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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@Art G
Rollers will also build strength and endurance and as you get better at using them, you can easily do all the hard intervals that you want on them.
Nothing against turbos (I still use mine as well as the rollers) but with a power meter and rollers, there is pretty much nothing that you cannot learn to do that you can do on a turbo and get all of the additional roller benefits, to include using zwift if that is a consideration.
@Buck Rogers
True, you can certainly use Zwift, Sufferfest, TP or any of those.
The only thing you can't get though (and the same applies to a standard turbo even with a power meter) is the smart resistance i.e. on Zwift if you have a smart trainer it changes resistance to match the gradient on screen so you get a more lifelike feel. I think there is a brand of rollers that does variable resistance (I'm not sure if it is smart-controlled) but mostly they don't.
Doesn't bother me - I use the trainer to avoid lifelike issues like going downhill at the exact moment you're supposed to be doing 450 watts. But it is a big factor for many.
In fact the top of the range Tackx trainers now have a kinetic feedback like in game-console controllers. You 'feel' different road surfaces like cobbles, planks on a bridge etc. Lot of people really get a kick out of that.
@Rob
Happy news to report. Did 45 mins on the rollers last night (after Green Bay pounded Seattle, of course) and all dismounts were by choice, not poor technique. It's amazing how tuned into one's stroke and body language you become. Managed to move hands around the bars and even go one handed a couple of times. For anyone thinking of getting a set, I'd recommend it and don't let a bad first experience get you down. This was session #3 and the confidence is climbing. Hopefully, pride shall not precede a fall . . .
@wiscot
My Turbo is right next to a large pan of glass - if I get a set of rollers I'll have to find a different location.........
@Buck Rogers
I also use both rollers and a trainer. The strength gains I've noticed from riding my rollers is core support. Not so much the legs, but then this new-to-me set of smaller 3" rollers might be quite different. I immediately noticed how much more difficult every gear feels on them than with my 4.5's. I still think of my rollers as primarily to improve my technique. I have to justify ownership of both a trainer and rollers. Otherwise, one must go away.
My rollers and I have developed a mutually abusive relationship. I sweat on them, swear at them and have recently been unfaithful, having gotten a cycleops fluid trainer for group interval sessions. In retaliation, they consistently dish out helpings of wintertime V and still occasionally buck me when I become a little too involved with watching stage 15 of this year's Vuelta.
Having just moved back northward (Ohio) after 5 years in the armpit of North America (Houston... think about it... Florida being the arm, south Texas and Mexico, the body; Houston is always humid and it normally smells pretty foul...) I am beginning to miss the adequate outdoor riding weather. While not cold-averse (in fact, I prefer it to the other thermal end of the Rule #9 spectrum), I am averse to idiot drivers on wet roads who lose the ability to make rational maneuvers when the days grow shorter.
To this end, I'm hoping some southern Velominati brethren can offer suggestions about where good roads and good people can be found for long weekend trips in the coming months. I'm looking at Tennessee, maybe north Georgia or Alabama... The Carolinas are a possibility. What do you all suggest?
@KlamSoss
Fouche Gap in North Georgia. Great roads, great climbs (the former Tour of Georgia rolled through there). Just don't ride a pink bike, that's like freakin catnip to rednecks with empty beer bottles in their trucks.
Ok, just gotta brag a bit. Went on the rollers last night. 30 minutes in, I took a break, basically to, ahem, ease some numbness. Second session I got it in a nice big gear then slowly and carefully released the bars and . . . sat up, riding no hands! Still had to focus, but boy, was I happy with myself.It took me maybe 7 or 8 sessions to get to this point.
The rollers are all about technique, but also confidence and feel. Shit weather in WI means I've only ridden outside once since I got the rollers, but I feel a distinct smoothness to my stroke and a change in upper body tension. Looking forward to more roller rides and seeing the extent to which they affect the open road riding.
@wiscot
Nice one.
@Teocalli
Thanks. I'm old enough to not remember the feeling I had a a kid when I rode solo for the first time without help or stabilizers, but this had to be pretty damn close.