Originally Posted by
Seattle Forrest
I want these for maintaining my endurance and aerobic fitness over the winter. I prefer cross country skiing once the snow flies, but I can only do that on weekends and days off.
Does anybody have any thoughts on whether rollers with a forward/backward rocking motion are a good or bad idea? I'm looking at Tacx Galaxia specifically. I haven't found one locally so I'd have to order this one, I'm trying to make sure it's really what I want (or that it isn't) before I pull the trigger.
How do you do it? I keep reading "look forward not down" so it seems like it would be hard at least at first. Out on the road you have visual cues but I'm not sure how this is going to come together?
I'll either use them next to a shelf in front of the garden door, or if it's dry enough out on the deck in the garden.
PS, Tim, I read your thread from a year ago last night.
Acceleration rollers are really interesting and I almost went for them but went with more traditional rollers when I found the Sportcrafters Overdrive Pro. Not trying to sell them to you but just offer my observation that the progressive resistance is reasonably realistic and intervals are possible (if not sprints). I also have the high-inertia drum for spinning.
I find that looking at the floor about 2 or 3 yards in front of the rollers worked best when I started and had to keep my head still. Looking around threw my balance off. I'm 53 FWIW and have had balance issues in the past. I also set the rollers up next to the stairs in my entry so that I could use the banister as a hand rail. I did fall the first or second time. Sofa cushions were then placed all around until I got confident.
Now I find it easy to stand out of the saddle on my fixed gear bike. Standing is easy. Sitting back down is the hard part.
It fun to see how low I can get my cadence. About 35 RPM is the lower limit. I can look around, take one hand off the bar, reach for a drink, manipulate the cyclecomputer and so forth. Mounting is still a challenge and I still use the rail. My point is that you will get very relaxed after a while with some practice.
On the deck in the garden sounds great. The deck railing should help in the beginning.
Smart rollers are also interesting but nowhere near mature yet. I'm not a Zwifter but Zwift with smart rollers on a fixed gear bike is intriguing.
-Tim-