Originally Posted by
DaveLeeNC
Right now I split my time between my Bianchi and a spinner bike in my spare bedroom. With colder/shorter days coming on I see even more inside time (still deciding on my winter training plans).
I am mostly a solo rider (just me - I'm like that). But I will probably do a few club rides and maybe a road race or two next year. I have some paceline and limited racing experience from the late 90's, but that is it. So my bike handling skills are marginal at best.
I was considering doing some riding on rollers simply to improve my bike handling skills. But I was wondering just exactly what skills do rollers improve. I rode rollers a couple times back in the 90's - enough to have a feel for both how hard it is at first and how quickly you progress. But I doubt that I netted more than 2 hours total back then.
- My #1 'skill shortage' is probably just paceline riding. I guess I can see how rollers could be somewhat helpful here, but it would seem only a secondary kind of thing.
- Next would be cornering and rollers don't seem to really address this.
- Next is descending (certainly related to the previous point) with the same conclusion.
Is the skillset that rollers develop really just the ability to hold a laser straight line and smoother pedaling? If I decide to drag rollers into my world I'd like to understand what it is I am after here.
Thanks.
dave
Based on this OP I'd say that rollers would help you learn handle group riding situations by taking your mind off of the pedaling part of things. In other words rollers don't offer very much in terms of group riding skills, but they do force the rider to be minimally smooth etc.
The huge caveat is that you need to understand the limitations of rollers.
So, for group riding, one thing that rollers can help is the whole bumping thing. You can set your rollers up next to a wall and "bump" the wall with your shoulder or upper arm or even head. You can lean on the wall even. You get punished for losing control of your front wheel and bars, just like on the road. If you fall it typically won't be much worse than falling over because you didn't unclip when you stopped.
For pedaling you can work on pedal stroke on rollers. It'll be better than on the spin bike, that's for sure. The thing that you need to do is to actually pedal smoothly. I have a friend who rode rollers "because it improves pedal stroke" but he never bothered pedaling smoothly. He has the roughest pedal stroke in the world, he knows it, and he doesn't seem to be able to (or willing to) unlearn literally 25 years of bad habit. He literally bounces 2-3" every pedal stroke. I can't believe he can race effectively but he can.
I like getting on rollers after a break from the bike, something I used to define as more than 5-6 days. For the last year or so it seems that's my normal schedule, plus I have a lot of years of pedaling, and my pedal stroke is sort of reasonable, so I haven't gotten on my rollers in a bit. I have to admit that they lean against the wall and all I have to do is tilt them down, but I haven't done that. However it's when I ride with someone that really has good form that I realize that perhaps my pedal stroke isn't that great.
Cornering, and descending on anything except super straight fast descents, you can work on when you're driving, pushing a shopping cart, etc. Understanding cornering "theory" is useful even if you can't dictate your own cornering line (i.e. any time you're in a field situation diving into a corner). If you understand what will happen with an early apex, a late apex, etc, you have some idea of what to expect. Most people (not just riders) will turn in early when stressed because that's the normal instinctive reaction to entering a corner hot - you turn in early. The problem is that it is almost always the worst thing you can do. By practicing late apex cornering lines, all the time, you can help ingrain them in your mind, so that you don't feel like you're going to die if you wait 5 or 10 meters to turn in. It's just doing drills. You don't go and get in a boxing ring with no training, you'd have no idea what to do. Likewise you wouldn't dive into a corner without some learning and practice first.
Hope this helps.