Threshold work on rollers

I have a question for the gurus here. Is it possible to do decent threshold work on rollers? I currently have a Kurt Kinetic pro stationary trainer, great piece of kit, but I find that I hate having to use it because it involves a rear wheel tyre change and lots of other fuss... my time is kinda limited lately with a new baby. The option of just sticking the bike on something like the Cycleops alu rollers with resistance seems far less fussy. Would it serve my purposes, though?

I much prefer doing 20 min intervals on the rollers. Power and cadence look like a perfect plateau on the graphs.

I just have a cheap set with no resistance and in the 53X13, my cadence is right around 100-107 rpm which is where I normally settle in at. The nice thing about the rollers is that the resistance remains constant unlike the fluid trainer I have which "loosens up" as the fluid gets hot and I find myself constantly having to shift which makes me lose focus. I do find that tire pressure has to be dropped 8-10 psi however. This obviously wouldn't be necessary on a set with resistance settings.

Sure, as long as you have sufficient resistance, there's no reason that rollers won't work for Threshold work. My rollers don't have a resistance unit and even spun out in my big gear I tend to top out around 250 watts unless I hold a ridiculously high cadence. But when I want to do L4 or L5 work on the rollers I just fold an old towel up under the rear drum and I can get plenty of resistance.

Anyway if you enjoy riding rollers and get a unit with adjustable resistance they'll work fine for Threshold work. If you're gonna spend a lot of time on them check out these: http://www.insideride.com/index.php?...d=73&Itemid=50 They're pricey, but very cool! Check out some of the videos of full tilt sprinting and trying to ride off them.

-Dave

Thanks for the link and the advice. I have seen those rollers and they look great but I also need something very portable. Think I'll look at the cycleops ones. I like the idea of improving pedal stroke and also the inherent danger a lapse of concentration would entail

I toyed with the idea of rollers last winter for the same reasons you mentioned before (not having to fuss with tire changes, etc.), but the statement above in bold is what got me off of that idea. When I'm doing threshold work I want 100% focus on pushing the pedals, and don't want to have to worry about my bike handling, standing up to get through a rough patch, shifting on the seat, taking a drink, etc.

Rides where I'm working on technique are okay, but I didn't like attempting threshold or higher work on the rollers because I couldn't just go into the pain cave and suffer like I wanted.

Ah, but aren't these all skills that we as riders should learn to make us more assured, smoother when under duress in races, etc?

Meh. When I'm trying to ride someone off my wheel, I don't really care if they're impressed by how smoothly I do it. In my experience, dropping the hammer in a race involves tunnel-vision, tongues dragging, drool/snot/sweat flying, clawing/scratching/kicking/biting, and a blatant lack of concern for anything other than survival.

Seriously though, if you prefer to train technique and fitness at the same time then I don't have a problem with that. My goal was to gain whatever I could in technique while I was training fitness, and I felt that rollers required enough concentration on technique that they detracted from my fitness training. On the road there's no issue, so I really considered it an undesired side effect of using the rollers.

after you ride them for a while it's just like riding outside.. you don't think about it any more and you are just doing your workout...

for the first little while during your cool down you can just take a few minutes and just practice skills.. riding one hand, taking your bottle out for a drink, moving from side to side to get rid of your fear of going too close to the edges, riding no hands (not absolutely necessary but good for taking the kinks out of your back), standing up (give your butt a break)... those are the skills you're going to need if you're going to spend any real time on rollers doing real workouts...

i do everything except sprints on my rollers (i have Kreitlers and if i had e-motions i'd do sprints as well) with no problem at all... i actually can more consistently pull higher numbers inside on rollers than out side so that should tell you something (i have the killer headwind attachment 1000+ Watts kreitler wattage chart)... may have to take a couple of days before you can do a real workout... after a month or so to be really comfortable but you're still able to complete you're workouts in the interim.

larger diameter rollers are easier to ride than smaller diameter but smaller diameter need less additional resistance... you can also add resistance by taking air out of your tires

oh and they are much more easy.. you just take your bike plop it on the rollers and start riding... no fuss, no muss...

If you're gonna spend a lot of time on them check out these: http://www.insideride.com/index.php?...d=73&Itemid=50 They're pricey, but very cool! Check out some of the videos of full tilt sprinting and trying to ride off them.


I have a set of these and they WICKED AWESOME. I have to do most of my training late at night so some kind of trainer is a must. The "float" lets me do anything I would normally do on the road (eat, drink, no hands, ILT, and even remove shirts)(

I have a set of Elite rollers and with a FTP of 259 watts and MAP of 361 watts find that I can sit on 360 watts in 50 x 12 at around 95-100rpm. Using my winter wheels set with 700 x 28 Conti 4 Season Tyres. Power for short intervals is limited but rollers do give you great feedback if your peddaling is sub-optimal. YMMV.

__________________
Hamish Ferguson: Cycling Coach
http://hamishferguson.blogspot.com/

I ended up getting the cycleops alu rollers with resistance attachment. tried them once and it was comical until i hit my nuts on the stem in a wobbly moment. am looking forward to training on them properly once i have the hang of it. turbo training is fine but cumbersome with the tyre changes (powertap user), although you can also fudge it on a turbo and not have great technique. i think being smooth, while also putting the power down is the way forward. it's nice to record big numbers, but nicer to be an economical cyclist.

Until?? Goodness, what kinds of stuff happened during the funny parts?