first ride on rollers

Wednesday night's training: first rollers - 50 × 12 gear, 90 cadence, 55 mins

On Wednesday night I did my first ever ride on rollers. Having been a serious cyclist for 5 or 6 years, I’m surprised it took me this long. Thanks to Mike for passing them on to me.

The rollers arrived at 6:30 and I was riding them on the veranda by 7:00.

They take some getting used to. It’s kind of like when you’re a kid and you ride without stabilizing wheels for the first time. It took about 10 minutes to get the confidence to take my hand off the rail on the veranda and ride free.

Keeping balanced takes concentration at first but it becomes easier. Keeping focused on your balance and technique makes the riding interesting and is surely beneficial to riding on the road.

The machine is quieter than the trainer which means I can ride at night or in the morning without disturbing others too much. It’s also easier to set up and get going which is a benefit. The riding is much more like riding on the road and the rollers will take less toll on the bike than the trainer I’m sure.

The benefit of the trainer is you can crank up the resistance for high intensity workouts. With the current 50 × 12 top gear set up, I think this will be difficult on the rollers. This winter I’ll try to keep the trainer (and the stepping machine at the gym) for these higher intensity efforts.

There’s nothing like a new bit of kit to get you motivated again!

Tips for riding rollers