bbeasley

I'm clawing my way back from injuryville. My LBS loaned me a set of rollers, as there has been frost on the bayou recently. I'm about 10 sessions in and am past the scary "I'm going to fall" stage. I can even relax a bit, no more death grip on the bars or body clenching the bike.

My problem is I go straight from idle to max heart rate and have to stop. I haven't been able to go more that 6 min without my HR pegging. I can currently do ~40 to 50 mile ride on the road with no problem but these rollers are kicking my butt. I went running today just to verify I'm not having any weird cardiac issues, no problem running.

Are rollers just that tough or am I missing something? My cadence is higher on the rollers, but doesn't seem sky high. I'm in the big ring, compact double, and about midway through an 11/25 cassette.

Homeyba

Try putting it in a lower gear and keep the RPM's up. Also, make sure your tires are fully inflated. Low air pressure on rollers translates into lots more work! If I'm out of shape and just starting up I'll run 125+psi in my tires.

brawlo

I only do shortish sessions on rollers as part of my training, and the first 5 or so minutes feels like I just don't wanna, and then after that, I'm good to work through my 20 min session. The smaller the rollers are, the harder they are for resistance, and as Homeyba mentioned, your tyre pressure plays a very big part. I ride them on my track bike with pressures up around 140 psi, so down around road pressures of 100-120psi would be much harder.

fietsbob

Some like Tacx use a roller that is flared a bit, rather than a straight cylinder

to keep the wheels wanting to re center .

a resistance devise can run off a 2nd belt connected to the back roller ..

bbeasley

You guys nailed it, tire pressure. Pumped them up and did 20 min. no problem.

It seems like a great way to grab a honest 20 min workout. I write honest as I'm forced to pedal at a level that works me just to say upright.

Thanks!

fietsbob

but I thought a workout was the goal in the 1st place..

2 wheeler

I've been riding rollers a lot this winter and they can be a serious workout; I'm 61 and 215 lbs. for reference.

I've got a set of Kreitlers with 4.5" rollers and use a 53/13 or 14 most of the time. I'll use a 53/11 for a few minutes to spike the heart rate up every now and then. My normal roller session is 40 to 50 minutes, occasionally going to an hour. Watching an action movie or "Worlds Dumbest Stunt Idiots" or something on TV with the sound turned down and some rockin' music on the MP3 player cranked up helps pass the time. A strong fan helps to keep me from dropping sweat on the bike or rollers and provides much needed cooling. Rollers can kick your butt; I'm always a little rubber legged and winded when I get off of mine, but that's the main point for riding them!

I'm really happy I've got a set of rollers to ride during the winter!

brianogilvie 

I've been using my TruTrainer rollers most winters since 2008, except when I've been overseas. They have built-in resistance whose energy curve closely matches riding outside on flat terrain with no wind (a little more resistance under 15 mph, and a little less over it, but fairly close). It's a great workout and when riding on the road I hold my line much more precisely than before. It's boring, but much less boring than a stationary trainer.

I'll second 2 wheeler's recommendation to use a fan. I have a floor fan about 2 feet in front of my rollers. I also use a headband to catch the sweat.