Originally Posted by
bruce19
I'm curious. Have you ever trained with rollers and, if so, have you seen no effect on the road? I'm not just talking about racing but general cycling as well.
Yep. For about four years (during winter). Rollers are nice if you have one bike and switch between indoors and outdoors quite frequently.
Riding on rollers made absolutely zero difference to riding outside. First couple of times I'd do rollers each winter, I'd be a little wobbly initially. Went away quickly.
Again, nothing crossing over to the road, though, which makes sense. None of the skills necessary for navigating corners, adjusting lines, negotiating close-quarters contact, etc., are replicated on rollers. Pedaling, as I said, is a non-sequitor to begin with.
Edited to add: I used to be a big believer in the "pedaling circles/smoothness" stuff. Even had a pair of powercranks for a winter! Then I finally started using actual data instead of anecdotal tales. Saved me a lot of time.