"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Roller Newbie Questions

posted in training and nutrition as well. sorry if you're reading this twice.

hey all,

just getting started on my rollers, and can go solid for 5-10 minutes before getting a little out of control. i figure practice will make this better, but what i want to know is:

1. Does anyone use rollers without having something nearby to lean on, if nothing else, just for starts and stops?

2. What cadence are you capable of/maintain on a trainer? and does it translate to the road?

3. How often? how long?

thanks,

jeremy

1) I have, but only to prove to my buddy that I could. Starting is the hard part. Normally, I ride next to my big soft inviting sofa.

2) "capable of sustaining"? 120 for long periods, but I normaly ride around 100. I usually ride around 90 on the roads (that's a guess at my average, it differs with conditions)

3) A little bit less than I would otherwise be riding on the road.

I've been riding mine lately with 95+ being my suistainable cadence. I went for 2 hours yesterday and an hour the day before. I find movies keep me going well. I have my rollers situated in a doorway as I'm still learning. Put the rollers so that when you're on your bike your shoulders are about even with the doorframe, it's made learning rollers very easy for me.

PS Try watching Seabiscuit while on rollers, I noticed yesterday that whenever the horse race parts came on I would pedal at a higher cadence in the same gear subconsciously, go figure!