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Indoor Time Trials

FarEast

Maximum Pace
May 25, 2009
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Guys,

I use a set of rollers to put the miles/km down when the weather is bad and back in the UK me and the guys I rode with who also owned rollers would often get together at someones house or at a local community center and race 10, 15, 20 and 50 mile time trials against each other.

I was wondering if there was anyone else out there interested in getting together and doing some indoor TT's or even holding a series over the winter months????
 
My Wed night training buddies do this on rainy weekends.
RollerDai Taikais!

Our club often talk about doing it as well but no takers yet.
I'd be up for it, but timing and location are always a problem.
Plus, I've lost a lot of fitness in the last two months and haven't used my rolller since June... :eek:

You're in Yokohama? (the South Pole)?
I'm in the North Pole....(Noda).
 
I've been thinking of getting some rollers for a long time now, and I like the idea of training together, but like Pete I'm at the opposite end of the world... :)

Also, winter weather is so nice in Kanto that it's hard to stay inside.

Was wondering also: do rollers provide enough resistance to ride at your FTP? I know most people prefer trainers for doing sprint intervals(?) I ask because I'm trying to decide between a trainer and rollers...
 
You don't really need any (extra) resistance.
You just keep putting it in a harder gear and pedal faster.
It's easy to get your heart rate right up there.
My roller came with a stalling resistance device but I took it off.

When I use mine I have a number of different games I play on it to make it interesting.

Intervals with heart rate.
Intervals with speed and gears
Intervals with cadence.

1 minute intervals
1:2
2:3
2:5
5:10 etc...

I also like to mimic race courses like Shimofusa and Saiko with the gears and effort.

Or

5 minutes on every gear at 100 cadence (after first 5 minute warm up). (harder and harder till you get to the last 5 minutes of the race...and go all out for the last minute.

I've got a book of interval training programs. (but I prefer my own).

It's good to watch a DVD as well as you ride...
TDF
Summer in Andalusia is a perfect 48 minute work out.

5 years ago I'd do 30 minutes on the roller every morning before my shower...

You need to have a towel under you on the floor to soak up the sweat and a fan blowing on you will help the sweat dry up before it hits the floor..(best in summer).

The added benefit of a roller over a fixed trainer is the balance.
The balance itself helps the efficiency of your pedaling technique. If you are well balanced on your bike your energy efficiency is much better. Lots of people are wasting energy with uneven pedaling. The only way to really find out how bad your pedaling is, is to get on a roller.

Your body will learn to pedal efficiently through the full 360 degrees of the motion.
People who tend to only push down on the pedals will quite quickly fall off a roller...

They take a while to get used to. I used to do it between the 2 walls of a narrow hall so I could lean on the walls if I was going to fall... One wall at least on one side and some big cushions on the other.

I have short legs too, so it's hard to get on and off the roller and reach the ground while still sitting across the top bar. I usually have my tool box to one side to use as a step or emergency floor. I can unclip fast enough...

Riding them is a circus trick with many added benefits that you can't practice without one.

Great for warming up before races too...
 
Thanks for the great info Pete.

Great for warming up before races too...

This, and the improved pedal stroke you mention, is actually the main reason I'm thinking of getting some. If I can work on FTP too that would be a bonus.
 
As Pete mentioned rollers really do increase your pedal technique.... so fast that the first time you go back to the road you will notice the difference!
 
I would agree with everything that's been said about rollers.

However, the additional benefit of turbo trainers is that you can control the resistance (presuming you buy one with varied resistance) which means you can really control your effort and do structured training including high cadence, low cadence, intervals, controlled heart rate, hill climb position work, one legged work etc

A book that I found useful is "workouts in a binder"

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Workouts-Binder-Cycling-Wes-Hobson/dp/1931382751


Andy
 
That's the book I have too...

When you get good...one leg on the roller is possible...as well as no hands...
 
However, the additional benefit of turbo trainers is that you can control the resistance (presuming you buy one with varied resistance) which means you can really control your effort and do structured training including

This is why I like the Cateye trainers at the sports center (and why I'm considering a trainer too), but it sounds like the rollers are okay for 2*20 and 3*10 efforts, which is probably all I'd need them for (shorter intervals are easily done on the roads around here).
 
I'm lucky to have my wife's turbo when I don't feel like rolling but use it very rarely. Good on rainy days at races... the rollers are not good when they get wet. Very dangerous then.
 
However, the additional benefit of turbo trainers is that you can control the resistance

Andy

I can control the resistance on my rollers. Having used both turbo trainers and rollers I wouldhave to say that rollers are the way to go if you are serious about training in the off season.
 
if you are serious about training in the off season.

That said, Andy lives in snow country, and when the snow melts, he can usually be found winning races. So I'd wager he knows a thing or two about "serious" off-season training. :)
 
Hi,

I can't comment on the resistance options on rollers having never seen them, but the resistance on turbo trainers is quite varied. "1" being very little and "5" being very hard indeed (difficult to turn the pedals from standstill).

Having the resistance control on the handle bar means you can change it on the go. For example: 5mins, 90 cadence, 150 HR >up the resistance> 5mins, 90 cadence, 160 HR >up the resistance> 5mins, 90 cadence, 180 HR etc By controlling resistance and cadence, it's easy to work out in different heart rate zones or levels of exertion (much more so than using gears alone).

Regardless of heart rate, level 5 on its own can be used for strength / pedal efficiency exercises, working on the full pedal stroke at about 60 rpm.

