How awesome are rollers 
mine arrived today cant get off them.
No coasting
Thats all.
just thought id say.
I so want some :mrgreen:
iāve 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. iām getting confident enough to feel like i donāt 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 iāll be playing mario kart for the wii soon enough.
anyone got tips on making it less boring?
iām 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 Iām 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.
iām going to give that plan a shot. i can definitely see the merit in breaking it up into small stages, otherwise iām 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 Iām 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 - itās 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
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. iām 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%
thatās 30mins without the warmup and cooldown 
itās all good. i realised that. I was just pressed for time this morning otherwise it would have been much longer. normally iāve just about fallen asleep after that time whereas this morning I was rearing to go =D
i hesitated about using the word āsetā when i wrote the last post. I couldnāt think of a more appropriate word. āintervalā 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 āOut 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 itās all about running deliveries all day, and has a good punk soundtrack, too o/ o/
Your training partner could play the console while youāre 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 ācornersā.
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 doenāt actually work as youāre 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 didnāt 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).