kbarch

Today was too cold even to go to the gym, so I had a little session on the rollers instead. I haven't spent much time on them yet, but have been learning a lot. Gotten to where I can do things with one hand off the bars, like grab the bottle and take a drink, button and unbutton a shirt, scratch an itch, etc., but it's still all very tentative, and about half the time I still bump into the door jamb.

Lesson today: what's the big deal with a smooth pedal stroke? It's not so much about shape or the 'circularity' of power application, it's more about evenness of cadence and symmetrical application of force to resistance - which affects balance, and conservation of energy. Of course it's exaggerated on rollers, but I noticed that whenever I did anything that abruptly changed the cadence at which I was spinning, that's when the bike would start to flop around - it wasn't so much the manipulation of the bars that did it. And recovering from that flopping around takes extra energy. But if I bumped into the door jamb, as long as I kept the wheels spinning the same, everything was hunky-dory. Much like in wheel bumping drills - just don't let it slow you down, or you will go down!

Which brings me to another thing. I've always been very scared of the prospect of bumping into other riders in a tight peloton. Bumping into the door jambs isn't the same as bumping into another moving rider, but it is sort of teaching me not to panic over such things - as long as the relative speed is negligible, it's nothing, again, as long as you keep pedaling.

Keep pedaling! - that's my slogan

ChloeP

Now when you go the roller rink, you will be a winner at 'Wipe Out'. Or at least this song is good practice for how to fall on purpose so that when you fall as an accident you minimize your injury.