My first experience of rollers

Yeah i can imagine that it’s going to change the way i ride. The way i’m getting tired on the rollers compared to the trainer shows that a lot more is at play! Sucks that i dont get “distance” on them

Standing on trainers also benefits from picking a tall gear, to keep cadence in check and lower than people might realize is beneficial. That is at least until you are capable of spinning quicker while standing. Basically, start with lower cadence to get the feel and work up in cadence as your skills grow.

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I have a Garmin speed sensor on my front hub, that registers distance pedalled.

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Lol. I like to think that the whirring tires are just noise cancellation for my swearing and grunting

Thank you for the tips on standing sprints @bclarkson

Yes! @AndyBaggott! Clipless on the hardtail! But kinda cheater clipless with a platform and pins:

Thank you for the tips, @AndyBaggott. I have definitely managed to ride off the rollers — mine give fore and aft, but I manage to get off the sides. :joy::joy::joy:

I am going to practice this!!! Thank you for the tips!!

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I have been riding a set of rollers for a couple of weeks now. Really can tell how the body has returned to using all the muscles vs my KK fixed trainer. I have an older set of Performance rollers that I have hopes to make it more of an off-road set of rollers.

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Stay relaxed. Don’t look down.

I can, sometimes, do it. Though I probably spend more time riding with one finger on the bars than anything. Also my rollers have a flywheel in one of the rear drums with smooths the ride out a bit that probably helps some. I don’t recall trying it on my old set of cycleops rollers.

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For no-hands, get up to a high wheel speed. This gives more stability to the whole setup.

Start practice with hands on the bar tops, close to the stem, and get comfortable with the minor inputs it takes to change position on the rollers. Work up to lifting one hand and making small, subtle changes to lean to control position. Then get up off both, but be ready to drop when the inevitable weaving begins.

This is all about making small corrections from a lean at that saddle, doing them early and as small as possible to keep the changes and counter-changes to a minimum.

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Focus on your hips and keeping stable.

I could never ride no handed on the road, funnily enough within days of riding rollers I could do it on there (just for a minute like), and now I can do it on the road too.

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If you all want some giggles, I recommend reading amazon reviews of rollers. “This product does not work, the bike drifts off it”. “This is dangerous”. “This doesn’t work, you need to have a harness and be suspended from the ceiling” :joy:

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I do like these threads where everyone extols the virtues of rollers🙂 I love mine!

Riding non handed is only worth trying once you feel REALLY confident , even then, make sure you have support or a safe exit route if you lose control. I don’t do it often, but it does impress the cat ie. Nobody😆
More beneficial to be able to drink or wipe your brow whilst pushing hard and not dropping power.

I still can’t start unsupported, I would like to learn how to one day.

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I train on rollers most of the time, some sessions spend half the time riding no handed whilst chatting on zwift, browsing online etc. I’ve also been known to do stupid dances on them :grinning: I always advise that the bit where you’re nearly riding no handed, or indeed riding one handed is a lot sketchier than the actual riding no handed bit, so get past that bit ASAP and lean back into the no handed position. If it goes wrong I can generally unclip and get a foot down, although a couple of times the bike has got away and slid onto it’s side in the process. Don’t have anything sharp around and don’t be afraid to fall off and you’ll learn a lot quicker than being tense and worried :wink:

My general advice is ‘kick it like you mean it!’ - meaning start with a powerful pedal stroke to get up to speed. Another thing that might help is riding slowly on the way to stopping, will get you used to riding slowly while you’re getting going. I sometimes ride rest intervals at around 30 cadence and it feels similar to starting the whole time…

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