# How long do you ride your rollers?



## Mosovich (Feb 3, 2004)

How long do you ride your rollers? What kinda workout do you do? I feel like I'm going to lose my mind after 45 min...


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## Guest (Dec 15, 2009)

I'll do shorter rides but I generally shoot for around an hour. Once in awhile I'll do more than that but I tend not to want to ride them again anytime soon if I do.


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## Oxtox (Aug 16, 2006)

35-40 min and I'm hallucinating from boredom.


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

I tend to do it for about 2 hours at a time. For 3 hour rides, I still use the trainer because zoning out is a little less dangerous. For me, the key is to have a good race DVD going on and the desire to kick some ass for next season.


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## jpdigital (Dec 1, 2006)

*+1*



spade2you said:


> For me, the key is to have a good race DVD going on


Decent racing DVD is a huge help.

Personally, I'm satisfied if I get 45 minutes to 1 hour in. Athough this off season I'll start shooting for 1.5 hours.


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## t-moore (Jan 1, 1970)

60 minutes, with short break at 30 minute mark...


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## S_Top_Sign (Dec 9, 2009)

+1 on race videos. I like the POV ones - though on rollers you've got to be careful not to lean into corners  Only kidding of course...

30 to 90 minutes strictly rollers. 1-3 hours in combo with a rear-wheel trainer.

If I'm going to do an indoor workout, I do at least 90 minutes unless it's a "recovery spin" to just loosen the legs up. Then I'll usually only do about 30 minutes of easy gear riding on the rollers.

I like to use the rollers as a warmup on hard days, and then do intervals or higher power steady-state riding on the trainer. Easy days I'll mix it up, depending on what I want to work on. High cadence/form = rollers.

Most of my workouts lately have been something like this:
30 min rollers w/ 3x 1 min high-cadence efforts and one 5min effort up towards LT HR to warm up and see how I'm feeling.
1-1.5 hours on the trainer, steady Z2-3 or SST depending on the day.
Sometimes finish on the rollers if I want to practice roller tricks :thumbsup:


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## FatGut1 (Dec 16, 2008)

What POV videos are out there? Or better where can I pick them up?

I usually ride mine for an hour or so. It does get a little boring.


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## BeeCharmer (Apr 30, 2003)

Depends, three hours on long days and one hour on recovery days. I watch race dvds, but I find that a structured workout helps as well. An hour goes much faster doing spinup intervals. Dirk Friel's workout binder is a great resource for ideas.


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## Keeping up with Junior (Feb 27, 2003)

*Hour*

I shoot for an hour but sometimes stop at 45 minutes. Not worth bothering to fill the bottle, change clothes, etc. for less than 30 minutes. Can go up to two hours with a good DVD. If going long step off the bike for a couple of minutes and give your butt a break, think of it as coasting.


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## goneskiian (Jan 13, 2005)

Netflix streaming to my laptop helps the time pass quickly!

If you're trying to avoid junk miles a structured workout really helps the time fly.

Cheers!


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## Poncharelli (May 7, 2006)

With the bad weather and big base im try to build, I've worked up to 3 hours on Saturdays. 

To me it seems no worst than doing 3 hours outside in cold weather. 

Movies seem to make the time go faster. I take a break every 30 minutes (refill bottle and take a leak).

The less breaks I take, the faster I finish.


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## wetpaint (Oct 12, 2008)

late fall around 1 hour and I increase my rides to 2 hours each by December


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## Zilla (Aug 17, 2009)

any difference between how long you guys ride your rollers vs a trainer?


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## BeeCharmer (Apr 30, 2003)

I can go way longer on rollers.


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## Mosovich (Feb 3, 2004)

*Another one..*

how many days a week do you ride the rollers or trainer?


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## wetpaint (Oct 12, 2008)

Mosovich said:


> how many days a week do you ride the rollers or trainer?


I'm doing 4 days a week right now @ 2 hours each on rollers.


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## iliveonnitro (Feb 19, 2006)

1.5-2hrs, give or take 30 minutes. Typically, about 1.75hrs.

This is my trainer and not rollers. I would probably die with rollers.


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## Johnnysmooth (Jun 10, 2004)

I'm just starting on rollers, so slowly ramping up. (Never had an indoor trainer till this season, live in Boston, for the simple reason of all the moaning and groaning about indoor training I heard from others).

Broke down, borrowed some rollers, here's my routine:
3-4x/wk
started at 30min sessions, now up to 45min, no dvd, just ipod.
do some form of structured workout helps time go by faster
do series of intervals, 1min high cadence (>125rpm) then 2min rest. Do 6-10 of these. Target is to get cadence to 145+rpm for full minute with no bounce

Any other training/workout ideas for rollers?


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## Zilla (Aug 17, 2009)

Johnnysmooth said:


> I'm just starting on rollers, so slowly ramping up. (Never had an indoor trainer till this season, live in Boston, for the simple reason of all the moaning and groaning about indoor training I heard from others).
> 
> Broke down, borrowed some rollers, here's my routine:
> 3-4x/wk
> ...


there is a whole book of them by Friels son, It's called like workbook of indoor workouts or something.

I found this the other day, some of those intervals are pretty intense. I'm going to pick up carmicheals time crunched cyclist, I'm not sure he would recommend starting with the intensity that high, but I figured my fitness was good enough.

http://www.training4cyclists.com/wintertraining.pdf

I'm planning on customizing the plan a bit...I can't stand to be on the trainer for hours so I need to modify it to keep from boredom. I'm thinking 1 "long" ride a week.

