Rollers.
My mother gave me, for Christmas, a gift card to Performancebike.com and I spent it buying rollers. Since I chose what I spent it for, I can't blame the end result on her, and that's okay, because I'll happily give her (and my wife who chipped in the balance that the card didn't cover) the credit when my balance is top notch and my spin as smooth and efficient as a RR engine.
Yeah, that's a bit over the top, but you know what I mean.
In the interim however, there's this problem of learning to ride them properly. Once I got the rollers assembled, I threw my bike on and gave them a try. Ooops! I knew what to expect, and yet, I was still surprised to find myself sideways within one half second. Using the beam support post in the garage, I was able to spend 5 minutes (dressed in jeans and a t-shirt) trying to get the feel of them. It didn't happen, and I was no closer to riding without holding onto support than I was before I got on.
The next day I decided to give it another try, this time following a Saturday club ride. I got home put the bike up on the rollers and immediately was hugging that support post with both arms as I began to shoot straight off the side. So maybe trying to learn rollers after being fatigued isn't such a good idea either.
Monday morning seemed cold and wet-ish outside...the perfect day to learn to ride my new rollers! I set them up, this time in a doorway, put a water bottle on my bike (prematurely feeling a bit cocky that I was going to need that fluid after mastering this new skill), and mounted up.
Boom! Left shoulder straight into the door jamb. But I'm still up and turning the cranks. Slam! Right shoulder bumps the other side of the door opening, and richocets me straight back over to that left side again, which is still smarting from the bump it received 1.5 seconds ago.
So I swallowed my pride and decided to start over, this time holding on with one hand until I could ride relatively straight. This was mildly successful at first...but I was still moving around too much, so I concentrated on smoothing out my pedal stroke. This brought a much quicker improvement and emboldened, I let go of the door jamb to put both hands on the bars. This also was accomplished with the bike only moving to the edge of the rollers, and not off of them completely.
Now I was feeling really smug and decided to try for that water bottle.
I should have been wearing a helmet, because it wasn't my shoulder that struck the door jamb this time. But...I kept upright and got things back under control. At this point, I'd been riding about 5 minutes. Leaving the water alone, I decided that I'd do 30 minutes and just concentrate on spinning smoothly and looking ahead instead of down. I made it through the rest of the ride with only one further incident and came away feeling pretty good, and looking forward to the next opportunity to spend some time with my new toy. A busy schedule kept Tuesday out of the mix, yesterday I opted to ride to work and back, taking advantage of the good weather. But today is drizzly and cold. The perfect weather to spend the evening with a Tour DVD and my bike.
I can't wait to get home.
04 January 2007
A Most Dangerous Christmas Gift
Posted by tkp at 2:46 PM
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6 comments:
I feel your pain. I can't believe how much of a novice I feel on my rollers. I mean, what good is all that riding outside if, seemingly, none of it translates to riding on rollers... I mean, except the obvious enjoyment of riding outside.
I still prefer rollers to a standard rear wheel trainer, though.
So was your Thursday night "trial" better? You seemed to be doing well when I was watching. :)
Yes, last night was better, once the fan got turned on...it's hot in the garage.
I also prefer the rollers to my old Blackburn trainer, for several reasons, not the least of which is that I have far less setup hassle with the rollers. I don't have to move my computer sensor to the rear and move the Polar receiver to the top tube (I have never been able to get the rear wheel configuration to work properly), no skewer to change, and no front wheel support to get just right. The rollers are just lay them down, put the bike on and go. Much easier.
And a better workout too.
Which rollers did you go with?
I chose the Minoura Advance over the Kreitlers solely based on the fact that this was my first set, and until I was confident that rollers would be a good choice, I wasn't willing to spend the extra money.
I'm happy with the Minouras and I don't see what the Kreitlers would provide for twice the price. And the Minoura's were on sale too.
What rollers do you have?
Mine are actually Minoura's also, though, I don't know what model. I do know, however, that they have a resistance unit. The last time I was on them, with the resistance at the lowest setting--lowest while still being engaged, that is--my average HR for an hour was 165. I think it is doing the trick.
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