I recently borrowed a set of rollers from a friend just to see what the difference is between riding a stationary trainer and riding the rollers for a longer duration. I have been using a stationary trainer ever since I started riding. I never had much interest in rollers because I really never had much interest in riding inside that much. Still don’t much like riding inside.
I picked up the rollers on Thursday night and tried them out for about 30 minutes while I watched that medical show about someone’s anatomy. I set them up between a bookshelf and my couch and managed only to take one digger during my trial run. I was clearly working it out by the end. I was liking the feel way more than my trainer.
On Saturday my goal was to ride the rollers for 90 minutes on both my road and time trial bikes. I jumped on my road bike first and started spinning. All was well and I was quickly gaining confidence in my abilities. I did a few spinups to 150 rpms without incident. My confidence continued to grow. The rollers made me feel like I was really riding as opposed to my back wheel being locked in. I was really liking it now.
I swapped my road bike for my TT bike. My TT bike has my SRM on it so I could figure out how my power output was corrseponding to different gear ratios and speeds. As my confidence continued to grow, I slowly and carefully slipped into the aero position. The aero position on rollers is the bomb and worthy of ultimate bragging rights! I was in the aero position for about 2 minutes when my front wheel started frantically moving from side to side. I tried to get my hands back to the bar ends but to no avail. I lost control of the bike and went flying into my stereo with stacks of cds now projecting in every direction. Confidence gone. Won’t do that again. At least not for awhile. I will go buy some rollers though.
Rollers are perfect for this time of year (dead of winter). Rollers help you smooth out your pedal stoke, improve your balance, and tune your aerobic system. You can get anaerobic on rollers if you really try, but it is difficult. I was using a set with 3 inch diameter and at 25 mph, I was in the perfect training zone for building base. The ride is super smooth and much more enjoyable than the trainer.
Right now if I had to choose between rollers and a stationary trainer I would go with rollers. Save the intensity for outside. When riding inside work on technique and aerobic development. There will be plenty of time for anaerobic work once the snow disappears. Just be sure not to get too cocky and don’t set up near anything fragile!
Ride well, mb