Newbie to the roller trainer- any tips or cautions? - Page 2

just wanted to thank you Feanor as well,

got the trainer monday and within 10 minutes of trial and error, I was off and running, rode 15 miles monday, 10 miles yesterday, am switching gears, moving hand postions and saddle postion and just absolutely loving the roller set up

its so nice not to be constricted to riding when its light out, I get home, I eat dinner, relax and then ride, rather then running home, sprinting through the house to save daylight and on the bike immediately, just didn't make it fun

how far do you usually ride on your rollers? if I can keep 10 miles a day during week days i'll be happy and save the open road for less hectic weekend daylight hours

thanks a bunch

Jim

I got a set of used kreitlers this evening and took my first ever roller-ride.

I'll add what seemed to work for me -- mirroring much of what was stated above...

first, set it up right!

I got set up against my stairs so I could HOLD the rail. At first that seemed cool, but it was a crutch. I moved to the doorway and got comfortable pretty quick.

Put it in the biggest gear you have and crank the speed up over 20 mph. What keeps the bike vertical is the gyroscopic effect. The faster the wheel spin, the greater the effect and the easier it is to ride. Less than 15mph was really hard for me at first.

Keep your hands on the upper part of the handlebars at first... be confident and let go of the walls... In the drops i tended to be a bit more "noisey" at first.

Within 30 minutes, I was cruising along without needing the walls for balance any more.... piece of cake. The first 10, however, were dicey.

Great information, Feanor, and everyone else! I've also been contemplating a roller purchase for this fall/winter when it's tough (or just not fun) to ride outside. I also agree that an article with this kind of information would be GREAT in a magazine like Bicycling! They have too much filler and not enough "meat" right now.

Now then, I do have one question regarding the resistance (or lack thereof) of the rollers. What about the newer ones that feature selectable levels of resistance (similar to a trainer)? Has anyone tried these and are they worth it? Thanks...

Well, I'd state the same as others above.... the rollers are a good aerobic exercise and not really a strength thing. I got a set of used kreitlers with a killer headwind fan... What are you trying to accomplish? I want a 70-80% MHR ride on the rollers for a minimum of an hour. I don't need any additional resistance to accomplish this on the rollers if I stay in my top gear and pedal 23+ mph on the roller... The fan, or at least my fan, even on the "easiest" setting is too hard with that much wheelspeed and makes it more of a strength workout. As I get better on the rollers I'm sure I can bring the speed down into the mid to high teens and do some strength as well by using the fan... I'd say get the rollers that have an option to add the resistance and stick with learning to ride them cleanly first. Then move up to the resistance units. From my limited experience, the resistance unit made it more difficult to learn to ride. As soon as I removed the band on the fan, I got up to speed and off the wall and rode for 20 or so minutes without having to touch again....

Thanks for the info and good advice, Ken. I'll look for rollers that are upgradeable down the road.

When I first started using rollers, I had them set with a light behind me. That way, I could keep the bike centered just by looking straight ahead and keeping my shadow in the same spot on the wall.

BRILLIANT!!!! (No pun intended!!!)

That is the most practical suggestion I have EVER seen! I reckon you should get an award for this one!

It wasn't entirely intentional. I set the rollers up in the basement next to a convenient support column. The light just happened to already be behind me.

I've been using rollers for years. One of the best workouts that I found was to do 5:00 minute intervals and then spin for 5:00 minutes. This makes the time go faster as your not doing the same workout for the full hour. Also, once you get really good you can take them to a time trial race and use them to warm-up. Although I did wipe out beside my car once.

RP

I would like to add my two cents' worth: Excellent info from Feanor, I can confirm everything that Feanor wrote about learning to ride the rollers and how beneficial they are to your road riding. I have about 15 hours on mine so far and have not yet gotten to the no-hander level, but it's getting there. I still start next to a wall and push off once I spin up.

Re: resistance, I have a cheap Tacx roller with the magnetic resistance unit and find that it is easy to get up to 85% and more if you crank up the resistance. I assume you can do this with Kreitler's headwind unit too, plus with the headwind unit you would have a breeze to keep you cool. I definitekly want to get the Kreitler setup when the budget allows.

