I use mine for everything since that is what I’ve got. Seeing some of the threads lately the smart trainers can’t always keep up with the fast changing workouts anyway unless you buy the top of the line one.
I really feel that the pedal stroke improvements from the rollers is a big advantage. I don’t worry about my left only pm because if there was a major imbalance you would get pushed to one side and then off the roller.
I have gotten much better with practice doing billats, but that is usually only one click up or down. Only recovering around 85 rpm but that is closer to reality when doing a technical mountain bike climb. Burst, recover, burst, recover although i have noticed that my bursts outdoors need to be even spikier like 3-5 s at 200% for clearing logs, roots, rocks or quick changes in pitch. Those are at slow speed without much gyroscopic assistance keeping the bike upright.
@Bioteknik I have decided to stay away from smart rollers for now. I didn’t like the KIKR. I’m sure smart rollers would be even more frustrating.
I agree that the rollers will smooth the pedal stroke. I switched from a left only PM to PowerTap P2 pedals about a year ago. First thing I noticed was a SS TR workout felt too hard and I had a ~ 54% left, 46% right imbalance in my peddling. I compared wattages on a ride and, sure enough, I got higher watts on the left only PM. I have never noticed being pushed to one side. I assume I compensate for the imbalance somehow and manage to ride straight on the rollers. I now display my left/right percent on my Elemnt when I ride. I’ve been working on it for a year and still can’t get 50/50. @Jonathan, maybe something to discuss on a future podcast?
Agreed. I was going to comment on that odd claim above. It’s not reality.
We will all have some level of imbalance. It occurs at different power levels and points of fatigue, but we ALL have some imbalances sometimes. We simply accommodate for it via body position, steering input and such to keep pointed in the same direction.
Think about doing single leg drills. Hard to get a bigger imbalance than that. And we can do them outside or on rollers and still ride straight. We make adjustments and roll the way we want. Might not be as stable and consistent as both legs balanced, but it is very manageable.
@mcneese.chad Believe me, I have done my share of single leg drills. Yep, do them on the rollers and still manage to ride straight. I injured both hamstrings, many years ago, in an MTB crash. Both sides had partial detachment that was not repaired properly. That could have a lot to do with my imbalance. I’ll keep working on it and get as good as I can.
Now I didn’t say any imbalance, but major imbalance. I will stand by the statement as it is what happens to just about anyone who has never ridden rollers before. A quick google search would show I’m not the only person with that opinion. I guess it is possible to overcompensate like you would when doing 1 l drills, but that would get fairly fatiguing I would assume.
You can’t even compare 1 leg drills on the road to rollers since there’s so much more friction on the road and forward inertia keeping the bike upright. My drum has extremely low inertia, so it’s possible that is skewing my opinion.
Having been on Trutrainer since 2007 at home and using a Quick Motion at the office, I’d definitely wait for Trutrainer smart rollers, as much as the Quick Motion are “ok” rollers, they are just in a different league in term of general quality and most important ride quality !
I have used the cyclop resistance rollers. Magnetic roller resistance with 5 settings. I keep them on 5 all the time. I have done seated sprints up to 9xx watts on them before. Ride only with my road bike on them and usually stay in small ring most of the time. MY FTP ranges from 26x to 30x. The only maintenance I have had with them in the last 3 years of using them is I spray the bolts that connect to the drums and side of the drums with WD40 every so often.
I use the elite arion digital smart rollers which I actually really like but i’m gutted because Acyles have a great deal on the nero today… Under £500 which id less than half price and almost the price I paid for my arions
@tadzikpl I did retest after realizing the difference. I tested about 10% lower with the PowerTap pedals as compared to the left only. I adjusted my FTP and went back to work on raising it.
Sorry for the late reply! I didn’t get the nero in the end but I like the smart roller concept so if they review well I might look into them in the future.
As for my current Arion Digital Smart B+ I use an external power meter (Assioma Pedals) to power match as the accuracy of power reading from the the rollers isn’t great (can be up to 40% out according to some reviews!) but power matching works fine - better than my tacx vortex. I’ve only tried it for longer intervals close to ftp - no sprints.
