fit is.

I placed the mat and wheel block next to the Guru DFU and ran through a workout. You will also notice that I have a Posa display stand that is ideal for placing a smart phone, or tablet and even a wireless keyboard. In front of the bike is a PC running 2 x 32” monitors where I display the My E Training app on the left monitor and usually a YouTube training video on the right monitor. Once I start pedaling, the Drivo ii turns on and I use the wireless keyboard to switch between training functions.

The mat keeps everything quiet, and all I need to do is wipe off the sweat after a workout. The front wheel block stays in place thanks to the to the non-slip rubber strip around the bottom. The Drivo ii works perfectly, with an added cadence sensor. The POSA stand holds the keyboard and 2 spare towels.

And yes, that is my trainer bike – a Cervelo R5ca that has been converted to Di2. The frame has 55,000 documented miles (88,515 km) on it and is still running strong. If I ever want to use it for a ride it just takes a second to pop it off the trainer and pop on the rear wheel.

I highly recommend the mat, front wheel block, POSA and Drivo ii.  All of these are top-quality products, all of them are from Elite.

Training Mat

The mat is a medium thickness, heavy duty design that keeps sweat, oil and dirt off your carpet or floors. The grippy surface keeps your bike and trainer from slipping around, even if you’re sprinting. With a surface area of 180 cm (71 inches) x 90 cm (35.5 inches), there’s plenty of room for any bike.

Su-Sta Front Wheel Support

The Su-Sta has five different potential heights, so you can get it level with just about any bicycle and wheel combination that you ride on the trainer. The extra large base holds the front wheel securely.