rollers tips and advice

Rollers are boring. To relieve the boredom...

Basic mad skillz:

Sprint interval workout:

Fun on rollers with 1970's drug-era music:

How long? If you can stand it, shoot for 1/2 hour-45 minute initial sessions.

Girl trying not to get bored...

For indoor workouts, get a powerful fan to keep the air moving around you. You can work out longer and more intensely if you stay cool. I also put a shipping blanket or mat underneath the trainer to catch the sweat.

Most of the time, I stay at or slightly above road cadences. I use my rollers primarily for occasional recovery / tempo workouts or for working on pedaling form at high cadence.

With no or low resistance you need to be spinning fast to get any sort of high intensity workout. My rollers make an awful zzzziiiingging sound above 30.

This winter, I made a frame that my rollers sit on; the frame has a large bar magnet mounted within a millimeter of the rear drum. Now the resistance is high, almost like riding into the wind. With the magnet, high intensity work has moved from the 35+ mph range to the 20+ mph range.

"For indoor workouts, get a powerful fan to keep the air moving around you."

Agreed. Cold basements or garages are my preferred roller locations.

One of the 'anti-sweat' covers that run from under the seat to the handlebars gives some protection to the bike from dripping sweat, but may get in the way. I just velcro strap a rag around the headset.

i should mention, my rollers have such a strong resistnce on them, even when im going fast if i stop peddling it comes to a stop almost imediatly, i cannot do any coasting or stop peddling at all

I've often viewed rollers to help with form and spin. Keeping the cadence around 95-100 RPM. As for resistance, I would use a fluid trainer for that. I'm not sure if this helps or not. The rollers totally break up the time and give you something else to focus on. Indoor rides feel like banging your head against a wall.

imalightweight said:

i should mention, my rollers have such a strong resistnce on them, even when im going fast if i stop peddling it comes to a stop almost imediatly, i cannot do any coasting or stop peddling at all

stop is one thing but resistance while riding is another thing, you cannot coast on any type of roller or indoor trainer, the only way to guage your efforts is with a heart rate monitor or a powermeter, and of course cadence measurements are nice to have,

"When you want to add some curl to straight hair, foam sponge rollers are an easy way to do it."

Do your rollers make a clacking sound?

CAMPYBOB said:

"When you want to add some curl to straight hair, foam sponge rollers are an easy way to do it." Do your rollers make a clacking sound?

this guy is a serious troll and spammer

"this guy is a serious troll and spammer"

Yeah, but more importantly...is he pro-Lance?

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by CAMPYBOB [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

"When you want to add some curl to straight hair, foam sponge rollers are an easy way to do it."

Do your rollers make a clacking sound?

Sponge rollers not clack so much as squish.

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by vspa [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

you cannot coast on any type of roller or indoor trainer,

There is some available coasting for a few secs on the E-motion rollers before the rear wheel starts to slow. Doesn't sound like much but compared to the 0 seconds of coasting on other indoor units (rollers, trainers) where the rear wheel just goes dead when one stops pedalling, it feels like quite a while. I hear the European version of the E-motion rollers, which may look a little slicker, do not coast too well.

danfoz said:

There is some available coasting for a few secs on the E-motion rollers before the rear wheel starts to slow. Doesn't sound like much but compared to the 0 seconds of coasting on other indoor units (rollers, trainers) where the rear wheel just goes dead when one stops pedalling, it feels like quite a while. I hear the European version of the E-motion rollers, which may look a little slicker, do not coast too well.

yeah well those few seconds give you a small psychological rest or let you adapt a little bit your sitting position, its good to have them anyway,

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by vspa [IMG]/img/forum/go_quote.gif[/IMG]

yeah well those few seconds give you a small psychological rest or let you adapt a little bit your sitting position, its good to have them anyway,

It's definitely nice to not feel like you are starting from a complete stop each time. I hear the Lemond Trainer also has some flywheel coasting effect but I don't have expereince with that one.

thats what im talikg about, ive seen other rollers and people stop to re position or re clip their cleat and the rollers spin for a bit, mine dont do nearly as much

What diameter drums do your rollers have? Are the drums hollow or solid? Diameter and mass have will change the flywheel effect.

Removing the belt and hand spinning your drums and the drums on something like a similar set of Kreitler rollers may give you a feel for how the bearings should spin down.