Perspiration on Rollers
 

Upping my roller game but I perspire a lot.

Box fan, air conditioning, wear a headsweat, towel underneath the rollers and I wrap a dish towel around the head tube but perspiration covers the bike and forms a puddle on the mat.

The bike is steel and I'm concerned about caustic effect of perspiration. What are those stretchy things that hook onto the handlebars and seatpost? Do they work to protect the frame? What is a good brand?

Any other techniques to absorb or dry perspiration while in trainers or roller?


-Tim-

I use a mop when I'm done, so the wood floor doesn't buckle.

Get a better fan?

I use a 20 inch heavy duty floor fan. Like this Fan

I have a Cyclops sweat guard. It works ok. What I don't like is how narrow it is towards the seat post, and the elastic that goes around the seat post is a 1 piece loop that causes that end to twist one way or the other. I have never looked into other options though.

You need more fan. Not like a 20" box fan or anything like that-- but a proper blower fan or utility fan. Like the ones they use to dry carpets. I use a 650cfm centrifugal blower with no speed adjustments (I "borrow" it from my table saw's dust collector when I need it.) There are plenty of fans out there claiming ridiculous CFM figures, and you quickly realize how weak they actually are when 650cfm gets aimed at you. I literally have to set it up about 8 feet away from me.

I use one of those from cyclops. It works well, but I still get a puddle at my front tire and I've had two spoke nipples crack this summer that I blame on the sweat from indoor training. Next year I'm going to use an old front wheel with a damaged brake track.

I just got a trainer with a sweat net ... but I am not worrying about a fan. I used to do a spin class in an air-conditioned room with massive blowers ... and still sweat like a pig. I figure a plastic mat and a towel ... and old wheels.

The fitter you are the more you will sweat. Only viable solution if riding rollers inside is, to ride in a temperature controlled meat locker set close to freezing.

Do you guys own these fans? How loud are they?

Can I listen to music on the Sonos or do I have to shout for anyone to hear me? Will it wake up the kids?


-Tim-

Ooh good idea. I have a dust collector blower I can use.

The motor on mine isn't very loud, but I would say the air hits me in the face at at least 20mph. So there is significant wind noise. I just turn the stereo up. As my unit has a 4" outlet, I've thought about running flex tubing and putting the blower unit outside. That would quiet it down significantly.

I find that even cheap $15 box fans create that perfect level of white noise, making it almost impossible to hear someone talking if the fan is in between us.

I wear bluetooth headphones when indoor training.

I wear wired headphones that are sealed, so I don't have to assault my hearing with the music.

I don't think this is true- anything to back it up?


Also (OP)- watch out for that corroding handlebar thing..

If fitness and sweat were linked like that, I am either the fittest person on the planet or when I finally get fit I will finish every trainer session underwater.

I used a very lg. fan and still ruined my alloy handlebars and shifters because I sweat so much. At the end of a 1 hr ride I literally would ring the sweat out of my gloves. This is why for a good while I quit rollers. Then I started using a medium sized beach towel and attached it to the bike and it works wonders. On two corners of the towel I will use rubber bands and attach the corners to the hoods. Then on the other end of the towel I let the middle of the towel make contact with the seat tube and wrap each corner around the seat tube and attach the corners behind the saddle with a clamp.

You will be pleased how well this works. My hands are actually making contact with my towel which is across the hoods, and when I sweat it drips onto the towel. This may sound tricky to do but, if you ride rollers you will have no problem making this work. It also helps if you have the right sized towel.

i put closed captioning on the music videos but mute all the sound.

I hope I am not the only one to appreciate your comic genius.

On topic and useful. Thank you.

-Tim-

You and me both. Even sitting in front of the fan of all fans, if I wear any kind of shirt or jersey on the trainer the sweat literally fills my gloves.

Mine is 3 speeds. On low, its fairly quiet, but still moves more air than a standard box fan. On medium, it starts getting louder, but the problem I have is use it in a cold basement and it's too cold to run it at high as I will get way too cold.

Same.

I find the following helps:

1) in the summer, no trainer
2) in the winter, setup in my garage which has minimal insulation and no heat/air conditioning.

even when it's 30° outside, I'll still sweat in a lightweight jersey.

forget about long sleeves indoors.