Was wondering if anyone out there is doing 3+ hr training rides on rollers, but NOT the e-motion ones that have all the safety features on it to prevent you from flying off the side.
I’ve heard a bunch of folks who are throwing down 4-6 hour rides, but nearly invariably they’re using e-motions due to their safety features.
Anyone doing it on a plain vanilla standard roller set? I’m wondering how you manage to stay focused enough to not go off the side for that long a time.
No…not because I couldn’t…just because it would bore me to tears and also impregnate the room with odor de sweat.
No…not because I couldn’t…just because it would bore me to tears and also impregnate the room with odor de sweat.
Ditto.
Why would one want to do that long indoors?
If I can’t get outdoors for my long ride of the week during the winter, I will do 3-3.5 hr endurance rides on my Tru-trainer rollers. I put together a freemotion set-up which makes the whole indoor roller training experience so much better.
Training indoors is what it is. If your goal is to be competitive and you can’t get outdoors, you have to get the work done - period.
As far as being able to focus, if you spend enough time on the rollers you will most likely get to the point where you rarely come close to riding off the side. That being said, even though I have ridden hundreds of hours on the rollers, I often set up and do my roller workouts in a doorway just in case…
Training indoors is what it is. If your goal is to be competitive and you can’t get outdoors, you have to get the work done - period.
What he said… +1.
Thus far at least, seems that almost nobody out here is doing long 3+hr rides on “simple” rollers that don’t have safety features like the side wheels.
I was specifically asking because in another thread on a different forum, at least 10 folks were piping up on how they were die-hard roller users and would go 4+ hrs for IM training, and I was wondering how they were pulling this off without e-motions - in reality, I’ll bet all 10 of them were using e-motions or other rollers where you can’t easily ride off the side.
I’m very good at focusing on the task at hand, but to remain fixated on the roller without wiping out off the side for 4+ hrs is asking a LOT.
That is silly talk. 3 hours on the rollers. I have lasted close to 2 hours and went off the side once or twice. Luckily with my super hero like balance I did not fall.
A better alternative is combining a long run and then riding the rollers with intensity for 30 to 60 minutes. Better yet, go cross country skiing.
A better alternative is combining a long run and then riding the rollers with intensity for 30 to 60 minutes. Better yet, go cross country skiing.
I’m not actually interested in doing 3+ hrs on the rollers myself. I was just wondering if I’m lacking on my roller skills because I can’t go for that inhumane period of time on my Performance TravelTrac simple rollers. I can ride them one-handed, one-legged, etc., but the prospect of drifting attention once and going off the side is enough to dissuade me from long roller rides.
I actually love my Cycleops2 trainer setup. I think it’s awesome
I hang my head in shame and admit that I did that last weekend. The first two hours were continous, took a 15 min break to change the dvd and hit the head and then got back on them. My only consolation was that I was on a geared bike. Normally I’ll ride them in the evening 1.5 to 2 hours on the fixed gear at a high RPM. And yes I have a high tolerance for boredom.
db
I reject the idea that side barriers keep you from falling off. They keep you from riding off, but if your body leaned and this prevents the bike from staying under you, you will be falling.
I agree, but I wasn’t expecting the bumpers to save me from tilting over, but exactly from the riding of the side.
Dude! THat’s crazy talk. I suppose you don’t want to hear about my 4 hour ride today without arm warmers. And the first track race is Feb. 6.
I need to see some Youtube video proof of a 3hr roller ride~ hehe
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LOL, Thank you very much for the weather report ! We actually had the last cx race of the season at boulder res in mid to upper 40’s. There was still snow and ice on the course, and the res was frozen, but was good otherwise.
Yesterday though it was back on the rollers, only for 2 hours.
And can I tell you how shitty the weather is in Rawlins WY is today, cold and really windy! So its a good thing I put ther rollers in the can, and I got another 2.5 hours on them tonight, I hope the folks below wern’t too disturbed on the spin up sets to 130 RPM !
And can I tell you how shitty the weather is in Rawlins WY is today, cold and really windy!
Dude… why aren’t you out skiing?
In college I did exactly 3 hours on a set of Tacx PVC rollers. If I recall correctly, hour one: no problems. Hour two: started to get fatigued. Hour three: four rides off the side; three non-events (just eeked off the side and stopped), and the other one being an epic fail where I somehow landed on the other side of the room.
I have never bothered to repeat such an event.
I’ve had plenty of 2 hour rides. I don’t know if I’ve ever made 3 but if I had a good long movie and time to burn - why not? Put some long intervals to it and the time would zip by. Ride directly into the TV and you shouldn’t have any problems going off the side of the rollers.
On the trainer though, yuck. I have a hard time going more than an hour on my trainer.
Personally, I see limited benefit going past 1:40 of so if I am training for a half Ironman.
I’ve never done a full Ironman where I have not been able to get on the road for at least 6 weeks in advance for the race. Winding up the intensity for 1.5 hours is plenty. From there, I can immediately go to 4 hours on the open road, and within 2 weeks up to 5 hours. Since my trainer/roller workouts are typically done closer to Olympic tri race pace, its not big deal riding longer at lower intensity.
Going from a 90 min indoor ride to 2.5 hours outdoor at half IM pace seems almost easier than trying to get in half IM race fitness outdoors.
As for the “roller question” the longest I have lasted is only 90 minutes. It’s not the roller issue, it’s just the boredom factor (there are only so many intervals I can do before my head explodes). I certainly can’t ride continously at the same intensity on rollers just like I would not be able to do a 60 min continuous pool swim at the same intensity. I need to chase metal man on the computrainer to last longer than 90 minutes, and even then the most I have ever done is 2 hours.
Dev
Was wondering if anyone out there is doing 3+ hr training rides on rollers, but NOT the e-motion ones that have all the safety features on it to prevent you from flying off the side.
I’ve heard a bunch of folks who are throwing down 4-6 hour rides, but nearly invariably they’re using e-motions due to their safety features.
Anyone doing it on a plain vanilla standard roller set? I’m wondering how you manage to stay focused enough to not go off the side for that long a time.
As someone who has done far too many 3 to 5 hours rides on Kreitlers, CycleOps, and TruTrainer rollers, one does not need E-Motion rollers in order to be able to ‘safely’ ride rollers for many hours. All of my ‘crashes’ on rollers have been caused by trying to do stupid shit like knocking the Kreitler Head Wind belt off with the front wheel after a set of intervals were complete (the first few times it worked but the last time I tried it I ended up high siding off the rollers).
If you are ‘new’ to rollers I would recommend against going really long until you can comfortably do any, or all, of the following:
1 - Ride no hands for extended periods of time (5 to 10 minutes)
2 - Ride standing up
3 - Pedal with one leg
4 - Ride a tt bike in the aero position for extended periods of time
I recommend TruTrainer rollers as the flywheel provides a great deal of inertia which makes the above pretty easy to learn. Learning the above on Kreitler’s large diameter rollers can take some time.