# Learning curve on rollers



## mcsqueak (Apr 22, 2010)

So I just picked up my first set of roller yesterday, to help keep me in shape during the winter and when I can't fit in a real ride but still want to get some exercise in.

Boy am I squirrely on that thing!  Apparently I don't ride in as straight of a line as I would have thought, hah. I spent about 15 minutes trying it out after setting it up last night. Luckily I have a small hallway that is not much wider than a standard door, so I was able set it up in there and keep from falling over.

For anyone who has used rollers, how long did it take you to feel comfortable on them and not worry about falling off? I think I'd be less concerned if I had carpet, my house is entirely hardwood, which I don't really feel like falling onto.


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

It took me about a week to be able to stay upright for an extended period of time and another week to feel "comfortable".


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## teapotter (Feb 1, 2007)

it's pretty quick. In less than a week I could no-hands for as long as I want. But I live on two wheels (ride a motorcycle in addition to cycling frequently)


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## sixate (Jul 6, 2009)

The key is go faster. If you're just cruising along with a slow cadence and speed it is more difficult. That faster you go the more stable you are. When I ride my rollers I get in my highest gears and spin fast for an hour (can't stand doing it much longer than that). I like to watch TV so I keep my head up. I found myself getting squirrely when I looked down.


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## mcsqueak (Apr 22, 2010)

Thanks everyone. Yeah, faster is key from what I have read. I can tell my pedal stroke is somewhat choppy at speed, so it'll be nice to smooth that out as well while at a high cadence.


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## atimido (Jun 17, 2009)

I love riding rollers in the off season and at home on days I don't have time to get out of the house. I have a Minoura Mag set with 4.5" drums, and I just bought a Kreitler Challenger set with 2.25" drums. 

Going faster does allow you to be more stable on rollers, and I feel more in control if I don't death grip the handlebars and use a light grip instead. It only took me a few days of riding for an hour or so to figure out the balance aspect, but once I did I really worked on cadence and pedal stroke. I have increased my cadence significantly, feel much more stable on the bike, and have found that my whole technique of riding on the road has changed for the better.


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## J T (Aug 15, 2010)

I've never tried rollers before, but I'm guessing I'd probably have as much luck as this guy on my first try:


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## Peanya (Jun 12, 2008)

That's a sad video. If that guy wouldn't keep his hands on the wall, he'd probably balance better. That, or he needs to get out on the road a LOT more.
Hmm... Fixed gear, could that be Dave Hickey?


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## BruceG1 (Apr 6, 2010)

I found the learning curve to be about 2 hours. I first started learning rollers in door way and was all bruised up on my arms from holding myself up. Once you start to gain your balance, the confidence shoots way up and now I ride in the middle of the room with no support (ie: walls, door jams, railing) anymore with no problem.


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## mcsqueak (Apr 22, 2010)

BruceG1 said:


> I found the learning curve to be about 2 hours. I first started learning rollers in door way and was all bruised up on my arms from holding myself up. Once you start to gain your balance, the confidence shoots way up and now I ride in the middle of the room with no support (ie: walls, door jams, railing) anymore with no problem.


Yeah I spent a little while last night playing with the rollers more, and I do indeed have some bruises on my arms from catching myself before falling off. 

I'm finding the hardest part is not over-reacting when you start to slide over, because that just causes you to start to "fish tail" around, for lack of a better description. I also realized I was holding the bars with a death-grip, and I need to relax my upper-body more to keep from jerking around as much.


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## makeitso (Sep 20, 2008)

Out of curiosity what's the 'secret' to being able to stand while on the rollers? I find after about 30 min I really need to stand (well in my case stop) for a minute every 15 min or so or numbness abounds. I've been able to stand for maybe 1-2 seconds but it's really quirely and I barely make it 1-2" above the seat and then it gets too hairy and I sit back down. I really need to get off the seat for 30 seconds or so.

To the OP: Just open up your hands and lay your hands flat on top of the bars, not gripping them. It gives you plenty of stability and eventually helps you release all the 'fear' tension that you have when you first start riding on the rollers.


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## wim (Feb 28, 2005)

makeitso said:


> Out of curiosity what's the 'secret' to being able to stand while on the rollers?


The main problem is _fore-aft_ motion of your body as you pedal standing up. That motion goes into the bike and makes it want to jump the front roller. Minimizing or, better, eliminating any fore-aft motion as you pedal allows standing. Difficult to explain exactly how. With me, it involves actually countering fore-aft inputs (like my foot/lower leg coming across the top of the crank circle) with a slight opposite movement of my upper body. Moving the center of the front roller very slightly forward of the front wheel axle also helps.

The people who sell E-Motion rollers figured this fore-aft thing out some time ago. Their (expensive) rollers move fore-aft _with_ the bike-rider combination, so you can stand forever.


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## Peanya (Jun 12, 2008)

makeitso said:


> I find after about 30 min I really need to stand (well in my case stop) for a minute every 15 min or so or numbness abounds.


Sounds like you need a better fitting saddle, or shorts with a better chamois, or both.


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## teapotter (Feb 1, 2007)

Once you've exhausted the obvious tricks (no hands, etc), a new one I've tried, is eyes-closed. You drift right over w/o feeling it!!


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## mcsqueak (Apr 22, 2010)

I spent another half-hour or so on the rollers last night. It's a pretty good work out! It's amazing how much the little bits of coasting you can do on outdoor rides really help to keep you recharged. Not being able to stop pedaling really makes you work hard. I was sweating buckets when I was done.

It also turned my tires silver. I wonder what the heck is coming off of the rollers?


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## JustTooBig (Aug 11, 2005)

mcsqueak said:


> It also turned my tires silver. I wonder what the heck is coming off of the rollers?