Level 1 is useful for pedal efficiency - high cadence, 1 legged drills.

My trainer is quite old now. This is actually a newer version of the one I have (both seem to be discontinued):

http://www.minourausa.com/english/trainer-e/rim-e/erdapm-e.html

One of the greatest benefits for me is practicing controlled efforts ex: 30 minutes at lactate threshold. If you're really keen, you can look at your HR files from a race and try to mimic that: http://www.jyonnobitime.com/time/andy/2009/03/

Anyway despite my waffling on here, I must say I'm not a fan of indoor training at all!

In an ideal world we would:
a. be able to ride outside every day
b. have access to power cranks on snowy days http://www.powercranks.com/
c. have access to rollers and a trainer
d. have access to one or the other

Andy
 
Thanks for all the great info, guys. I've also been wondering about rollers/trainers.

I'd really like to have something to train on when going for a ride isn't an option. At the moment, I can ride only one day a week, and I try to maintain my cycling fitness between rides by doing intervals on Wednesdays on a Combi trainer at the Chiyoda Ward gym.

powermax.jpg


The gym trainer is OK, but I have to squeeze the intervals out during my lunch break -- it feels too rushed (and I look like a mess when I stagger back to my desk). Also, I'd rather train on my own bike. And I love the idea of being able to get in some training in before work, for example.

One problem is that my wife does not like the idea of me training in the house. Living in a condo, I also wonder about noise.

Roller races sound like fun. If I get some, I'd be down for that!

Deej
 
I got a Tacx Sirrius Gel about 3 weeks ago. I've used it once or twice a week for 30 - 40 minutes a go.

There's a lot of concerns about noise but I don't think it's that bad. I also live in an apartment. I wouldn't use the machine after say 9pm but prior to then I can't see the neighbours complaining. I can ride the bike while the missus is watching telly in the next room and it's not a problem.

In terms of workouts, having resistance levels is pretty cool. So far, I've not touched the gears - just varied the resistance and cadence. In combination with the Garmin Edge you can have a pretty nice workout and get some nice data afterwards. People also often berate trainers for being incredibly boring, but I find that if you have the ipod on, and are looking at the data sufficiently or trying one legged stuff, varying the cadence etc, then it can be quite interesting. Certainly no different from using a machine in a gym.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/18856953


I'm still a member of a gym but recently I've just never had time to go. The trainer at least allows me to exercise a couple of times a week. It's not enough, but it's better than nothing.
 
Friends of mine who live in apartments usually take their trainers/rollers outside somewhere...
Sometimes my rolling interferes with whoever is watching TV no matter which room I use (and I have a rubber mat under it too upstairs). I go outside as well.
I also bought some rubber door stopper knobs at the hardware store and put them on each foot as well to make it a little quieter.

Back to the debate: ;)
With the tension between rollers and fixed trainers...people think there is no or little tension on a roller...

If I have big chain on the front, small on the back and cadence above 100 my heart rate is going to be pretty close to max after 5 minutes. The tension is there...pushing the big gears hurts on a roller.

And if that is too easy for you, let a little air out of your tires and try again... :warau:

I'd say that one of the main reasons the pros are seen using fixed trainers when they warm up (usually before the start of a time trial) is marketing. Easier to sell machines where there is no learning curve on how to use them. My wife bought hers for that exact reason. she could use it straight away.

I was going to get a fixed as well but our coach/manager who runs the store...gave me the 'don't be a wimp' look...and sold me on the pros.
He even lent me his old one first till I cold use it to convince myself.

If you were to walk into a keirin warming up room 90% of them are on the rollers not the fixed.
 
All this talk about trainers actually inspired me to get on mine today:

http://www.jyonnobitime.com/time/2009/11/return-of-the-hamster.html

As I was doing the exercise I thought to myself there's no reason why I couldn't do this on rollers. I think I'll see if I can borrow some for a try this winter.

As for noise, I always set up out on the balcony. Having the wind and snow blowing at you helps to remind you why you're doing it and keeps you motivated. It also stops you from slacking off when it's really cold......

Happy training!

Andy
 
All this talk about trainers actually inspired me to get on mine today

Same here. Thanks to this instructive and motivating thread I dusted my CycleOps last weekend and now indulge in daily workouts. Someone on the Cervélo forum recommended SPinervals DVDs, and sure enough the CycleOps coupled with my Garmin and DVDs really works well.
 
Same here. Thanks to this instructive and motivating thread I dusted my CycleOps last weekend and now indulge in daily workouts. Someone on the Cervélo forum recommended SPinervals DVDs, and sure enough the CycleOps coupled with my Garmin and DVDs really works well.

I am another one folllowing this thread with interest as I have also thought about rollers. But I already have a trainer and am a big fan of Coach Troy of Spinervals. After one of his 45 min or 1 hr workouts I can barely walk; am up for one tonight. I also live in an apartment and had a run in with the man down stairs when I had a treadmill (was pushing my luck), but there have been no complaints about my trainer. And I just got a special home trainer tyre that I am going to put on my spare wheel tonight that is supposed to cut noise.

K
 
CTS Video Workouts

Besides Spinervals, I also use video workouts from Carmichael Training Systems (CTS). He was Lance's coach.

The beauty of these is that they are downloadable and you can create your own workouts. And at US$9.99 they are cheaper than Spinervals, with marginally better music. :cool: The sound tracks on Spinervals DVDs are really lame

http://www.trainright.com/folders.asp?uid=1064

K
 
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