Training on rollers - advice please.

[Squier]

My wife recently started training again which has relegated me from the spinning bike onto the rollers.

 

Now, training on rollers is not easy for me. Just staying on takes a lot of effort.

 

My concern is that I am not able to do those all out intervals as I will almost certainly fall off or find myself viciously attacking the TV cabinet. It's still not a bad workout but I'm concerned that I'm negelcting the really high intensity stuff. Honestly, I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to do it on rollers.

 

So much so that I'm considering chainging the rollers for an IDT. Am I missing the point? Is there much difference between the workout you'll get on an IDT than on rollers? In my own strange world in my head I have the idea that training on rollers is superior and more beneficial than training on an IDT or spinning bike, but the lack of really high intensity intervals worry me.

 

Any advice?

[rouxtjie]

My wife recently started training again which has relegated me from the spinning bike onto the rollers.

 

Now, training on rollers is not easy for me. Just staying on takes a lot of effort.

 

My concern is that I am not able to do those all out intervals as I will almost certainly fall off or find myself viciously attacking the TV cabinet. It's still not a bad workout but I'm concerned that I'm negelcting the really high intensity stuff. Honestly, I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to do it on rollers.

 

So much so that I'm considering chainging the rollers for an IDT. Am I missing the point? Is there much difference between the workout you'll get on an IDT than on rollers? In my own strange world in my head I have the idea that training on rollers is superior and more beneficial than training on an IDT or spinning bike, but the lack of really high intensity intervals worry me.

 

Any advice?

There is a difference, as you noted and experienced training on rollers makes it very hard to hit certain zones(power) and certain cadences. For this an IDT is perfect. However rollers work other areas that and IDT won't...balance and core comes to mind.

 

Place and time for both of them..

[Super J]

I do most of my training on rollers, and after a week or so youll easily begin to gain stability as your pedal stroke improves. A little secret is to wrap some insulation tape around the front roller about 5 cm from each end, then, if you drift it makes a hell of a noise.... and you can correct! I find rollers improve my cycling more than a IDT, as you feel the bike and the smallest fault in your pedal stroke is amplified, where a IDT keeps the bike locked solid. I also find that pushing a bigger gear on the rollers improves your stability, where as high cadence bounces me around....

[RockCoach]

Perhaps it's just a bit more practise on the rollers until you are comfortable pushing hard? When I used to train on the road bike a lot I would do intervals on the rollers. Usually in the biggest gear spinning the cranks at about 170rpm. (I could get to 195rpm on the road). The only issue I had was that under really hard seated sprinting at such high cadence the bike would bounce slightly and cause the rollers to slowly crab walk across the floor - backwards and to my right about 30cm every minute. This was resolved to a degree by the use of a large rubber mat and eventually securing one of the legs.

 

I have had more issues with the A-frame than rollers during high intensity workouts. The main one being that the rear tyre (IDT specific) would continuously slip on the gel roller. This caused a pungent rubber burning smell which apparently the wife didn't appreciate in the lounge.

[MrJacques]

I'm getting to the stage where I can stand and pedal on my rollers, but it feels like I'm going to ride off the front.

 

Saw this and I'm tempted to build a frame like it and modify my rollers to use it. It should give you the ability to pedal quite hard on the rollers while staying on it. http://www.instructa...ycling-Rollers/

 

The optional side bumpers will help to prevent you riding off the sides.

Edited August 20, 2014 by Jacquers

[Spinnekop]

Only do rollers indoors. Sure you don't get the watts going but it gives one hell of a workout if you incorporate your intervals on it.

[RockCoach]

Oh, and when you do ride off the rollers, the bike stops dead, it doesnt accelerate into the tv. So be ready to uncleat rapidly.

[typhoon]

My main issue with rollers is the lack of standing tends to get uncomfortable 45mins in.

Standing takes some serious skill and generally the cad slows right down and it doesn't feel right.

 

intervals aren't that hard to do but it's done with cad/speed. keep say 75-80 cad then stay in the same gear and rev up to 95-100ish, then back down. one way to do it.

other workout i try is big ring up front and then about 6/7/8 up at the back, keep 80-85 cad and every 10min drop a gear for a hour.

 

you'll find the more you on the rollers the more stable you become.

when you spinning high cad and the bike bounces a little, you know your peddle stoke isn't smooth.

momentum is your friend! low speeds make you wobble more.

also holding the bars closer to the stem is more stable than trying to hold out wide or in the drops.

 

The problem with rollers is because there is no resistance, you can't really do strength training.

[avatar]

I train a lot on the rollers too, I must agree that putting in more time on them gives you more confidence to ride harder/faster as well as standing up. I have not reached the point of standing up and sprinting with your hands on the drops but I heard this can be done... what I did find and something that provides quite a workout is doing one foot at a time for half a minute or more and immediately changing and do the other one. combine that with some speed intervals and you have a serious workout going

Edited August 20, 2014 by avatar

[WIPEOUT 1000]

I have a set of Elite E Motion Rollers, it is not to difficult to stand on them and it has 3 resistance levels, although I've never used any but the easiest setting. I basically increase the power by selecting a higher gear ratio and/or increasing my cadence.

 

With regards high intensity stuff, I train with a power tap and basically my experience has been that although I clearly cannot achieve the instantaneous peak numbers I can achieve on the road I can get relatively close to my max power as per my max power/VO2 max test results.

[MrJacques]

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybFvomdhW2Y

Edited August 20, 2014 by Jacquers

[Malpiet]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiCdm5FsJpg

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybFvomdhW2Y

 

hardcore, i might damage my eggs if i try this...

[Squier]

Thanks for all the responses. I'll stick to the rollers a little longer. I guess over time it'll become easier to hit those high training zones.

[Patchelicious]

The trick is to practice riding on them without holding onto the handle bars....

[RockCoach]

The trick is to practice riding on them without holding onto the handle bars....

 

It's a bit nerve wrecking the first time. You just have to realise that you need to sit properly upright to keep the bike stable. In fact it is much more stable than holding onto the bars.

[Pieterg]

IDT