island rider

Kreitler Challenger 3.0s. I set them up in a doorway as has been suggested. I got on and started pedaling. These things are great. I have no idea what everyone has been talking about. I got a little unstable when I reached over to pick up the penny I had dropped on the ground, but certainly not so bad that I might have fallen off...

Or maybe that's the head injury talking. I was almost riding off the sides WHILE holding onto the door jamb, let alone when I let go. By the way, I'm not sure about this doorway stuff. I might prefer to do this in the middle of a wide open carpeted floor. Less to bang my limbs into as I fall off the side.

I will say, I am certain that the process of mastering this will be markedly beneficial, but I'll be damned if I can figure out how that's going to happen.

curiouskid55

You probably have a vry lumpy spin typical for the aerage rider work on evening your spin technique somtimes higher resistance big gear wworks better somtimes low experiment and keep it up yoou already own the most useful traing equipment the rollers will demnd you even your spin and will improve your r balnce and bikee handlng tto a whole new level

island rider

I've been working on evening it out, but I know there is a dead spot in there from the work I've been doing. That's precisely the reason I bought the rollers, but damn, that feels really foreign.

jayp410

Not sure if you saw this thread, but among the things discussed are some ways to turn rollers into a free motion system, which is more forgiving because it absorbs some of the front/back motion that might cause you to ride off. I posted some pics of my conversion on page 5.

www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/690352-Before-you-start-another-Rollers-thread-read-this

It's still not exactly easy riding on them, but between the free motion and the bumper wheels, it's relatively easier to stay on them. I can get out of the saddle (carefully). I *have* come off, but to do that I have to hit the bumper wheels and be leaning so that my center of gravity goes outside the bumper wheels.

ColinL

not a fan of rollers, and I've owned a set since I was 16. open room is a very bad idea if you're a rookie. hallway is the best, you can't fall over unless you really bone it up.

if you insist on the open room I suggest using platforms. which, ironically, will ruin your pedal stroke at high cadence.

dorkypants

Two things that helped me to "get" riding rollers:

1. It's more stable when you're pedaling faster—just as a bike is more stable when it's going faster.

2. Look off into the distance instead of just ahead of the bike.

julianfranco

This is the way to go. I use a set of the Inside Ride rollers and they're great. I know they're not inexpensive but for me, they work and are worth it because they make the time on the bike less dreadful.

As for being easy to ride, I was up and on them in under a minute and felt like a pro in under 20!

I've seen a number of videos on YouTube where people used different methods to create a similar system and think they would be highly worthwhile.

on the path

Rollers will expose every flaw in your pedal stroke. They are a great tool for evening out your pedaling. Keep at, it you'll get it.

Stay in the doorway. Or do something like I do, which is between a wall and an upright support beam. Yes, faster is easier at first, maybe due to the increased gyroscopic effect. Eventually you'll be able to do it a bit slower.

What you are experiencing is completely normal. Keep at it, you'll get it.

jasandalb

glad that you got on and up riding. I love mine... but wiped out for the first time last night. was leaning too far to the left...and in the freak of trying to either unclip or pedal faster my brain stopped and I went down...just knocked my shin pretty good but that was it.

Are your rollers a "floating" system? The main reason to be in a doorway, hallway is so you can take a break without hopping off.

RT

LOL! Exactly my experience. I had it boxed up and returned by noon the next day. My mag-trainer is just fine

If I desire a head injury, I will go outside in winter and ride on ice, thanyouverymuch.

hhnngg1

I'm pretty good at my rollers, but I'm not a huge fan of them, honestly. Hvae said it before, but to me it's like knowing how to do a wheelie - hard to learn, but of limited practical value. Weirdly enough, the thing it trains most is smoothness, like smooth acceleration - it does almost nothing for my ability to hold a line, as the feeling on rollers (like ice) is dramatically different from road where adjusting to surface angles and bumps makes more of a difference than minute changes. Ok, it also helps with close quarter handling, but even that's more a matter of experience actually riding in close packs than roller skills.

That said, if you're willing to learn then, the reason the doorway is recommended is because the easiest way to start up is to ride with one shoulder firmly planted on a wall for stability. You do NOT want to reach out to stabilize with a hand - that makes it harder (like rollers one-handed.) Once you're ok with riding with shoulder on-wall, you can gradually push off from it for increasingly longer periods of time. Doesn't take all that long to ride doing it this way.

