If you just had rollers to ride, how would that change your warm up? I would assume a road bike would be used vs. track bike?

Actually, just ride your track bike on the rollers.

The purpose of the warmup is literally to warm the temperature of your muscles up to an optimal point. This can be accomplished using rollers or any kind of trainer.

I asked an Olympic Kilo rider how he warmed up for his events and he said that he could do it 100% on the rollers with no track time because at events like world-cups, Olympics, etc, you simply can't get on the track 15 minutes before your event like you can at local events.

Even at Jr, Collegiate, Elite, and Masters track nationals, getting track time is awful. You have a track FULL of people doing god-knows-what. It looks like a Charlie Brown dance party out there.

http://i.imgur.com/hQh3Zdi.gif

You can't do a full-gas flying 200, standing start, nothing. The best you can hope for is 15 minutes in a paceline.

Learn to do it all in the infield and you'll be better off. Control what you can control.

Try and mimic that effort on your road bike on rollers.

If I think I'll end up doing my entire warm-up on the rollers I'll use an iPhone Interval timer (ultra timer HD) and plot out my warm-up to an exact time (65min) so that I can count riders before me and figure out exactly when to start getting warm...
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=438314

This is a really good idea.

Another tip: If you are prepping for a big event where you may not get your normal on-track warmup ritual, start a couple of weeks ahead of time and practice doing your warmup 100% on the rollers/trainer even for normal workouts. This will help you get your routine dialed-in so you won't be frantic during your big event. Your nerves will be on edge anyway. Adding a new routine to the mix may unnerve you.

I had one athlete tell me that when she went to collegiate nationals, she couldn't do her normal warmup and she didn't know what to do. It totally threw off her mental prep and confidence.

This is exactly the information I was hoping for. The app from Quinn is perfect for what I need. Great tip on practicing the warm up. It's always something that i've struggled with.

On a related note:

has as anyone used the Sportcrafters Omnium Track trainer yet?

anybody got real world power curve data?

Im wondering if the drum is wide enough to use the "hand towel/shoe Throttle" for pre kilo lactic efforts?

Dancel has a set. Give him a shout.

Good call! Messaging Morocco now!

This is such a good description.

Warmups can be really chaotic.

+ 1000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000. I don't understand why more people don't practice/experiment with a proper warm up routine. A good warm up makes a huge difference in your result, especially when it comes to sprint events. I used to have three or four warm-up routines that I had settled in on. These weren't specific to event types, I had those as well, but were specific to conditions, and what I had available to me at the time. I had a cold weather warm-up, non-trainer warm up, non-track time warm-up, and an ideal situation warm up. The only things that changed during these routines for different events was times/timing. A good warm up primes the body for the physically effort at hand, which is extremely important to short events. Knowing that you prepared properly settles the nerves, as carleton mentioned above. If you are jittery, nervous, tense, or hesitant, then your performance will suffer greatly. Things don't have to go perfect like a lab experiment, but if you know you're close, then you'll be relaxed, confident, and primed for the effort at hand. My best Kilo took place after a warm up routine that got cut short because 3 of the 5 riders in front of me scratched from the event because they wanted to save themselves for the TS. Found out my start time got pushed up, so off of the rollers, grabbed what i needed and went to wait for my turn in the gate. Couple of squat jumps as the rider before me was counting down and sat back down again to wait for my turn. I knew I was ok and ready because I had gotten the bulk of my routine done, and got off when I knew I needed to get off because I had already figured out how much down time I like before my start. The more you know about what you like/need before a race, the better you can prepare yourself during any condition to perform at your best.

^^^I like the rollers plus a couple of squat jumps if I can't get on the track at all.

I am changing my Track pedals from Shimano SPD to Shimano SPD-SL after many years, maybe not so many.

Would I
A) Not make any changes to the saddle height?
B) Raise Saddle up and how much?
C) Lower Saddle down and how much?

I was fitted 2 years ago and hate to go back for this adjustment as I will be getting a new frame in 2 months and will go then.

Thanks Rob

You are changing cleats, pedals, shoes, and footbeds. The answers is, "who knows?". You'll just have to try it and see. They could all net out to the same.

You can do this by feel or take measurements.

yeah, there are a lot of variables. chances are pretty good, though, your new setup will be lower so you'll have to lower the saddle a hair.

Measure the distance from the top of your saddle to the inside sole of your shoe with old set up then check to make sure your new set up is the same (adjust as required). I do this with my crank at the 6 o'clock position (have different pedals, shoes, and crank length on different bikes).

Velocirapture,

Sorry it took so long to answer as I was flying on Delta for the last two days. Kinda sucked.

In any case, the 500 takes about 8 or more button pushes to get into and out of the bike setting page. The 510 appears to be much easier, requiring less set up time. You can find a nice review of the 510 here: Garmin Edge 510 In-Depth Review | DC Rainmaker.

You are correct, there are a few variables, but I guess I would lower the saddle 1 cm at a time. In anycase the snow is almost off our track so by the time we have our first race or training session I'll get this dialed in.

Maybe go with 5 mm at a time. 1 cm is a BIG difference in saddle height. Sometimes folk change saddle height literally by 1 or 2 mm to get a fit dialed in.

Thanks :thumb:

Perhaps so. I guess I'll pop it on the trainer and work with it that way before the track.

I'm going to have the opportunity to ride some pursuits in the near future. Ive riden a couple in the past but just with standard drops, however think its time to take it a bit more seriously and going for aero bars - what would you recommend?

Still only dipping my toes in so at the budget end of the market so i guess that rules out the fancy integrated options - will standard clip on TT bars be suitable or will that compromise things too much and i would be better getting a base bar too?

It's unlikely that mounting clip-ons on your current drop bars would yield the correct pad height. So you are probably better off buying a base bar, new stem and set of clip-on extensions.

On that note... These are some great clip-on extensions I just got, and pretty cheap! They have the most solid mounting system of any I've tried

EIS S7 Clip-On Triathlon Bicycle Aero Bars - 170296-01 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I4XU9RO..._5ombvb0QT8Y2Q
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00I4XU9RO..._5ombvb0QT8Y2Q

Aero bars can be a long journey, kinda like finding the saddle you like. Any will do in a pinch, but the "right" set will take you kissing a lot of frogs before you find your prince, hahaha.

Early on, I'd avoid spending money if possible. Maybe start by borrowing from friends and teammates. Next, I'd keep an eye out on the local craigslist or bike swap for used deals.

The weight difference between aluminum and carbon don't justify the higher carbon price. Aluminum is just fine. Remember, your bike still has to weigh 15lbs at the event.

You'll likely need a stem that is around 2cm shorter than the stem you use for drop bars. It will usually drop down lower than your normal stem as well. This is why you see such crazy short stems with deep drops available in shops that cater to the triathlon crowd.

Once you do decide to buy a set of aerobars, 3T has the most complete offering that I've seen on the market. A well-equipped tri shop would have all of this stuff in stock.
Aerobar - 3T Cycling Road - Bike Components for Road Bike

But like Quinn, my kilo setup is cheap. I use steel Nitto RB21 base bars and budget Origin 8 clip ons. Spent less than $200 total. It's rock-solid for kilo starts.

Where did you find a steel RB21?