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Road Cycling “It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.” -- Ernest Hemingway

Rollers vs Trainer

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Old 08-24-10 | 08:32 PM
  #26  
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Originally Posted by BarryJo
Yeah, a nice quarq power meter on a set of E-Motion rollers would really help me to see how much I really suck.
At least with the "power chart" you get with the E-motions you can feel good about yourself (even if as others have suggested/ proven, it's way over weighted)

edit: you live in Austin, what the heck do you need an indoor trainer for?
It's cold/wet here sometimes, really. It was 105f when I went for my ride last night, I probably should have been on my rollers.
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Old 08-24-10 | 08:39 PM
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Originally Posted by grwoolf
It's cold/wet here sometimes, really. It was 105f when I went for my ride last night, I probably should have been on my rollers.
Hotel Tango Foxtrot Uniform, that's what fenders are for
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Old 08-24-10 | 08:41 PM
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Originally Posted by Dr. Banzai
Trainer time can be improved with a decent phone book/w.h.y. under the front wheel too. Music helps. Ride until a certain song comes on.

Sometimes I take my bike and trainer across the street to the empty covered parkade. Watching traffic and being cold helps.
Umm, It doesn't get cold there.
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Old 08-24-10 | 08:53 PM
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Originally Posted by jdon
Umm, It doesn't get cold there.
LMAO - yeah, it's downright tropical in BC compared to Toronto ish (btw I couldn't map Toronto ish on google, what gives?)
I put my rollers in the garage and ride with the door open in the Winter when it gets plenty cold here in New England.
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Old 08-24-10 | 08:55 PM
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Originally Posted by jdon
Umm, It doesn't get cold there.
Two winters ago I saw the Fraser River in front of my house freeze with snow on it. -17c

Sorry but that is cold.
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Old 08-24-10 | 09:07 PM
  #31  
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Originally Posted by MissKristen

P.S. Nice avatar jasandalb
Thanks!!

OH.........
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Old 08-24-10 | 10:33 PM
  #32  
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I have Krietler rollers with the Killer Head Wind resistance / cooooooling unit. Love them both. No, you can not just zone out on rollers. That is why they are so much fun! I have owned them since 1992 and come off of the while "rolling" less than 10 times, and never "hit the floor" as some one said. Use them in a door way or close to a wall for balance and getting started.
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Old 08-24-10 | 10:42 PM
  #33  
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Originally Posted by BarryJo
I'm a shill, and will continue to be for these.
Interval training, high cadence work, the 4 settings on the magnetic resistance unit allows you to change the resistance to attain any kind of workout you want from spinning to really hard interval training.
They're free motion and easier to get used to than traditional stationary rollers.

www.insideride.com

Originally Posted by grwoolf
+1, shill #2.
+2, shill #3.
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Old 08-24-10 | 10:44 PM
  #34  
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Just bought a mint Kinetic Rock and Roll off of CL for $220. I'm excited to try it out soon.
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Old 08-25-10 | 05:34 AM
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The absolute necessity for me with indoor training are either Spinervals or CTS DVD workouts. You really need a trainer to do them but they are the difference between a high quality, fun and effective workout and sheer torture.
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Old 08-25-10 | 05:46 AM
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Originally Posted by jasandalb
thanks!!

Oh.........
....io!!!!
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Old 08-25-10 | 07:24 AM
  #37  
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i spent an hour and a half on the trainer this morning.

I watched The Men Who Stare At Goats - watching a movie is fine to pass the time, but simply not motivating enough for me to really push myself.
I played Uncharted Among Thieves for my cooldown - fun, but bike saddles are not meant to support all your weight, so the azz hurts after a while.

So, i think i have to try those spinervals DVDs.
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Old 08-25-10 | 08:10 AM
  #38  
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I've had both, and I prefer the trainer. The extra attention required by the rollers does not overcome the boredom of riding inside.
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Old 08-25-10 | 08:12 AM
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Originally Posted by uncrx2003
Just bought a mint Kinetic Rock and Roll off of CL for $220. I'm excited to try it out soon.
I found a mint KK on CL for $100. Believe me, there's nothing exciting about it. It is what it is.
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Old 08-25-10 | 09:29 AM
  #40  
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Originally Posted by Dr. Banzai
Holy carp.

