That sounds like fun.

Tonight, I'm on the rollers--not as much fun. I'm looking for my tape with Floyd's stage 16 & 17 ride.

I should do a roller session as well.

BTW- I am planning on burning the Tour of California to DVD this year if you want a copy.

-D

That'd be great! :) Shssssssssssssh! Don't let AMGEN know or whoever has the broadcast rights. ;)

Last night's ride went well. This is the second session that I did where I hit 40 MPH on the rollers! I have the iBike calibrated to the rollers according to this chart (for the Dyno-Lyte):

http://www.kreitler.com/content/trainer_wattage.pdf

, but the iBike seems to be understating the effort, only showing a little over 300 watts for 40 MPH. From 24 MPH and lower it seems to track well.

last nights commute wasn't bad. This Ams was really interesting. Major roads were fine, easy to take the lane as there were NO CARS. Side roads kinda sucked but rideable. My last mile was through some nasty sand like single track snow in the woods.. Hard to get momentum, even harder to keep it. I had to walk a bunch of this. All in all not as horrible as I expected.

Good job, Charlie!

I suppose if I tried that with my TCR, it'd be like riding a trainer, but with nothing to keep you propped up, eventually falling over due to extinguished inertial force. My 21mm tires don't have much of contact patch.

How are you getting the whole thing? Or are you just talking about what Vs is broadcasting?

Damn, I saw 40mph and was like "holy crap I'm weak". Then I did the math and on my Kurt Kinetic trainer, 40mph is ~1400 watts! I'll never see 40 on the trainer, but now I am determined to try :D

Good luck. I have a Travel Trac Fluid trainer as well as the rollers. There's no way that I could get the trainer up to 40 MPH. There's just too much resistance.

Just the vs. broadcast. I have a homegrown DVR running on a PC in the basement so it makes burning to DVD a breeze.

[edit] as well as yanking out the commercials[edit

-D

Speaking of the Versus broadcast (Go Levi!):

I had planned to ride my rollers during the TdC, but got too antsy waiting for 5pm. So, I did my first 2 x 20 on the rollers, preceeded with a 20 minute easy warm-up and a 10 minute break between 20 minute workbouts. I finished up with a 20 minute warm-down with 4 x 10 second high cadence/high force bouts seperated by 3 minute complete recoveries.

Here's what it looks like in CyclingPeaks:

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


The first 20 minute bout was only 1 watt different when I highlighted it the same way that the peak 20 minute bout is highlighted.

Hopefully, once I try this outside (after it gets warmer), I'll get better results.

So Noracer, you talking about this? http://www.ibikesports.com/products.html

How accurate is it for power. I don't need any of this stuff but I am a data geek. It certainly is a more cost effective solution than a powertap.

-D

Yeah, that's what I'm using. Accurate... you have to read the other posts about it (like this one http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=269705 ). Consistent is probably a better word for it--accuracy to be proven over time when more people ride with it along side one of the other more establsihed devices (i.e., PT, SRM, ERGOMO, Polar Power).

Yea actually I am wading through the threads on the roadie forum now.

-D

So, besides me and -D, where's everyone else and have you been riding?

I rode an 18 mile loop yesterday from my home in Severn to the Family Bike Shop in Crofton and back to home. It was a nice afternoon. Today I did 20 sitting on my trainer watching snowboarding and the time trials for the Tour of California race.
:beer:

Well you know where I am. My beautiful Giant has been relegated to the basement on the rollers this week. But I have finally gotten around to exploring some of the fire roads around Liberty reservior. There is something like 60 miles of fire roads encompassing it. Normally fire roads are kinda boring. but when they are covered in snow and ice they are downright exciting (and painful).

-D

Currently my bike is in the shop where they are re-pressing in the headset and searching for the annoying knock coming from the crank area. I've managed a few rides on the rollers lately, but I really can't stand to do more than 30 minutes at a time. Can't wait for the weather to get better.

I have never tried rollers, but I have given them some thoughts. I think it would make the indoor training a lot more bearable too. At least you have a little more to keep you busy with rollers than a trainer. Any recomendations for some good rollers?

