Rollers

triggermortis

I'm thinking of investing in a set of rollers as it works out cheaper and more convenient than lights and dicing with death on unlit country roads this time of year.
My initial thought was a turbo, but I've tried that before and didn't really get on with it. I think rollers will help my balance and cadence more as well as help with the zone 2 training I intend to do over winter as it will be easier to keep within zones if there are no hills (Monaghan ain't too flat!).
Anybody got any tips or suggestions before I go out and buy? From what I've seen so far, there seems to be an initial period of uncertaintity and a few crashes or falls and then you either love or hate them.
Not heard much mention of them on here so that's why I'm putting this out

Darkglasses

Hi triggermortis!

I use a Tacx Antares for my indoor training. I'm not a particularly experienced cyclist, and I certainly don't have exceptionally good balance, but I found myself comfortable enough on it after about 40 mins to 1 hour of use.

The main challenge I found was getting onto the bike at the start, it shocked me how much higher up I was than usual. I strongly recommend positioning the rollers in a door-frame, it's fairly handy that way. I also suggest watching a couple of videos of people failing using them on Youtube, to see where they go wrong. Don't start off slow, just pick out a spot on the ground about 1.5 metres in front of you and pedal towards it at a normal pace. You'll be fine! I only remember actually cycling off the side of it twice, no harm done. Any other questions, feel free to pm if you wish.

Assembly isn't too tough either, although the instructions with the Antares were completely useless.

Ryder

triggermortis wrote: »

I'm thinking of investing in a set of rollers as it works out cheaper and more convenient than lights and dicing with death on unlit country roads this time of year.
My initial thought was a turbo, but I've tried that before and didn't really get on with it. I think rollers will help my balance and cadence more as well as help with the zone 2 training I intend to do over winter as it will be easier to keep within zones if there are no hills (Monaghan ain't too flat!).
Anybody got any tips or suggestions before I go out and buy? From what I've seen so far, there seems to be an initial period of uncertaintity and a few crashes or falls and then you either love or hate them.
Not heard much mention of them on here so that's why I'm putting this out

I have Cyclops for 3 years and find them great. Nice and smooth, much quieter than a turbo.

I think the popular opinion is that you don't get as much resistance with the rollers and that they're harder to balance on. To be honest, I was comfortable using them after a half hour and have no problem now taking hands off to drink etc. Intervals wise, you wouldn't do sprints on them, but everything else, no problem. Plenty of resistance with gears even for at intervals. Overall, a turbo is more versatile and probably the better option for most people but if you like rollers then, there isn't really anything (except sprints) that you can't do

triggermortis

Thanks for the replies lads. I'll not be sprinting on rollers as I don't race, so I don't sprint out on the road
It's going to be mainly for building endurance and using my HRM properly as I think I'll manage it better this way than plodding round the roads slowly.

sherlok

I have rollers and find that they're much better to spin along on compared to a turbo. i don't find them nearly as boring as a turbo as you have to concentrate a wee bit on your balance. I've hardly used my turbo since getting rollers a couple of years ago.

bcmf

Rollers over a turbo any day for me.
Improves your balance no end and improves your pedalling rythmn and style.
As pointed out above less boring then a turbo as a modicom of attention is needed to stop you falling off and making a tit of yourself.
Still a sweat fest though.

FISMA

I have both and prefer the turbo, but only use it rarely, like rainy weeks.

Why not get a mountain bike and hit the trails? Cycling indoors is just boring and it is hard to confuse your muscles on a trainer.

Find some nice trails and you will not have to worry about cars and short days. If there's a bit of forestry around, you'll have the trees to protect you from the wind. You'll being going slower than on the road and have a higher cadence - thus, you won't be freezing.

Rollers are easy to use, if you can click out of pedals there's no reason you should crash. If your front wheels come off, you'll just stop rotating and still have the time to put your foot down.

If you decide on indoors training, consider joining a gym. Take some spin classes and do one or two days a week working with weights, squats in particular. Too many cyclists forget weight training altogether. The winter time is an excellent opportunity to confuse your muscles. Not to mention confuse your weekend warrior crew when you come out of the winter with cross trained legs and all they have been doing is trainers.