Pre-Covid-19, I usually started off the mornings with a 7-10 KM run. I had plans to run in one marathon, a duathlon and a triathlon this year. Instead, the Covid-19 pandemic has governments implementing lockdown measures in order to enforce social distancing. Malaysia is no exception as a result, the KL Marathon is postponed and this year’s Powerman has been deferred to November 2020. I’ve already put in my deferrment application for the Desire Ironman 70.3 to 2021.

I miss this

We are now in fact in the third phase of the Movement Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia, which means unless its for essentials and food (or an emergency), you are supposed to stay home. Failure to comply would include being remanded by the police and you’ll get slapped with fines.

I realised how untenable the situation was (in terms of NOT getting exercise) on the first day of Phase 1, that I decided to purchase a smart trainer, a Magene T300. Being a direct drive device, one removes the rear wheel from the bike to hook up the chain to the smart trainer instead. The reason for the “smart” in smart trainer is due to the resistance (to simulate inclines) that the device provides which can be automatically adjusted by apps such as Zwift.

I don’t usually cycle indoors, but now I do!

Why a Magene T300 though? Compared to the other direct drive smart trainers, it’s very affordable, at less than 700 USD. This heavyweight (at 17KG) simulates up to a maximum slope of 22% with a maximum power of 2600w. The T300 basically beats out the Elite Suito (which is perennially out of stock) and the Wahoo Kickr Core. And this works with Zwift (I use the app on my iPhone 11 Pro) right out of the box.

The seller (the nice folks at ONELap Malaysia) even put in an Shimano 105 11-speed cassette, a trainer mat, a sweat cover, and next-day delivery. Since then I’ve been clocking the kilometres on Zwift, which in turns provides the necessary exercise in order to not go stir-crazy in this lockdown period. If you are NOT a frontliner, please do your part and stay home. If you are a frontliner, our hearts go out to you and do hang in there.