Again, I can do almost all roller tricks, but I haven't found it has improved my bike handling outdoors one bit - I still find myself dicey on curvey descents, and being surprised by road surfaces that have me veering slightly off-road when I dont expect it. I've found that nothing improves road handling other than riding more outdoors. I've honestly found rollers to be the most over-rated pieces of equipment for my bike - it doesn't do anything that the big proponents swear by, and I improved from not being able to do them at all to doing all the stuff like one-leg, no hand, even no-looking (yup, I can ride the rollers blind.)

Rowan

Like dorkypants said, look up into the infinite distance and your stability will improve dramatically. Also make sure your tyre pressures are nice and high.

Staggerwing

Eddy showing how it is done.

GirlAnachronism

Just don't watch YouTube videos of people falling off rollers. Even if you were perfectly competent at riding rollers before, you will suddenly become aware of all of the new and exciting ways there are to fall off rollers.

oh1gt

When I first learned how to ride rollers, the best advice I found was to keep your hands closer together, near the stem. I also use my shoulder to lean against the door jamb, that way my hands are always on the handlebars.

hhnngg1

I think this 'flaws in pedal stroke' bit has been debunked. You can pedal in squares, circles, whatever, and it doesn't change your overall speed. The component for your speed is aerobic fitness + leg endurance. It's pretty hard to waste the transmitted energy to your pedalstroke otherwise - even if you think you're pedaling in squares, or not putting any force whatsoever on the downstroke, the energy you push down into the pedals doesn't get wasted in lateral motion or otherwise. (Unlike in swimming where you can waste almost all your energy on nonpropulsive motions.)

The feeling of smoothness is definitely improved on rollers, and helps for smoother accelerations, which is helpful when riding in pacelines. However, this smoothness is irreleveant on the critical moments where you're launching off the front or trying to make and maintain a break - you WANT to jerk that acceleration so hard that nobody can folllow you.

And honestly, even after I got pretty good at rollers, I didnt' notice any difference in my pacelining smoothness. You hold your distance from the guy ahead of you, and you're good to go.

ColinL

that is completely untrue... pedaling smoothness is massively important for optimizing power efficiency. every single cycling coach will tell you so. most of them have specific advice on how to pedal smoothly. there is a reason that single-leg drills and whatnot were created.

FWIW you don't need rollers to practice smoothness. I find it works best on a trainer when you can really break it down and focus on only pedaling. you can also do the aforementioned one leg drills.

mocolotion

I've had a set of rollers for about ten years, and while I don't log hundreds of hours on them in the winter time I do generally try to spin a couple of hundred miles on them before heading outside once the snow melts. I also have a mag trainer which is better when higher-output pedaling is desired, but for base aerobic fitness I enjoy the rollers much more. I set them up in the basement next to a lolly column so I've always got something to grab on to should the need arise, and in my experience, that need WILL arise. This past winter I was spinning on them while watching a little TV when I inadvertently drifted too far to the right. Unfortunately, it was at that exact moment that I realized I was also too far forward relative to the column to actually catch it. I went down, but fortunately there was a NordicTrak there to break my fall. Over the ten years I've owned the rollers I've probably taken good falls about five times, mostly during the first year I had them.

hhnngg1

This concept of 'smoothness' = 'increased efficiency' has been debunked.

It's true that top riders are 'smoother' than beginner riders, but that's more of a function of their fitness and experience.

You will NOT have a slower rider suddenly get signfiicantly faster by just being 'smoother'.

Even physicswise, this is true. The energy pushed into your pedalstroke, even with a choppy stroke, doesn't just disappear or get converted to heat. It's pretty much the same power transfer as a smooth stroke.

It is true that a smooth stroke may allow a greater overall average force on the pedals as the force is more steady and prolonged as opposed to a single big downwards max burst,but even then, over a repetaed period of time, the difference is pretty trivial - it's pretty hard to artificially do these bursts.


Over on Slowtwitch where they geek out on Computrainers and the 'spinscan' feature of pedal stroke analysis which shows your power throughout the pedalstroke including dead spots, there are pretty much no riders who have said they've increased their FTP signficantly by the pedalstroke. Training hard and riding more pretty much takes care of it by itself.

on the path

Everyone has their opinion, and I'm in disagreement with yours. I didn't think too much about "pedaling in squares" or "smoothness of pedal stroke" before I got on a set of rollers, and I still don't. And my issues were not with "aerobic fitness + leg endurance" (of course, everyone could use more of both).

I'll explain what led me to practicing on rollers. A long time acquaintance and I got together to do some riding. He has way more experience than I. After watching me ride, he said he had an extra set of rollers he would give me. I didn't see him again for over a month, though I was using the rollers a fair amount of time in the interim. When we got together to ride again, he watched me from behind. Told me I was a completely different rider. It surely was a result of using the rollers. The rollers taught me, among other things, to use my legs to hold a line, and not the handlebars. It was very conscious for a while, but now it's totally subconscious. I can hold a line very well now (see avatar) and I really feel it's a result of my pedaling technique.

