Just returned to rollers last evening after many years of hiatus, and am liking them much better than the trainer…despite!..
…getting going well and having a great spin while watching a DVD of Milan-San Remo. As I discovered this was’nt the best idea for the first go round on the rollers, when the peloton got into some corners I got a bit too focused in on the race and tried to go round the same corner they were negotiating…at this point the freezer beside me rematerialized into my reality and asserted its presence upon me (and I on it) in no uncertain terms as i crashed over into it. No damage to anything and a good laugh…
Any advice on what is best for relearning…or even what people like to get up to on rollers (this is an open forum right?), mine are a set of Kreitlers with a mag resistance unit.
sounds to me like you were doing it, but watching the corner turns messed you up. i would think it’s fine to watch the dvd, just look at the floor every few mintues to keep your head about you. also when they turn corners, look at the floor not at the television to keep your senses.
I keep mine set up in a doorway such that the outside of my left shoulder is right even with the door jam and as close to the door jam as possible. If I ever feel like I’m about to lose it, just the slightest lean into the door jam with my shoulder is all it takes to achieve instant stabilization. This makes it possible to wipe sweat off my brow, take a drink, etc. without stopping and dismounting.
Another trick I use is that I built a little platform to put right up against the rail to simulate where the road would be if I have to clip out and put my foot down. With the platform, I’m not trying to stop a cleat on a skinny metal rail. I’ve got something more substantial that’s right where the road would be. With these two safety tricks in hand, I’ve gone hundreds of hours now without a bif.
The last close call I had was watching the Amstel Gold race from, IIRC, 2004. It was the year Vinokourov won. He was in the final Kms and the motocam was directly behind him as he entered these little whoop-dee-doo hills. They weren’t even hills. They were moguls. About three of them in a row. You could tell the camera man almost dropped the camera. And I almost bobbed up off the saddle and onto the floor. Yep … you gotta be careful watching those videos.
I agree with what kittycat said. Also, if you have the resistance unit on their maybe disconnecting the drive band and concentrating on higher wheel speeds and cadences might make the thing more stable. Remember, on rollers, the faster the wheels are spinning the more stable you are- the whole gyroscope thing you know.
At the ‘Hilly Hundred’ two weekends ago, I saw some interesting (but expensive!) rollers being demo’ed. What was interesting was that they used a flywheel… Which supposedly enhanced the stability…
I didn’t try them (they cost ~$800!!), but the guy demo’ing them was standing up on them, hand off the bars, and all sorts of things that would’ve had me crashing! Not sure whether his claims were reasonable, or whether he was just a ‘roller god’…
What you say goes so I have a question: Not to hijack the thread too much but I heard a piece on Science Friday (the NPR science show) after the TDF this year. They had on some guy who’s an engineer at Cornell I think and has patented several inventions connected to bicycles. Anyway, they were discussing why bicycles work and this guy was saying that the gyroscopic effect (which is what I had always heard) is really false. Apparently some guy created a bike with counterweights that spun the opposite direction of the wheels and canceled out the gyroscopic effect completely. It made no material difference to the handling of the bike.
In the end, this professor says that the reason you can balance on a bike has to do with the ability to “steer under the fall.” In other words, because you’re moving, you can correct for any imbalance just by steering under it. The faster you move, the easier it is to accomplish, thus, one can balance easier at higher speeds.
On rollers, the faster your moving and the faster the rollers are spinning, the more speed you have with which to steer and keep your balance. The momentum of the spinning wheels probably helps but their pretty light and wouldn’t help too much. On the other hand, the rollers themselves are usually pretty heavy (at least mine are). This keeps your speed up and helps you steer.
Maybe I am just crazy, but when the wheels get going to fast on me is when I loose it. If I shift up the front wheel is all over the place and I normally end up on the floor! Now I wear my helmet!
Check out insideride.com. They have a bumper roller front and back and little side bumpers to keep you in the box. It is amazing you can bounce, sprint, lunge and stay on.
I saw them at the Grand Prix cyclocross race in Portland. Guys were riding them on cross tires with mud and wet with no problem. Kind of expensive, but maybe they will sell afterfit bumpers for other rollers.
I’ve been riding rollers for 10 years now…no trainer.
I have added “rumble strips” to the front roller. Pieces of duct tape about 4-5 inches in from the outside. Build up the strips to 3-4 mm thick. This way, if you daydream and start drifting to the outside, the rumble strips will wake you up
hmm good ideas in there, thanks everyone for the thoughts…rumble strips who wouldve thunk it? great.
as for no hands, thats just not possible for now, even one handed riding turns things into a state of heightened awareness, and occasionally, as with the freezer attack, severe pucker factor.
further…are there opinions on the kreitler killer headwind unit? …i sweat like a salted pig in a sauna so it seems a good use of the resistance combined with some cooling. cheersch!
Try placing a strip of masking tape on the ground in the middle of the front roller, sort of simulate a stripe down the middle of the road…so to speak. Easy frame of reference if you look down. I have even put a piece of tape vertically on the TV cabinet in front of me, and align it with where I want my wheel to be on the rollers. I would look at it the same way I would look at a wheel in front of me when on the road.
I’m loving the rumble strip idea and the road centreline idea too! Going to make those modifications tonight…
That’s interesting about the gyroscope effect or lack thereof… I always find that I’m most stable on the rollers anywhere from 20-35 km/hr. Anytime I try to push upwards of 50 km/hr is when things start to get squirrely and I have to back off to keep from eating the TV. I guess there really is no gyroscope effect then…
Wow…