Hmmmm.... what color is ..... aluminum?


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## mcsqueak (Apr 22, 2010)

JustTooBig said:


> Hmmmm.... what color is ..... aluminum?


Well yes, but it's amazing how much is coming off onto the tires. Perhaps I should have wiped down the rollers first.


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## mmoose (Apr 2, 2004)

Fans are your friends. I also setup a mirror directly ahead. You tend to ride where you are looking and the mirror gives a visual feedback also.


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

mmoose said:


> Fans are your friends. I also setup a mirror directly ahead. You tend to ride where you are looking and the mirror gives a visual feedback also.


Looking directly ahead is always a good thing to be doing on rollers. I put a little table in front of my rollers and use my laptop to view old races while I ride. 

Fans are absolutely necessary! Lasko makes some really nice and strong fans that are also fairly quiet while not being too expensive.


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## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

*Blowing in the wind*



mcsqueak said:


> I was sweating buckets when I was done.


Our fan setup is as follows: one window (box) fan hung from ceiling above rider, desk fan on pedestal aimed at rider's face, window fan on chair directly in front of rider, window fan on floor just off to the side in front of rollers, angled up and toward the rider. You can't have too many fans!


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

Peanya said:


> Sounds like you need a better fitting saddle, or shorts with a better chamois, or both.


It can be a function of one of these, but to an extent I think a minute here n' there out of the saddle is never a bad thing. On the road, I generally have enough hills scattered throughout that I can get out of the saddle from time to time. It's rare for me to be in a position where I stay seated 100% of the time on the road.


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## dgeesaman (Jun 9, 2010)

JustTooBig said:


> Hmmmm.... what color is ..... aluminum?


Aluminum is dark grey when it wears and becomes dirt.

I'd venture to say those rollers were spray painted silver or something.


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## mcsqueak (Apr 22, 2010)

dgeesaman said:


> Aluminum is dark grey when it wears and becomes dirt.
> 
> I'd venture to say those rollers were spray painted silver or something.


They were from Performance Bikes... even though they were fairly cheap and made in the "Peoples Republic", I don't think they would spray paint them. That would just be odd.

My thought is that it was just left over material from the machining process they wasn't cleaned off the rollers. It came right off my wheels when I went on a ride outside this past weekend.


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## tommyrhodes (Aug 19, 2009)

Is it really this time of year already?


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## mcsqueak (Apr 22, 2010)

tommyrhodes said:


> Is it really this time of year already?


It is where I live in the Pacific NW, it seems. Our summer was late to get here as well. :mad2: 

It's supposed to get nice soon, but next week has rain in the forecast again, so we'll see. Sigh.


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## frdfandc (Nov 27, 2007)




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## PoorCyclist (Oct 14, 2010)

Wow.. I have no idea these rollers are so difficult to use with no prior experience, I wanted to get a bike fit session but now I think I will fall off and damage my (new) bike before they can analyze anything.


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## PJ352 (Dec 5, 2007)

PoorCyclist said:


> Wow.. I have no idea these rollers are so difficult to use with no prior experience, I wanted to get a bike fit session but now I think I will fall off and damage my (new) bike before they can analyze anything.


Depends on the fitting. Most are done with the rider either on a size cycle, their bike, or a 'test' bike mounted on a trainer, where the rear wheel is secured at the skewer.


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

PJ352 said:


> Depends on the fitting. Most are done with the rider either on a size cycle, their bike, or a 'test' bike mounted on a trainer, where the rear wheel is secured at the skewer.


I've never heard of a fit being done on rollers. Given that you'll sometimes need to stop at various positions of the pedal stroke, rollers wouldn't be a good idea. I'd also think rollers with platform pedals wouldn't be the best of ideas, either. A fit without clipless pedals would seem somewhat pointless since the foot isn't fixed to a specific area on the pedal, too.


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## PJ352 (Dec 5, 2007)

spade2you said:


> *I've never heard of a fit being done on rollers.* Given that you'll sometimes need to stop at various positions of the pedal stroke, rollers wouldn't be a good idea. I'd also think rollers with platform pedals wouldn't be the best of ideas, either. *A fit without clipless pedals would seem somewhat pointless since the foot isn't fixed to a specific area on the pedal*, too.


I agree. Rollers are sometimes used to diagnose _form_ issues, not _fit _issues, so I should have clarified that.

If by the second bolded statement you mean that (generally speaking) a fit is pointless without clipless pedals, I'd disagree. The fitter can still perform an initial fit (even setting KOPS, to a point), but obviously not the aspects related to cleat set up.


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

Perhaps "pointless" is harsh, but so much of the pedal stroke and saddle height (regarding comfort) hinges on where the foot goes on the pedal. While the overall size of platform pedals and toe straps can vary, I haven't seen too many that have a great foot placement.


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## PJ352 (Dec 5, 2007)

spade2you said:


> *Perhaps "pointless" is harsh*, but so much of the pedal stroke and saddle height (regarding comfort) hinges on where the foot goes on the pedal. While the overall size of platform pedals and toe straps can vary, I haven't seen too many that have a great foot placement.


Well, in your defense I'll offer that you did say '_somewhat_ pointless', so you tempered it a bit.  

Sure, you'll get no argument from me on the merits of going clipless (beyond just fit issues), but sometimes the fitter has to deal with what they're dealt. Meaning the rider may opt for platforms, leaving the fitter to do the best they can to dial in fit given the circumstances. 

This is one reason why I tend to advise noobs waiting to go clipless to settle for a standard LBS fit till they settle on a pedal system, because once they do, cleat set up will necessitate tweaks to that initial fit.


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