The Tacx Fortius is an interactive trainer that allows you to cycle in virtual locations while you build your speed and endurance. The trainer comes with a powerful motor brake for giving resistance and virtual reality software to help create the situation you are riding in. The software has three different terrains you can choose from, the Atlantis, the Olympus and the Callisto.
The Tacx Fortius connects to your computer and uses it as an interface. You can choose from animated images, graphic training or cycling in a live video. The riders you will encounter in the virtual ride will have real movements. You can actually race, just take a sight seeing tour or do some goal oriented training. If you want to race, you can decide where you want to race. Italy, France, Spain and Belgium are a few of the countries you can choose from.
While cycling your Tacx Fortius will give you information about your speed, heart rate, distance, time and wind direction just to name a few things. You can select the type of race and the terrain you want to ride on. The brake on the motor gives you the sensation of climbing a hill or riding down a hill. You will get nearly the same sensations as if you were actually riding outside with hills.
You will encounter virtual images of other riders that seem almost real. They will stand up on their pedals, cheer and yell. Some will even provide you with sites of some spectacular crashes. You will see everything you would see in a real live race. You can even choose what type of day it is. It can be sunny or cloudy, cool or warm.
If you want to skip the race scenarios and just ride for pleasure, you can choose the area you want to ride in. You will see different kinds of scenery and you will notice that when you ride faster, the scenery passes by much faster. It is all tied to the speed you are actually riding at. The virtual reality software allows you to imagine you are just about anywhere.
With the variety you can choose from with your Tacx Fortius, you will never get bored while cycling in your living room or your recreation room. You can travel to a different location whenever you want to. This allows you to stay in shape, and maintain your endurance even during those cold winter months when you can’t actually ride outside. Without a doubt this trainer is worth the money.
To summarize the benefits of this trainer:
- You can train in the comfort of your home year round
- Virtual races with almost real competitors
- Beautiful scenes to make you feel like your really there
- Has various terrain choices for varying resistance levels
The Tacx Fortius is a good quality interactive trainer. It can be purchased for around $1499 or there about. You need to have at least the following on your PC in order for the software to work. You need a minimum of a Pentium IV processor. 1024 MB memory for an XP and 2056 MB for Vista. You should have a Hard Disk space of 850 MB, a sound card and a graphics card as well as one free USB port.
This is a great trainer for your home. You will not need to go to the gym anymore. You can train year round in the comfort of your own home.