Tommy Simpson goes rollin' in the deep.
When it comes to training, no one loves riding outside and loathes riding inside more than I do. On the other hand, riding outside is dangerous, especially with something like the Tour de Trump running the show. So I’ve been working on my road safety by not riding on the road and riding my rollers instead.
The added benefit of the rollers is that I do it in the early hours of the day, when no one is stirring apart from the odd mouse, so there are no witnesses. No one wants to see a shirtless man crying. Not even a mouse.
The rollers are the quintessential winter training and warm-up device. Merckx rode them. I was going to list other people who rode them but then realized that the list is as complete as it needs to be with just that name on it. I’d never ridden them until last Spring, when Marko sent me his, saying I could have “those diabolical bastards”. I rode them on my road bike until it got light enough to accommodate morning rides outside which was twice. Then I forgot about them until we fell back again a few weeks ago. (Daylight Savings? More like Daylight Shavings.)
With the days getting short and my gut getting wide, I’ve turned once again to the rollers for my morning Spanish Turbo Sessions. Except this Fall, I’ve been riding my Don Walker track bike (which was here until ridden only for the Festum Prophetae Hour) which adds the benefit of an unforgiving fixed wheel to the fun of riding these torture devices.
On the plus side, nothing will give you a more Magnificent Stroke than this heinous combination will. Thirty minutes feels like a lifetime; forty-five like an eternity. I’ll let you know what fifty minutes feels like when I get there. At which point, much like with The Hour, I’ll no doubt climb off, citing road conditions.
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@Cary
The fan is essential for headwind training.
Speed #1 = Flanders
Speed #2 = Wellington
Speed #3 = Netherlands
@Harminator
the New Orleans lakefront is enough for me. 25-35kph this time of year. of course we have a lovely subtropical climate to mitigate this.
@edster99
The rollers are so quiet and I have a shower right there. Works perfectly, esp as I have five youngish kiddos and a saintly, wonderful VMH at home that I cannot justify taking the time away from them when I am at home as I work pretty long hours as it is.
Best solution to an imperfect world!
@RobSandy
That's why I stand for 5 straight minutes every 15 minutes. Otherwise I'd have to be sneaking into the Pharm for the costco-sized viagra bottles!
@ChrisO
Could I use zwift if I had a powertap? Right now I do not have any powermeter and I do not think that I can use zwift with my rollers or even with the KKPro trainer that I have.
@Buck Rogers
For sure you can use it with a Powertap, or any power meter. You would just need an ANT+ USB dongle ($15) to receive the data into your PC or Mac.
But actually you can use it with a KK R&R, it's on their list of supported trainers. So all you need is a speed monitor (and the ANT+) and Zwift calculates your virtual power from the known speed and resistance of the KK.
It's a calculation rather than a measurement but if you follow the instructions it is reasonably accurate, and if you're not using the power for anything other than making your avatar move then it doesn't really matter.
@ChrisO
Oh man. I might have to do this.
I just LOVE numbers/tracking data (but have held off on power as I am not racing and do not want to get too caught up in numbers) and the idea of Zwift is spookily drawing to me. I have always wanted to do it but did not have a power meter and could not really justify it.
My KK trainer is an older Pro model from 2010 that works really well but is wired.
I might surf ebay for an old powertap wheel to use on the rollers/trainer. I know buying wheels off of ebay is scary (I have never done it before b/c I feel that I could never really trust it on the road) but it would be safe on the rollers.
Now to search some ebay for wireless power wheels. Do I need the headset computer zwift or just the power meter wheel?
@Ktc
But it'll be so big and so beautiful the Tour de Trump Ohhh…yea, how did that work out ? Worth a good chuckle to check it out.
Cheers
@Buck Rogers
It's so good.
I don't have any time now for people who say indoor training is So Booooring...
It's not just about the numbers. Today I lead a 3 hour ride with 137 people on the start line. We had lots of chat in the ride online and through a voice channel and it meant a huge number of people could follow a structured endurance ride all together. We had Brits, Japanese, Americans, Slovenians, Germans, French, Norwegians, Danes, Swedes, Portguese...
It's certainly better if you have accurate power, and yes an old powertap wheel would be fine on a trainer. Or a basic crank PM like Stages or 4iii. If you're not sure about the KK I can ask on the FB page - someone is sure to have tried it. What are the details?
You don't need a headset unit at all. If you have the ANT+ connection then Zwift does the same job, displaying power, recording HR etc and it produces a .fit file which you can upload to Strava or any other programme to record or analyse.
I would just say you need a reasonable computer. Specs are on the website. The better the graphics card the more detail you'll see on screen.
And BTW, since so much of our rationale is based on "We do it because the pros do it"...
This week I've seen Matt Brammier, Edvald Boassen-Hagen and Andre Greipel on there. Laurens Ten Dam leads a regular morning ride through the off season, and Matt Hayman credits it with allowing him to do enough training to win Paris-Roubaix while he recovered from injury. Jody Cundy, the paralympic gold medallist, has often joined our rides.
And if that wasn't enough, Jens Voigt is one of their 'ambassadors'.