If you want to get off relatively cheap, Performance's alloy rollers aren't too bad. IMHO, steps up from that would be Minoura, Kreitler, followed by E-Motion.

You are welcome to try mine sometime. I am down that way a fair amount, both for work and family (My parents live in Cape St. Claire, my sister and her family in arnold).

I am still on the fence about rollers. I do like them. And I don't know if it is just me still getting used to riding them, OR I am just still not in very good shape. But I cannot ride them for very long. I don't feel like I am really getting that good of a workout.

Maybe I should just start doing 3-4 10-15min sessions in a day rather than trying to do one longer session.



-D

That's the secret.

If you are only putting in base miles at a sub-FTP or LT pace, then split the workbouts up into smaller chunks and take short breaks (no more than a minute rest) between the workbouts.

Getting used to the rollers, I started with 15 minute workbouts with > than a minute rest between. But once I became more comfortable, I needed only a minute to 30 seconds to just towel off or drink something. Now, I'm doing 20 minutes with 1 minute to 30 seconds between plus throwing in some high speed seated sprints at the end and fast spinning w/low force throughout the session.

Also, you can work on your neuromuscular coordination by learning to smooth out your spin where you can do it with no hands.

Yea, I just need more practice. The basic problem is I don't feel I can spin under a certain amount without feeling wobbly. So I am hammering pretty hard the whole time.

Part of the problem too, is a buddy talked me into doing a triathlon this spring, so I bought some aerobars, which I have found I really don't use much. But having them on means I lose the tops of my handlebars. I think being able to hold the tops would make the rollers a bit easier to get used to. Maybe I will rip those things off this afternoon and put em up on ebay or something.

-D

I couldn't hold the tops comfortably at first. I started on the hoods.

Anyone up for a saturday morning ride? My wife will be out of town this weekend, and it is my birthday weekend. So I am gonna head down to my parents (they live in Cape St. Claire, near annapolis) friday night with the kids. That way I can get out on the bike nice and early for a decent ride. Have to be back by 2pm for my b'day dinner.

-D

so are you looking to ride in Annapolis then?

This weekend? Dunno exactly. I could head west from my parents house towards annapolis. Or head north towards baltimore/BWI area.

Can't ride over the bay bridge so east is pretty much out.

I have a buddy north near BWI. I need to see if he is interested.

Usually I ride with my dad, who pretty much likes the B&A trail. Personally I find the trail a bit boring. Plus I dunno if it would be plowed. And if it never got plowed, there are areas shady enough that it still could have snow this weekend I suppose.

Honestly I haven't thought that far ahead yet in that much detail. I'm kinda hoping someone in that area wants to ride and already knows a good route :D

-D

You could always go south into St. Mary's. I attempted this once, but got lost--it was ill planned. I need to spend some time in Google Maps before I try it again.

I'm up for another epic journey--quantified as a Training Stress Score (TSS) of 400 or better by Coggan. As a reference, the 145 miler I did not too long back, had a TSS of 800+. I'm not looking for another one of those (yet), but something in the 500 range would be ok.

I'll get back with you, -D, on this. I definitely will ride with you Saturday, but it's just a matter of do I want to bike to Annapolis from Essex and meet you, drive to BWI and start from there and meet you, or just drive to a meeting place in Annapolis and ride from there.

I'm riding with my TNT group this weekend out of the Davidsonville P&R. I'm not sure where we are headed though. This will be my first ride with this group outdoors. Should be fun.

-D,

Since it's your birthday, I'll forgo the "epic" journey thing. I'll just look forward to meeting you somewhere and riding out from there. Maybe we can just roam around Annapolis proper and then wind our way to Bay Ridge Rd following that to the Highland Beach peninsula area

or

we could try to meet up with Don's group.

It's up to you.

crazy busy at work. I broke my string of 4 weeks of bike commuting last Thursday so I could pick up my van! The last couple of days commuting have been sketchy because of no shoulder, regular car traffic and black ice. My van is home from the shop but is on the trading block. Needs too much work for 140,000 mile vehicle. I am slowing becoming Barry...the human car. I ain't that tough. It feels rather balmy this week. Could winter be over?