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FAIRBANKS — Every Monday and Tuesday, as part of their regular-season conditioning program, the Alaska Nanooks are required to ride stationary bicycles in a small room above the hockey rink in the Patty Center.

Twice a week isn’t enough for some members of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association team, particularly with 15 new, yellow LeMond RevMaster Classic Trainers filling the room.

Freshmen defenseman Cody Butcher spends an extra half hour each night on one of the new bikes, often joined by center and fellow Nanooks rookie Adam Cardwell.

“They’re smooth and they’re obviously a lot nicer than the old bikes,” Butcher said Tuesday.

The seats on the new bikes are smaller than the older bikes, which sit nearby in the room. “The old ones kind of had a pillow for you to seat on,” Butcher said.

But comfort takes a back seat to technology.

“The tension control is good and everything is easy,” Butcher said about the new bikes.

The bicycles are manufactured by Trek for a company founded by Greg LeMond, a three-time winner of the Tour de France. They have been ridden by the Nanooks for about two weeks after they were donated by the Alaska Nanooks Hockey Alumni Association. Three former Nanooks defensemen — Jordan Hendry, Darcy Campbell and Jeff Penner — who are now playing with minor-league affiliates of National Hockey League teams also helped financially.

“What we’re trying to do is let former players know that they’re part of the picture and they meant so much to the program,” Scott Keyes, president of the Nanooks Hockey Alumni Association, said. “Involving them gives them a sense of ownership.”

Hendry, a Nanooks blueliner from 2003-06, is with the Rockford (Ill.) Ice Hogs, the Chicago Blackhawks’ American Hockey League affiliate; Campbell (2004-07) is playing with the Lake Erie (Ohio) Monsters, the Colorado Avalanche’s AHL club, and Penner is playing this season with the Providence (R.I.) Bruins, the Boston Bruins’ top farm club, after he skated only last season with Alaska.

“I think they’re proud of their roots, and at the same time, they feel they want to give something back to the program that allowed them to become pro athletes,” said Mike Curtin, University of Alaska Fairbanks head athletic trainer and strength and conditioning coach.

The bicycles also help give the players a simulation of their experiences on the ice.

“Most athletes are defined by the muscles that surround the hips and knees,” said Curtin, “and in terms of specific conditioning for hockey, you do a lot of interval training. So, it simulates the same type of stress that you’ll have on the ice.”

The cycling sessions aren’t always stressful, because there’s a large screen TV in the small room and the TV has satellite, including a few channels which carry NHL games.