Yes, I get a lot of static on my Elite Quick Motion rollers. I have had to purchase some wireless headphones because I was getting sparks in my ears from the previous headphones I was using when the cable was sitting too close to the front wheel and caching up some electricity I guess.
Good thread on the rollers. Question for the forum users and @Jonathan. I’m currently on a Kickr Snap and have been for a couple years. Thinking of mixing it up with a set of rollers to use in conjunction with the Snap. I have Assioma pedals and intrigued by the reviews of the Elite QM rollers. Full disclosure…I’ve only used rollers a few times but feel I have the ability to learn with sufficient practice.
Does anyone have any insight on how the QM “road feel is”? I don’t care about smart rollers since all my data is from the pedals. Is this a crazy idea to mix up my training with??? Thanks…any help is appreciated. Constructive criticism too
They feel pretty good! IMO great performing rollers won’t have a true real world feel (IOW, high inertia). The lower inertia feel helps keep you more stable. In terms of rollers, they are better than any other I’ve tried (on-par with insideride but different).
I think it’s a great idea to mix it up. There’s a lot of cognitive load to deal with at first, but at some point it becomes second nature. I don’t know if you level up in terms of cognitive capacity, or if the demand just drops, but I do feel like the cognitive load of race scenarios seems lower after doing all my training on rollers.
@stevemz is actually doing this very thing right now. I’m sure he could chime in on how he is managing the change.
Great. Thank you. I appreciate your opinion and insights on that. I figure it could only help the handling skills and cognitive load that comes with higher paced/stressed scenarios. It would probably be wise to start them on Carter and petit type rides until I get comfortable. In terms of workout duration on rollers, are you able to ride 1.5-2hrs comfortably?? And I realize it all comes with experience…
Yes, I’d be curious to hear what @stevemz thinks as he is making a similar change.
Thanks for the prompt response!
Background: I bought the Elite Quick Motion rollers on a whim after Jonathan had mentioned them several times on the podcast and had them lying around for around a year before starting to use them out of necessity starting in mid-December. My new bike didn’t fit correctly on the old OG Kickr that I had, and the Tacx Neo Bike that I ordered was (and still is delayed). So I decided to start doing my indoor workouts on the rollers.
I started slow, with just 30 minute spins to get used to it. I quickly realized that I need to cut down on the visual stimulus. On the Kickr, I would often have Zwift up on the tv running on Ant+ just to have something to look at, TR on my phone, along with Spotify loaded up. This did not work at all on the rollers, so I moved TR up to the big screen to give my eyes something to focus on and replicate more of a riding feel, and I’ve only just started to reintroduce some tunes.
It’s been about 6 weeks worth of workouts (I live in SoCal so I usually only do around 1-2 workouts inside per week) and I’ve broken the hour barrier and starting to get more comfortable. I did a 3x15 tempo workout that was no big deal at all and it felt totally normal. Today’s over-under workout was a different story and after the 3rd interval I had to pull the plug because my brain was just too overloaded; frankly it was the type of workout that you somewhat wonder about your ability to complete it anyway, so I was happy with the results. . But it was definitely something where I can continue working my way up. I have Bluebell tomorrow and I don’t anticipate any issues. My next planned one after that will be a 3x15 sweetspot and I’m not worried about it at all.
Road feel is a funny thing to qualify…at low wattage it feels almost like riding outside. At higher wattages, it feels somewhat like riding in a group ride on rough road.
Either way, I’m really glad I’ve been forced onto them since I plan on racing XC olympic this year and doing hard efforts on narrow singletrack is exactly the type of stimulus that I need. Even when the Neo Bike eventually comes, I’ll still plan on incorporating rollers into my schedule regularly.
Yep, do them on the rollers and still manage to ride straight. I injured both hamstrings, many years ago, in an MTB crash. Both sides had partial detachment that was not repaired properly. That could have a lot to do with my imbalance. I’ll keep working on it and get as good as I can.