I find it a good practice technique at the end of a session, when I am cooling down, to spin down as slow as possible for a minute or two and see how low I can go before having to bail out. This really gets your balance together. So far I am down to about 15 kmh ~ 9 mph.

I set up a fan in front of me to keep the sweat in check. It is lined up directly in the middle of my line of sight, so I have something to aim at without looking at my front wheel. In fact, I cover my handlebars with an old towel to keep the sweat off my bike, so I can't see down there anyway. Also the carpet I "ride" over has lines in it that provide a line of sight to follow.

I don't think tire wear is a huge issue with rollers, but I mounted my beater tires back on my bike for roller riding so I wouldn't wear out my GP3000's so fast.

Finally, I really notice how smooth my road riding is if I have had a recent session on the rollers. Everything is smooth and straight ahead, the stroke is super round, etc. etc. Definitely a huge benefit, and reading all these posts has inspired me to head down to the cellar again and crank out a few more km!

__________________
Chris in Charleston, SC (formerly Bamberg)

- Red Bull Pro SL, Dura Ace 2x10, Mavic Ksyrium Elite, Flight Deck
- Hercules Team Alu, Tiagra 3x9, Mavic CXP
- Hercules Trekking, Deore 3x9
- Koga Miata tandem, Deore LX 3x9, Magura Julie hydraulic discs
- Folding bike from a campsite on the Baltic Sea coast for € 10, handle bar and various parts from junkyard, new tubes and tires at least double the value to € 20 !

>>...reading all these posts has inspired me to head down to the cellar again and crank out a few more km! <<

So after Feanor's inspiring list of tips and skills, I went down to the cellar today and worked on technique. I took off the mag resistance unit and spun up to about 22 - 25 mph to get more stability, and managed for the first time to ride no hands! This is a great confidence builder.

Antoher equipment improvement: my wife and kids bought me the Shimano mountain bike sandals for my birthday. I put the SPD cleats on them and used them on the roller today for the first time.
Benefits:
1) feet stay cool
2) don't add to the laundry pile with more sweaty socks
3) MTB sole gives you better grip when stepping off onto the rails of the roller

Riding indoors is -ALMOST- getting bearable.

__________________
Chris in Charleston, SC (formerly Bamberg)

- Red Bull Pro SL, Dura Ace 2x10, Mavic Ksyrium Elite, Flight Deck
- Hercules Team Alu, Tiagra 3x9, Mavic CXP
- Hercules Trekking, Deore 3x9
- Koga Miata tandem, Deore LX 3x9, Magura Julie hydraulic discs
- Folding bike from a campsite on the Baltic Sea coast for € 10, handle bar and various parts from junkyard, new tubes and tires at least double the value to € 20 !

First of all Feanor excellent post, absolutely outstanding information and usable advice. I've had a Mag trainer for the last 14 years. Now I plan to invest in some rollers.

My only request is some advice on how to convince my wife I need these in addition to the new bike I just ordered 3 weeks ago.

I train on rollers for 2 1/2 hours a day - four days a week during the winter. I don't buy the theory that you can't train or develop on rollers. I have ZZZing rollers (ZZZing rollers www.zzzing.com - great, great, rollers by the way. I'll take them over Kreitlers any day of the week - for money, design, and very attentive customer service) with small drums, and you have to work hard on those small drums. I train on a converted $150 yard sale racing bicycle, 5 speed, with a 53 chainring up front and a 11 - 21 rear cassette that I made up. I also use 700 x 28 tires @ 90psi instead of thin, high pressure racing tires. Between the gears, tire size, and roller diameter you work your butt off. I got rid of the small chainring up front. I also stand on the rollers and this develops wonderful climbing skills because it makes you put your head forward, focus, balance, and again, you get so damn efficent in your circular pedal roation that it becomes an art. Standing on rollers does not stress out the fork or front wheel, that's a bunch of crap too. Standing is great because you create this piston effect with your legs that becomes memorized when you go to climb.