Rollers

How awesome are rollers :smiley:
mine arrived today cant get off them.
No coasting

Thats all.
just thought id say.

I so want some :mrgreen:

iā€™ve been using mine a bit recently but i have trouble riding for any more than about 15 mins because i just get bored at staring at the bin on the opposite wall. iā€™m getting confident enough to feel like i donā€™t need to be next to the kitchen bench so maybe i can set it up with a view of the TV. I found a few videos on YouTube with guys playing guitar hero on the rollers. Hopefully iā€™ll be playing mario kart for the wii soon enough.

anyone got tips on making it less boring?
iā€™m really just using them at the moment to work on my stroke and to get the body going in the morning without leaving the house

TV is ok - but I find the easiest way is to block out the time. Say ā€¦ have a 5 min easy roll ~90rpm, then increase your cadence a bit to 110 for 5 mins, increase again to 120 for 5 mins, then rest for 3 mins. Then do three sets of efforts where you use a hard gear at high rpm: 3 mins hard, 3 mins resting at 90rpm. then cooldown for two or three lots of 5 minutes, getting easier each 5 minutes. If 5 minute blocks are too long, try 3 or 4 for the warmup and 1 or 2 for efforts.

If you focus on blocks less than 5 minutes the time flies. Also if you are working on your pedalling, (apparently) varying cadence is a good idea, otherwise you program your legs to one speed - or so Iā€™m told.

Tricks is where it is at

[ul]
[li]One leg and no hands[/li][li]Track stands[/li][li]Riding backwards[/li][li]Eyes shut[/li][li]Removing leg warmers. See above (one leg)[/li][li]Out of the saddle sprints[/li][li]Dismount and ride away[/li][li]Ride onto rollers[/li][li]Fall off[/li][/ul]

Would this help me get used to riding backwards out on the road/car park? I spent a couple of days trying to get this happening without much luck. I even tried sitting on the handlebars so I was facing backwards but the bike is too long for that.

iā€™m going to give that plan a shot. i can definitely see the merit in breaking it up into small stages, otherwise iā€™m just riding for the sake of it really which is why I get so freaking bored staring at the wall.

[ul]
[li]Fall off[/li]> [/ul]

Smart ass!

Um, I must be some kind of unco idiot then - picked up some rollers recently and have had two goes on them so far - I have found them quite hard to ride to say the least - I keep slipping off the sides or off the front. Suspect I have the front roller set too far forward so Iā€™m going to bring it back and have a more determined go.

Any tips for a total beginner would be welcomed but I can see it just takes practice and being smooothā€¦

It does take a little while to get used to, but to start:

  • adjust the length so the front wheel axle is directly above the front roller axle (or within 10mm).

  • if you have the option, use a bigger gear to start with - itā€™s a lot easier if your wheel is spinning faster

  • start holding onto something like a bench, chair back, door frame or wall

  • no hands can be easier initially than with hands on the bars

  • keep your pedalling up and look forward - just like riding :slight_smile:

OR

  • come to the roller derby and have a go with a holder or two!

ive found that if you steer with your hips rather than your hands.
once somebody told me that i had it straight away,
if your slipping off the front, your front roller is probably too far back.

regarding motivation, try this on:
http://tvinjapan.com/blog/2007/01/20/cycle-powered-peep-show-coming-to-a-gym-near-you/

i did 5 sets of 3mins this morning
warm up
85% HR
rest
95% HR
cool down

went by in no time. iā€™m going to expand it to 30 mins next time

sorry, I meant:

5 sets of intervals like:

80% - rest - 80% - rest - 80% - rest - 80% - rest - 80%

thatā€™s 30mins without the warmup and cooldown :wink:

itā€™s all good. i realised that. I was just pressed for time this morning otherwise it would have been much longer. normally iā€™ve just about fallen asleep after that time whereas this morning I was rearing to go =D
i hesitated about using the word ā€œsetā€ when i wrote the last post. I couldnā€™t think of a more appropriate word. ā€œintervalā€ would have been much better in retrospect

regardless of all that. breaking it up like that makes it a shitload easier to do the same amount of time even though the effort is much greater

I hung an old tv and dvd player in the shed. Best ever movie for training? Run Lola Run, cranked up LOUD.

what about fishTV? :?

Get a mate to play ā€˜Out Runā€™ or Crazy Taxi on a Dreamcast or whatever the kids are using these days ā€¦ for the driver POV of the road, of course.

Crazy Taxi would be a pisser ā€“ itā€™s all about running deliveries all day, and has a good punk soundtrack, too o/ o/

Your training partner could play the console while youā€™re going at it, and then you can swap (]^_^[)

haha nah - driver PoV is dangerous. I was watching GP one night on the rollers and almost fell off a few times leaning into the ā€˜cornersā€™.

ā€¦but what would happen if trained monekys were tipping the rollers left and right in sync with the turns? thinks ā€¦ interactive virtual hill climbs anyone

interactive virtual hill climbs anyone

This doenā€™t actually work as youā€™re not lifting your weight up the imaginary slope. I saw a meat head at the gym riding a stationary bike with weights under the front, he said it increased the resistance and was like riding up hill for 30 mins. I didnā€™t tell him other wise.

gold

Thanks for the tips - I was all set to go out for a ride on Sunday morning to find it pissing down - got the rollers out in the garage and made the adjustments that were suggested in one of the posts (front hub directly over the front roller) and it worked a treat.

Am now hooked (despite almost pulling the beer fridge down on top of me at one point while grabbing on). :smiley: