"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Roller racing or: what happens when you fall off rollers at 60mph

A video from a roller race that took place last night:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FiHFeFT8J4

From Velocity Nation: http://www.velocitynation.com/article.aspx?ID=1877&CID=1

Was that last guy on a Pista Concept with 404s?

Kind of a unique setup for what is essentially glorified indoor training...

I ate it last night right after I passed my goal time during 15s on/offs. Going from 400w/40mph/120rpm in the 53x12 to "goose egg" wasn't what I had in mind. The smell of burning rubber definitely didn't help my heart rate go down, that's for sure.

Was that last guy on a Pista Concept with 404s?

Kind of a unique setup for what is essentially glorified indoor training...

I ate it last night right after I passed my goal time during 15s on/offs. Going from 400w/40mph/120rpm in the 53x12 to "goose egg" wasn't what I had in mind. The smell of burning rubber definitely didn't help my heart rate go down, that's for sure.

Yup, pista concept with zipps. After the seeding I was supposed to go up against him in the qualifying round - but he crashed again right after his race and flatted his tubular so he just called it a night. I ended up going against a masters world champion and [obviously] got my ass kicked.

Some photos: http://www.velocitynation.com/article.aspx?ID=1883&CID=50

heh beer hats.

oh man that looks like fun.

do you guys lower your seats for higher rpms?

gear limit?

I fell off once at speed in college. Took my bike and rollers out in the hallway, against a dead end, so I wouldn't have to move for people going by. I was going about 50 mph indicated when the bike went off the back of the rollers (i.e. I wasn't smooth and was bouncing). The rear tire hit the wall just behind me - Zzzzzzp! - and dug a 1" deep groove into the plaster. The tire kicked the plaster into the air - there was a big white cloud of that stuff drifting down. I never fell, just leaned into the wall. I called it a ride and walked back into my room - and my roommate laughed. It looked like someone dumped a bag of flour over my head.

cdr

Roller racing is for pansies. Our team does beer rollers. Basically power hour on rollers. A shot of beer every minute, last man standing wins. It's a good team building activity. :)

There is a gear limit - 7.69 development meters. I had my bike setup with a 48x13 gearing and a 20C tire which theoretically gives me just under 7.68 meters. They do a rollout on everyone's bike before the races.

I wanted to lower my seat after my first race but the bar was so crowded I couldn't get to my bag (with my tools) because it was on the other side of the bar. No one I asked had a 6mm allen key so I just gave up.

The cadence of some of these guys is insane - I've personally hit almost 200 rpms during a race and still ended up "mid-pack."

I love how anti-climactic the crashes are - I usually post videos of roller racing crashes whenever someone is worried about falling off their rollers and riding into their TV.

Oh, and the beer hats was the exhibition match between the guys who run Velocity Nation and the owner of Bike Works (and the owner of the competition rollers). The owner absolutely destroyed the other guys.

Ha! The first guy who falls off is my teammate, Brian. I think he did get back up...

A video from a roller race that took place last night:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FiHFeFT8J4


Yoshi-

Do you have any videos of guys (or gals) bunny-hopping on or off the rollers? I have a vague recollection of you posting something like that, but I couldn't find it.

BTW, here's my stupid roller tricks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiCdm5FsJpg

I want to do a bunny hop on and off (without crashing of course!) so it would be nice to see somebody else's technique.

Mark
http://marcofanelli.blogspot.com

My friend and I made RASH: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7SKjIxlbHM

I think there is some bunny hopping in the video.

EDIT: Just finished watching your video. It's great! I like the riding with your eyes closed part.

The snorting a line of coke was nice. Must be one of those well sponsored Cat 2 folks. Hookers were ugly, though.

The snorting a line of coke was nice. Must be one of those well sponsored Cat 2 folks. Hookers were ugly, though.

That was coke, it was "essential aminos."

What hookers?

More photos: http://www.velocitynation.com/article.aspx?ID=1884&CID=50