jasandalb

SO...last night I put an hour in on my newly acquired rollers (thanks CL)!
My first two "rides" lasted all of 5 minutes each...due to my newness with them.

Couple questions to those with rollers....or anyone with helpful input....

1.) Were you more mentally burnt after riding then physically?
I found that I had to stay focused on position, cadence on staying upright more. If my mind wondered a bit I found I would drift pretty bad.

2.) My knees and hips are aching alot.
Dont know why this could be...maybe because you cant "bounce" on the rollers...and keeping a constant cadence.

3.) My heartrate was about 10% higher on rollers than on the road.
My only thought was that since I couldnt allow myself to relax or stop spinning that I was working myself harder than on the road.

bdcheung

1) You'll stop drifting after a bit. I've been riding rollers for over a year now and can put in a pretty hard effort, while watching TV, without drifting more than a couple inches.

2) That's because you're using your hips to keep the bike straight. which is how you should be directing the bike all the time.

3) Likely due to poor air circulation. Your body temp is rising more than it would on the road, since there isn't a constant 20mph breeze blowing over you.

umd

1) mentally... like a trainer but not as bad. Mine doesn't have enough resistance to wear me out physically (yeah, towel, I know...)

3) Higher than what on the road? What are you basing that on? "Speed"? Or higher HR for the same perceived effort?

bdcheung

Screw the towel - go with the Killer Headwind unit. I got one and it really made indoor training much more enjoyable (an a sadistic sense)

roy5000x2

1) After about a hour I'm mentally tired from it, depending on what I'm doing. If I'm just riding on the rollers, i'll get bored after a hour. If I'm doing intervals, I'll be tired after a hour.

2) Learn to pedal smoothly

3) It's a lot hotter indoors, and you're probably still nervous when using the rollers.

Scummer

With time you will become more comfortable with the rollers, so that even when you drifted off close to the edge you won't be jerking the bike around trying to get back into the middle.

Rollers are good to train a nice, round pedal stroke. Up the RPM's until you start bouncing in the saddle, back off a little and try to stay in that cadence for a while and try to smooth your pedal stroke, after a while up it again another 10 rpm until it's nice and smooth and continue to go higher. After a couple of weeks you should be able to do 180rpm without bouncing off the saddle at all.

umd

Is that brand-specific?

bdcheung

nope - i'm using it with some generic PVC rollers (i think they're CycleOps-branded, definitely not Kreitler)

See my thread here: https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...iller+headwind

Fat Boy

+100. It's a really good option. You get the resistance and cooling that you need. I think I need 2 of them, though. The left side of me ends up dry and my right arm ends up sweaty. It's kinda funny.

Initially, riding rollers are really tricky. Just keep doing it. Once you get more comfortable with it, you'll find a workout on rollers is almost exactly like a road ride. The only thing that I can't do well is a full sprint. I can do about an 85% sprint, but it's not really the same thing. Zone 4 intervals are better on rollers (in terms of consistency) than on the road. I do tend to get a little sore on my butt after a roller ride which doesn't happen on the road. I don't really know why. It's probably a standing thing. Regardless, it's the best option (IMO) for an indoor workout.

fauxto nick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhOCr...layer_embedded

datlas 

You probably know this already, but for those who are new to rollers, I highly suggest you start off riding in a doorway.

jasandalb

I am basing it off the same cadence and speed as I would be on the road.

jasandalb

I was riding in my back hallway so I could sit on the bike and with arms extended could touch the walls

Towel?? Kinda confused...can you explain further? So you can do full sprints on the rollers? wow! Are you standing, sitting?? Full sprint rocking the bike side to side?? I would freak like the bike would slip out from underneath me

bdcheung

erm, no, "full sprints" on anything but free motion rollers is a terrible idea.

Fat Boy

I started off riding next to a table that I could put my hand on.

The towel is to make resistance if you don't have a fan unit. You stick it under one of the back rollers so it makes contact and friction. Not perfect, but Viola! resistance.

I said that I _can't_ do full sprints. What I can do is a sitting sprint at close to full power. My limiting factor (more due to weight placement than power) is that the rear wheel starts to spin and really walk around on the rear rollers. It's kinda fun doing a 'burn-out' on a bike, but it gets to the point that you know if you don't ease up you're gonna eat crap.

You'd have to have the full motion rollers to do a sprint out of the saddle, and even then I bet it's real dicey until you get used to it. That might be the advantage of a trainer, but since you can't rock the bike back and forth on a trainer, it has limitations, too. Save the sprints for outdoors.

umd

Comparing speed and cadence like that is meaningless

I can't, but people can. Search for stupid roller tricks on youtube...

jasandalb

Dont know if that's a joke? Why is it meaningless. When I am in the middle of cassette I can comfortably spin 17-18mph at 90rpm. that is a base line for me and I react up and down from there.

arterture

If you are looking for a most likely free solution to over heating just hook up a fan in front of you.

You may notice that it does take more effort when on rollers. There is a little bit more resistance because of the fact that you are not building any forward momentum.

jcpups608

It's meaningless because mph on the rollers does not translate to mph outside. There is no atmosphere resistance and much lower resistance from tire contact.

I use mph to maintain a certain cadence but that is all(and that is by no means exact).

It took a year or so but I can do stand up sprints on the rollers but definitely with more control than when I let it loose on the road. You'll get there with time. Also, if you have any fit, pedal stroke, or form issues the rollers will make them abundantly clear.

umd

It's going to vary from rollers to rollers based on material, drum size, etc, but the resistance on the road is not the same as on the rollers. You yourself said that your hr is not the same for a given "speed" on the rollers vs the road. I am not sure but I suspect the resistance is also linear with speed, whereas air resistance increases exponentially with speed. That means that the stronger you are, the more the effort for a given "speed" is going to diverge. For example, I have to do about 120 rpm in my 53x11 to approach my threshold on my rollers iirc. That would be over 40mph on the road.