All of this helps in a paceline. I feel I'm very compatible in a tight paceline, and have proven it many times. I've also grown very particular as to which wheels I like to follow. I'll take following a smooth, predictable rider over a strong and unpredictable one any day.

Trakhak

hhnngg1's posts in this thread are the most insightful I've ever read on the topic. In essence, rollers teach you how to ride rollers.

ColinL

this is total crap, I'm sorry. I am not talking about pedaling smoothly at 60-80 rpm. most adults can do that well enough to establish one of your points, that they produce the same power whether pedaling squares or spinning smoothly.

but where it breaks down is at high cadence. why would you need to pedal high cadence? more power. when you're attacking or doing a seated sprint, cadence needs to rise. if you're bouncing, you are probably late on your pedal strokes and you in fact *are* losing power.

I have no doubt you will disagree and this discussion will not make any meaningful progress.

hhnngg1

Well, I'll def agree with you that rollers can help with being smooth in a paceline - I've said that very thing in my prior post. If that's a primary goal of yours, rollers will help. I'll still however argue that those same skills are easily acquirable by being aware of trying to ride a straight line and not swerving and keeping a steady distance between the rider ahead.

Seriously, the first thing roller-die-hards say is "wow it helps me hold SUCH a straight line!!" My real-world response - how hard is it to hold a straight line on the road? It's not hard at all. You aim your wheel, and go. Yes, rank beginners have a hard time even staying upright and veer all over the place, but within 2 weeks, they have no problems going dead-straight. It's hard to go dead-straight on rollers, but that's like comparing holding a line on ice (that's exactly what rollers feel like) to the road (very easy.)

In fact, holding a dead straight line is one of the easiest things you can do on a bike. Take 100 bike forum members, ask them to ride a straight a line as possible, even at a strong effort, and 95%+ of them will do a perfectly good job. Ask these same 100 to do the same on rollers, and probably half or more will fail. This is more reflective of the artificial situation rollers make than difficulty in real world riding.

The real issue with real-world handling on a road bike isn't the dead-straight line, but curves. Rollers do NOTHING for your cornering. In fact, they make you worse, as they lock you into a dead-upright position. I rode rollers all winter long last year, and was horrified at how bad I was at cornering - couldn't sense it at all, since if you tilt even one degree on rollers, you're gonna be going off the side. Just proves the common sense - want to get better road handling - you have to ride on the road.

And in terms of smooth accelerations in a paceline, that's also more a matter of being aware of the riders ahead than your own technique. Again, how hard is it to hold a foot of distance behind the wheel of the next guy in the line? If you're having an inconsistent gap distance, it's not a matter of your jerky acceleration, but a matter of you not accurately reading the pace of the guys ahead of you. I've had guys behind me complain of jerky acceleration when all I was doing was holding the exact wheel distance of the guy ahead of me, and these very same guys love it when I read the guys correctly ahead and let them jerk ahead for a small gap but then gradually accelerate myself to close it without a big change in speed. That has nothing to do with my own acceleration ability, but everything to do with reading the habit of the paceline.

I was comfortable in a tight paceline before rollers, and after rollers - no change.

hhnngg1

Again, have said this before, but there is one absolutely useful skill that rollers impart that's very underappreciated. It's the ability to look back to check for cars or other riders over your shoulder without changing your line. 95% of riders think they do this well, when in reality, only a small fraction of riders actually do it correctly. The rollers are a great test of this - if you can ride your rollers, and turn and look back over your shoulder without wiping out, you're truly riding a straight line in that position. If you can't do it, you're definitely veering out. I can ride rollers continuosly while looking back - I've done it for 5 minutes at a time and could probably do it longer than that. This skill allows you to really get a good look behind you even in a tight paceline where elbows are touching and even a slight veer would cause chaos. This is the first skill I practice on the rollers before getting back on the road, as it's by far the most useful for me and one of the hardest skills to train correctly without rollers.

on the path

hhnngg1, you haven't defined what it means to "hold a straight line on the road." I'll suggest that it means staying within a 5-6" wide strip for 1/2 mile, regardless of curves or road surface condition. How many on this forum, let alone all cyclists, can do that? Easy, you say?

Also, you are not acknowledging the simple fact that what's easy for some is more difficult for others, and vise-versa. You admitted that you are not good at cornering. Cornering has always been *very* easy for me. I never even learned how to do it, I just did it. Of course, I did learn about more efficient (read: faster) lines to take, but cornering has never been an issue for me.