And my joke for the day:

"Any thoughts on roller shape?"

Unless you are training for the Paris-Roubaix, get cylindrical rollers. For the P-R you can easily make square rollers out of wood for the back, triangular for the front. :rolleyes:

Ben

Thanks for this. I don't know if the same is true of tubeless or not, but if there's a chance, I'd rather save my good wheels for outside. That's what I bough them for.

It is really more how the tread is attached, roller dia, total weight, pressure and speed. If the tread is glued on (common to very high end) - don't use it.

Playing coach - I think you nailed it with the gym for strength and then ride to keep the legs/body used to it.
I think very little power is developed on the bike. Many disagree with me and I'm happy for it. I won't go to the mat on that one, it is the season of giving - and you are doing it right.

I feel like lifting heavy at the gym is plenty. I'm still riding outside when I get a chance, it's hilly, I don't need to do big watts inside. What I want is to still be used to riding a bike when spring rolls around.

Is it a given I'm going to fall while figuring them out? I have pretty good bike handling skills. I'm sure I can improve my pedal stroke, that's one of the things that's attractive to me about rollers.

That's true. If you ever had any doubt of the significance of rolling resistance, play around with different tires on rollers. Tire width, tread and pressure make a huge, HUGE difference on rollers. It can feel like the difference between riding on glass and riding on wet sand. Not sure how wear is affected, though, or how it corresponds with riding on pavement.

Riding rollers will improve your technique. If you practice on them.

You'll find out very quickly how much of a laser line you hold while riding, and how lopsided your cadence is. You'll also find out if/how-much you've been pedal-coast-pedal-coasting, IOW your actual endurance at a given cadence. Will also improve your core a bit--as an indolent cat can ride a trainer; but you need to use your core like you would on the road to ride rollers.

Said another way...in a paceline of friend-amateurs, you can tell who rides rollers in the off-season and who doesn't just by holding their wheel.

There's always that ONE guy that causes splits in the group because he can't hold a line or ride tempo.

I was a long time roller user, but I just didn't feel like I got enough out of it to be worth my time. A trainer is much better for me.

I have gotten awfully close to riding off the side of my rollers when watching tv. I usually wake up in time. Not sure about parabolic rollers though. I feel like going off the rollers isn't that big of a deal most of the time. I always have something to grab on one side of the rollers.

Got the cheapest "Performance" brand rollers many years ago, as much as i like upgrades, never felt a need for anything more expensive/sophisticated.
Great for improving your handling skills. Once you learn to use them, all this "Parabolic" gimmicks are just that - gimmicks.

You can ride parabolic rollers no hands, blind folded.

I decided to get the Tacx with moderately parabolic rollers. It sounds like it'll ease the learning curve, which is great, and not really harm me in the long run. While people with a lot of experience seem to prefer the smoothness of metal drums, it also sounds like the plastic ones will feel less "icy" while I get started.

In other news, they've started grooming ski trails about an hour from here, so I have my weekend plans figured out. :)

Well, it all depends on your goal. If you want to improve your skills and not be bored to death, then may be you will welcome a little challenge?
Given I been riding rollers for years, I ride my rollers no hands, standing, etc. I can take off my jersey while riding (goes back to riding blindfolded), it just took a bit of a practice.
I can also ride white line on a road one hand, looking back, etc. for miles without even paying attention, thanks to practicing on my rollers, so there is a clear benefit.

That's pretty good, but it's just a straight line.

If you had ridden parabolic rollers, you'd be able to ride a parabola no hands, etc. etc..

OP shared his goal was not building skill. I believe he is fairly fast (faster than I think I am) and fairly skilled already. The goal is to ride more with the shorter days - and I think, as the OP lifts, spin out the legs.
One of the ways not to be bored is watch a movie, read a book etc., which is more easily done in chill mode on parabolic rollers. I mentioned that in post 23.


But can you ride no-hands on hot-dogs while riding in the train?

[MENTION=364302]Doge[/MENTION] - I would be shocked if I was as fast as you. I'm no slouch, but if we ever competed I'm sure your vast knowledge of racecraft and of training for racing would pay off in spades.

So, whatcha gonna do?

It is stupid for me to argue that, until some day we meet at a race venue. I'm old and overweight and when I did race - I was OK. As I've been into the sport (race fan, groupie, job, dad of racer) since the early 70s I do get the talk down OK.
I'm at my best on Bike Forums :-)

[MENTION=188524]Seattle Forrest[/MENTION]
Besides the dad nature of that video, notice those rollers - Kreitler Hot Dogs. They are narrower. The diameter is midsize so they offer more resistance than the bigger, less than the smaller.
There is a bit of standing, no hands. Tougher stuff is stopping, jumping on and off. Riding in reverse on a fixed gear is something I could never do. But basically they take some concentration. While the parabolic don't.

My opinion about the importance of those skills is still open. I put my kid on rollers early in his single digit years. We live in SoCal so for us, rollers were for warm-up/when we couldn't ride (the train) and were not used that much.

As to the skills, I think body control is always important, but the way you ride on rollers may not be the way you want to ride on the road.
Standing on rollers <> standing on road. You just don't have the pedal force. You can put it in the 53X11 but it is not the same.

I take it you mean "early, in his single digit years" not "early in his single digit years" Or did you really start him out on rollers when he was a toddler?

That is what I meant. Age 6. It was his 2nd grade show and tell riding in front of the class.

Set-up a fixed gear for roller work, there is no better way to smooth pedaling technique and learn light relaxed control inputs via relentless feedback loops.

-Bandera

The Sportcrafter Overdrive progressive resistance drum comes pretty close.


-Tim-

The resistance on my ancient rollers allows me to put it in 53X12 (I don't ride with an 11) and get well into zone 3 at about 70 rpm. I think the Sportcrafter set has even more resistance. Standing is similar to standing on the flat, similar issues with getting a nice pedal turnover at low cadence. I have straight 4" ABS drums.

I have a set of Performance rollers that are as good as when I bought them 30 yrs. ago. I just picked up a set of Kreitlers for cheap. I've only used rollers in the off season. I once went for a fitting where they measured the efficiency of your pedaling. In this test 100% was a perfect circle. The guy doing the testing said, "A good recreational rider hits 60%. You're doing 85% in each leg. No imbalance. How are you doing that?" (Bear in mind I'm 71 yrs. old). I said, " I don't know but I've only trained on rollers. Never owned a trainer." His response? "Of course."

Tacx Galexia. I haven't ordered them yet, though. I'm turning 40 in a week and a half, Beth and I are renting a cabin in the mountains near some ski trails, and considering the possibility of a heli-ski tour. Going to order them when we leave unless we spend too much.