Similarly, I'm not great with so many days off the bike. I lift on my off days, but usually like to get a short ride in as well. So I may throw some of those in.


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## j-man (Sep 3, 2009)

about 30 min is all i can handle before i start wondering if time slows while on them


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## spade2you (May 12, 2009)

I'm now changing my answer to 3 hours. I don't know what it is about the rollers, but my saddle area seems to like it much better than the 3 hour trainer rides.


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## tyro (May 15, 2005)

I can ride my rollers (E-motion) longer than my trainer. I rode them 2:45 yesterday and today.


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## Poncharelli (May 7, 2006)

Mosovich said:


> how many days a week do you ride the rollers or trainer?


Currently, 5 or 6 days a week.


But I really believe the key to going big hours and consecutive days on the rollers, is just getting good at the rollers. It's definitely a skill that has to be developed. 

The two big keys is riding "no handed", and standing. That gives your crotch and body nice little breaks during sessions. Much more comfortable when you change your body position around a little. 

Prior to learning these things the rollers were very, very difficult. 

This guy makes it look easy: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiCd...2D021F71E&index=2&playnext=2&playnext_from=PL


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## pw1972 (Jun 10, 2008)

I don't usually go more then 2 hours on the rollers, I have to pay a lot more attention to what I'm doing and beyond 2 hours, I notice I start to let my mind wander. The times I've ridden off the rollers is usually when I've gone beyond that 2 hour period. It leaves a nice tire mark on the carpet when I do that!


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## TWB8s (Sep 18, 2003)

tyro said:


> I can ride my rollers (E-motion) longer than my trainer. I rode them 2:45 yesterday and today.



Generally 30-45 minutes on my Kreiters, but I've gone as long as 90 minutes, The longest I've done the Emotions (at the club) is 2 hours. Being able to stand and ride makes a huge difference for me.


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## ZoSoSwiM (Mar 7, 2008)

Average ride... 30-35minutes... Longer rides... 45 min.

Can't push myself past that yet. My brain starts melting!


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## mjdwyer23 (Mar 18, 2009)

Avg 35 mins doing intervals, have done as long as 1:15 when actually training for something. I like to watch the news or something that has a finite time limit to keep me motivated to finish.


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## phazer (Oct 5, 2005)

Did a hour on mine today but, 30mins this morning and 30mins this evening


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## xeon (Dec 21, 2008)

Only been riding rollers since this last Christmas, but my longest so far is an hour and 15 minutes. I put a movie on and that makes the time go by pretty quickly and stop around 40 minutes to hydrate.


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## pretender (Sep 18, 2007)

Andy Coggan's 90/90/90. The 90% refers to power, not perceived effort, so don't make your eyeballs bleed. I think of the 30 sec efforts as form sprints, don't fall off the rollers. I put the iPod on shuffle and focus on putting in a solid hour of intelligent work.

_Seriously, the best season I've had in recent years followed a winter
during which I did the following '90/90'90' workout 3 d/wk:

5 min w/u
20 min @ 275 W
5 min easy
5 min @ 325 W
2.5 min easy
5 min @ 325 W
2.5 min easy
0.5 min at 500 W
2 min easy
0.5 min at 500 W
2 min easy
0.5 min at 500 W
2 min easy
0.5 min at 500 W
2.5 min easy
5 min warm-down

The '90/90/90' refers to the fact that (almost by chance) the powers
used were about 90% of the best that I could produce for that duration
when at peak fitness. That made the session challenging enough that I
didn't lose too much fitness over the winter, but not so hard that I
ever dreaded the workout or burned out from doing it._


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## Guest (Jan 11, 2010)

I managed to ride through 3 of the 4 NFL playoff games this weekend. I DVR them so no commercials or halftime but all in all they keep me entertained. I ended up close to 4 hours indoors this weekend.


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## dion9146 (Feb 10, 2007)

Wow, some of you guys are pretty hardcore, but I also realize that most people on this board seem to be in some kind of organized racing.

I on the other hand discovered rollers for the first time this year, and have enjoyed rolling along on them this Winter purely for fitness. My longest ride is 2 hours, but I typically do a 50 minute interval style ride 4 days per week. My Wife picked up a few of the Spinergy videos for me for Christmas, so that has helped with more organized sessions and given me some variety.

I used to ride during football games, and do high powered interval sets during commercials with a medium spin between commercials. That's brutal for NFL games!

But, I can tell the rollers have had a profound impact on my technique and endurance already this year. I can't wait to get back on the road!

Dion


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## allison (Apr 19, 2006)

I did 2 two-hour drills sessions on my fluid trainer last week. They hurt, but the drills keep me busy enough that I'm only staring at the clock waiting for the next rest


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## fireplug (Nov 19, 2008)

I do about an hours on the rollers at a time. 20 mins of the ride is to warm up and cool down.


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## pigpen (Sep 28, 2005)

I want to ride a century (at one time) on mine before the weather gets warmer.
Won't happen. I can usually get about an hour 3 days a week.
After a few weeks I can only take 45m. Then down to 30.
At that point I get a better work out doing something else. Take a couple of weeks off and I am back at an hour and the cycle starts over.


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