If we liked breathing stale, recycled air, we’d all take up a sport like wrestling or indoor fly-fishing. But we love the feel of a gale on our faces. We cherish the smell of cow manure filling our nostrils with its almost tangible grittiness. We hold scared the privilege to breathe in diesel fuel while doing hill repeats up l’Alpe d’Huez.
But such whimsy is not for every day. Occasionally, we find ourselves faced with the prospect of an hour of solitude upon the wind trainer or rollers, where our sport is transformed from a glorious experience of powering ourselves along with only Nature for company to one where a ride of 30 minutes is barely tolerable, 45 seems like a lifetime wasted, and 60 minutes is more than most of us can even consider enduring. 60 minutes on the trainer at a leisurely pace or a 4 and a half hour death march up a barren, heat-riddled climb? I’ll take the 4 and half hours every time, thank you very much.
We all have to do it, and there are even some redeeming qualities to be had. You get better at Rule #5, for one. You develop a more magnificent stroke, for another. Whatever the redeeming qualities, we all have our way of coping. Jeff in PetroMetro returns with his view on how to make it suck just a little bit less.
Yours in Cycling,
Frank
—
Either due to life-threatening weather or poor scheduling of life’s lesser priorities (see Rule #11), we Velominati spend a little time each year riding indoors. Whether one enjoys a ride on rollers or a trainer, and no matter if one methodically spins (as all good recovery ride specialists do), grinds out intervals, or practices ways to improve one’s magnificent stroke (scrape the mud off your shoes, scrape the mud off your shoes…), death-by-boredom is always a possibility. I’m not one to go for videos, or read books, or hook up to a computer. Call me old fashioned. I like to meditate on the V with only the voices inside my head screaming for mercy from the pain of a complete lactic acid meltdown.
Or, sometimes I like a little music.
Back in the Dark Ages, I used the yellow (sweatproof) Sony Walkman to play my favorite homemade training cassette tapes. But in our modern days of inexpensive digital storage, and with the brilliant invention of the “shuffle” command on my iPod Nano, I have some seven hours of musical motivation to keep my indoor sessions lively and loud.
I thought I might start a little conversation regarding favorite training tunes. Now, I know ALL of my fellow Velominati strictly adhere to Rule #62 when riding outside. And of course, we prefer strict adherence to Rule #9, but, as I stated above, shit happens.
While I have eclectic taste, I don’t fancy Al Green, Buck Owens, or Duke Ellington when loving a Rule #5 beatdown. No. I tack to the loud and fast. My preferences are punk and “classic rock”. (It was just rock when I first heard it.) So here’s a little flavor of my indoor training selection, in no particular order.
Hate to Say I Told You So“”The Hives””from the album “Your New Favourite Band”
Tick Tick Boom“”The Hives””from the album “The Black and White Album”
American Idiot“”Green Day””from the album “American Idiot”
The Rock Show“”Blink 182″”from the album “Take Off Your Pants and Jacket”
I Fought the Law (Live)””The Clash””from the album “The Clash: Live at Shea Stadium”
Batman Theme“”The Jam””from the album “In the City”
Communication Breakdown“”Led Zeppelin””from the album “Led Zeppelin”
The Real Me“”The Who””from the album “Quadrophenia”
Rock Around the Clock“”Ten Pole Tudor””from the album “The Great Rock’n’Roll Swindle”
Of course there are many, many others. But I offer these few picks-to-click to perhaps start a little discussion and get some musical ideas for my next indoor shopping spree at the V and Dime.
A-Merckx
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Noticed this morning that if I move my left hand right in to the stem when going for the bidon, it gets much less wobbly. Might work for others.
Any of you rollerminati had prblems with getting sweat on the rear roller? I'm not sure if I have but twice now I've come close to comming off when the rear wheel has slid out from under me alarmingly quickly. The first time was doing descending intervals and I'd just put the hammer down on the last 15 second effort. Tonight was much more unprovoked, I minding my own business in the middle of a 2 x 20 effort at a constant cadence when it went.
I haven't experienced this but I set up my rollers in a doorway that has a pass through counter/bar on one side. This means on my left I have a counter at the perfect height for beverages and a towel. I also have a fan blowing on me. Sweat still flows, but not like a waterfall so perhaps I've just avoided this.
@itburns
I've got a big fan as part of my set up but by the time I've finished something like a 2 x 20 minute session, I'll be completely soaked. I've got to wear a cycling cap to keep the sweat out of my eyes! Mrs Chris finds that to be ridiculously funny.
I'm set up in the kitchen with counters to my front and right so I've got the computer in front of me with Sufferfest films for intervals or a box set of something for the longer less intense constant efforts (all five series of The Wire at the moment) and my drinks, remote etc. to the side. We've got a bar stool with a back on it that provides excellent emergency support on the other side.
@Chris
10 bucks says it ain't sweat on your rollers (think about how fast rollers rotate - water won't stay on em for long) - most likely it is you getting a bit ropey on your bike when u get really fatigued - a good sign! Let it be said I have unintentionally dismounted more than once...
@Marcus
It's a good point and you may well be right about the speed of the rollers shedding any moisture before it amounts to enough to cause an issue. I also suspsect that the rear rollers are too far back to be badly affected, but the reason I wondered about it being sweat was the speed at which the back wheel departed, it was definitely slipping rather than wandering and there wasn't much in terms of leaning that might have unweighted the wheel, especially on the second occurrence, I was spinning with a surprisingly pleasant level of souplesse at the time.
I was certainly all over the place, turning squares on lumpy rollers by the end of it, though!
@Chris
Maybe take a little air out of the tires. You don't need to worry about pinch flats, and you'll get both more traction and more resistance.
Or maybe a film of oily residue got on the rollers somehow -- you could try cleaning them with something.
@Nate
I'll give that a go, they're at about 120 at the moment.
Excessive nipple lube might result in oily residue...
@Chris
I bet you cleaned and lubed your drivetrain before using the bike on rollers and while training some amount of oil from the chain and cassette ended up on the rear roller.Wipe off excess of lubricant you use from the chain and cassette before riding on rollers.
@TommyTubolare
Tommy, thanks, you're quite right I did clean and lube my drive chain the day before a roller session I will take more care to wipe of any excess before hitting the rollers next time.