$850 would pay for 2 years of full membership at my indoorvelodrome. My little $100 craigslist trainer works just fine on days I'm not on the wood. Rollers are just not in the cards for me.
You can get a decent set of rollers for about $150 from Performance. $850 is for the fancy emotion rollers.

Then again, I would love to have an indoor velodrome to spend some time in during the winter.
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Old 08-25-10 | 09:32 AM
  #41  
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Old 08-25-10 | 10:43 AM
  #42  
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Originally Posted by Inertianinja
PS - people often are amazed that the bike doesn't fall when you use rollers; it's hard to explain gyroscopic stability. but it's easy to demonstrate. take a wheel (off the bike), hold it by the skewer, and wobble it around. easy. then spin the wheel and try that while the wheel is spinning, notice how it resists you. magic!
ARGH. Science lesson time: gyroscopic stability does NOT explain how you balance a bike, whether on the road or on rollers. It's not nearly strong enough to matter. This should be obvious, given that you can balance at very low speeds. This has been demonstrated by the building and successful riding of bicycles designed to cancel out any gyroscopic effect. These bikes are just as rideable as a normal bike, and they even behave the same way when rolled down a hill without a rider. Gyroscopic stability has been discredited both theoretically and practically for some 40 years now. Sheesh.

A bike stays up on rollers the same way it stays up on the road: balance by countersteering.
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Old 08-25-10 | 11:50 AM
  #43  
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^^^
I'm glad someone said it. Grolby is correct. You balance by using very small adjustments in your steering. Lock the headset and you'll soon find that you won't stay balanced regardless of the speed your wheels are turning.
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Old 08-25-10 | 01:30 PM
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I like the trainers that give you Power, cadence, etc. like the Tacx stuff. On a side note, can you do VR with all Tacx trainers? (I seem to interpret the site to say that the speedmatic varies the resistance according to the DVD). That is what I want; I won't have full mental focus during school and giving me the bail-out as an option won't work.
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Old 08-25-10 | 03:07 PM
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Used to ride rollers but I just couldn't tolerate the boredom and sold them. I always set up in doorway so if I spaced out I could grab the doorway and prevent a crash. That being said I have heard it said by others and it makes sense to me that trainers are harder on your frame than rollers.
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Old 08-25-10 | 03:09 PM
  #46  
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Originally Posted by grolby
ARGH. Science lesson time: gyroscopic stability does NOT explain how you balance a bike, whether on the road or on rollers. It's not nearly strong enough to matter. This should be obvious, given that you can balance at very low speeds. This has been demonstrated by the building and successful riding of bicycles designed to cancel out any gyroscopic effect. These bikes are just as rideable as a normal bike, and they even behave the same way when rolled down a hill without a rider. Gyroscopic stability has been discredited both theoretically and practically for some 40 years now. Sheesh.

A bike stays up on rollers the same way it stays up on the road: balance by countersteering.
Originally Posted by Brian Ratliff
^^^
I'm glad someone said it. Grolby is correct. You balance by using very small adjustments in your steering. Lock the headset and you'll soon find that you won't stay balanced regardless of the speed your wheels are turning.
Ok, i guess i have some fsct checking to do. But. This can't be completely correct. Sit on the rollers without pedaling and see how long you stay up. Same with trackstands...it's not just turning the handlebars counter to the fall.
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Old 08-25-10 | 03:12 PM
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And also, bro, don't be all "sheesh" about it. It's not like I'm saying angels are holding the bike up.
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Old 08-25-10 | 06:32 PM
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Originally Posted by Inertianinja
Ok, i guess i have some fsct checking to do. But. This can't be completely correct. Sit on the rollers without pedaling and see how long you stay up. Same with trackstands...it's not just turning the handlebars counter to the fall.
This is because when you're stationary turning the handlebars does not cause the bike to adjust itself to be under the center of gravity. When you turn the wheels on a moving bike, or on rollers, the front wheel moves laterally to get the bike underneath the center of gravity keeping it stable. The gyroscopic force does contribute, but it contributes to the steering of the front wheel.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle...cycle_dynamics
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Old 08-25-10 | 07:03 PM
  #49  
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Thanks for all the info, it looks like I'm going to search for a trainer my boss has a set of rollers I can barrow.
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Old 08-25-10 | 08:15 PM
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Physics aside, I rode 170 minutes on the rollers over the past 2 days.
Damn rain.
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