In my effort to try something new every month (i.e.: get out of my comfort zone/stop being a wussy baby), I decided - smartly or otherwise - to try to ride rollers today. I have had a pair of Kreitler rollers in my basement for almost 3 years now and have been too chicken to try them. I have always just defaulted to the trainer (and that was not very often either).
Moved the trainer out of the way, pulled out the rollers and placed them in the doorway, closer to the left door jamb (I tend to start leftie and put rightie down when stopping). Dog watched with curiosity. She’s familiar with the bike on the trainer but this was something NEW. She’s also been smoked by a pedal when sticking her head a bit too close (when P was riding a few weeks ago) so I was hoping she wouldn’t try to sabotage my attempt by sticking her nose in the drive train. That would suck for both of us.
Moved the front roller barrel forward one notch, which seemed the right spot, based on what I had read online. Now: How to get on? A ha! The benefit of having had kids and being lazy - that Winnie the Pooh step stool that no one has used in 3 years will do perfectly!
Got on, cleated leftie in while still having the bulk of my weight on my right foot (on the step stool). Put it in granny gear, and spun the left leg a few times. OK, this is - interesting - the bike will move all over the place unless I really keep the front wheel straight. Gotcha. Keep it steady (easier written than done BTW). Spin spin spin. Now: let’s try to put some actual weight on the bike and spin a few more times. Eased my butt fully onto the saddle, with right leg as an outrigger on the step stool. Kept spinning. Spin spin spin.
Once it felt like the front wheel was steady, I picked my right foot up off the step stool and nearly had a heart attack. I had envisioned me and the bike flying backwards and sideways, landing in a crumpled heap on the basement floor, likely with a limb badly out of position (sticking up over my head or similarly wrong). But I didn’t fall, the front wheel didn’t really move much (deflected maybe an inch to the right), and I managed to put down my outrigger right foot again… so the world didn’t end. I calmed my breathing (read: started breathing again), loosened my death grip on the hoods, kept spinning and tried it again.
This time, when I picked my right foot up, instinct/habit took over and I plopped my right foot onto the pedal and kept spinning. HOLY CRAP I WAS RIDING ROLLERS. That thought alone almost made me lose my concentration, so I leaned slightly into the doorframe, so that my left elbow was pushing the door frame bit, as if it were my new outrigger.
I found that as I geared up and gained a bit of speed, I could stop leaning on the door frame (basically by tucking my elbow in a bit) and get going upright. I couldn’t stop staring at the front wheel, and I found it hard to move my hands around on the hoods. But I managed 20 tension-filled minutes. I also noticed that the more I engaged my core the easier it was to spin upright - makes sense of course - but it was good to make the connection in my brain. I am going to try to do at least 20min as part of my ghetto gym warm-up, see how it goes.
Anywhoo, I wanted to share this silly anecdote because for all that time being completely afraid to try them, they weren’t as scary as I thought they would be… 
AP