I have learned something from this thread!

I didn't know that looking down (or concentrating on the front wheel) made things harder. That is exactly what I do... I stay fixated on the front wheel and don't dare look away :) I will gather up all the courage I can and stare ahead next time.

4 in rollers make speed pretty easy. I ride the 3 in krietlers and find I can easily average about 18-20 mph in my zone. On the road that translates to 16-18 mph.

One thing I recommend to everyone trying rollers is to ride off of them at speed. Once you do, you realize that its not that big a deal and you don't flip out about it anymore. Also, cheap wally world yoga mats help protect carpets from those great black streaks in case you DO fall off.

BTW, I've been riding rollers for 2 winters now, and still have difficulty standing and have not even tried to ride no-handed. Not everyone picks it up so quickly.

no i really want to buy rollers but i JUST bought my trainer.

With daylight savings time starting in eleven days I am going to wait till next year to get the rollers.

I have the 3 drum Kreitlers as well, with the 4" drums.

This makes more sense, 23-24mph for an hour in the power zone I was in seems more like it

I got my yoga mat at Target for under 10 bucks and it works great.

Speed means nothing on rollers, you may soon find the prostect of a power meter very handy. However the dyno-mytes, 2.5" or 2.25" diameter rollers come a bit closer to generating average outdoors resistance.



Rainy days, windy days, late night's, and solid uninterupted threshold intervals. Rollers still have their place any time of the year.

So at what setting would the Killer Headwind unit more closely mimic riding outdoors?

I keep the air door about halfway open and the belt on the largest pulley. When I am in a big gear it is hard enough that I have to work hard to push 70rpm but it is easy enough that I can do high cadence reps in a smaller gear.

I leave it all the way open on the big pulley and I find that is pretty accurate for speed if you are sitting upright (not in the drops). I think the other day I was averaging about 22mph at 300 watts which seems pretty reasonable to me (maybe 300 would be 1mph faster outside??). Of course for some of you smaller guys, that may not be the case, but I catch a lot of wind when I am upright.

The 3 inch dyno-lyte rollers are definitely da kine. Anyone who can't do a LT test on those in a 53-12 is national class P/1/2 material.;) I do intervals on my rollers because it allows me to control my efforts more consistently. I also do tempo work on them. No fan. The 3 inchers are the way to go.

I have ridden 12" diameter rollers, and you can really float the pedals on those things.:)

WHAT? Thats huge!

Okay here is what I've learned. I can ride with no hands and I'm the smoothest while doing it. Hardly move off my line. I'm second smoothest while in the drops, and third while on the hoods or the tops. I'm down right squirrelly while standing. Matter of fact flew off the rollers twice while trying to stand. I've got some work to do!

i can't do the no hands thing ... that's coolio.

Thursday I mastered the standing up part, next I go for the sprint!

standing is for wussy.

Yes and standing was freak'n scary the first couple of times I tried it! It did give my daughters a good laugh though as they watched daddy fall off his bike several times :)

At your age, I'd get Liefcall. ;)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Lifecall-1.jpg

^*clicky*^

At my age I wish I looked so good ;)

I found it's easier if you keep your butt back as opposed to trying to stand over the front wheel.

Speaking of speed on 4" alloy rollers, here's a session I did a while back where I hit 40 MPH:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...mphrollers.jpg

The rear tire started to slip on the rollers. I actually "lost it" once at 40 MPH, but falling off the rollers at 40 MPH is much better than on the road.

EDIT: My bad... I have the 3" alloy rollers.

No doubt!!!

Yeah I found that if I don't keep my body centered on the bike the bike will come of the rollers toward the back. In the long run I think this will help as I tend to get really far forward when I'm sprinting and the rear tire starts to hop around a bit.

I'm curious - what's the advantage of rollers vs regular rear mount trainers? They seem fussy.

They feel like riding on the road more than trainers do.

Aside from the more realistic feel they also really help with your balance and overall bike handling. They also work your core as you use those muscles to help you balance on the rollers. Most of all they are really a lot of fun and can make an hour go by like nothing. I'm doing 1.5-2 hours on them when I would be bored out of my mind within 30 min on trainer.

Anybody had a problem with rollers early in the morning? I've gotten to the point that I can ride on them okay in the evening. I still can't reach for my water bottle but I can wipe the sweat off the forehead without feeling like I'm going to crash.

But in the mornings... whew.. I've tried to do it at 6 AM some 10 minutes after waking up and it's like I'm just learning to ride a bike.

Doing a hand-hold (on the wall, or whatever) until you warm up(/wake up more) may help.