Harvieu25

Just picked up the Kreitler 4.5 Killer headwind roller set up. First time with rollers and after 5 minutes I was good on it, with the exception of very easy gears in which I am pretty wobbly. Have the front roller set up just ahead of the front axle, this is correct is it not? A few observations... They seem WAY harder than actually riding a bicycle out on the road. Also seems like you engage your core much more and that you have to be real smooth with all inputs.
They also seem to have way more rolling resistance than the road. For the same HR ave I would ave 3-4 mph faster on the road. My ave cadence is also 20 rpm less than on the road. Other than that it will be interesting to see the effects of this training on my road rides.

gecho

I enjoy my rollers but never got very confident on them. I don't have a huge amount of space to safely wipeout on them, so I don't tempt fate by switching from hood to drops, drinking while riding and taking my weight off the saddle. I have a little plastic foot stool on either side of them for starting / stopping. To start I clip in on foot and start pedaling with one leg to get the wheels moving before carefully getting the other foot onto a moving pedal.

Mine have no resistance unit, so I always use the big ring and bottom half of the cassette. Minimum speed is usually over 40 kph, so I just move the wheel magnet out of the way since the distance numbers are meaningless. I find the rollers very easy to get a good workout, no problem at all getting my HR all the way to the maximum. I play around with cadence and resistance while riding on them going as low as 70-80 in my highest gear, all the way up to 120-140 in easier gears. 130+ RPM takes a LOT of focus.

andr0id

You can open and close the duct on the side of the fan to change the resistance.

Front roller just ahead of the front axle is where you want it.

Mph on the rollers really has no road equivalence, just ride them for heart rate or watts if you have it and get your cadence back up to normal.

PepeM

You're right on everything but as stated above pay no attention to speed, it is completely meaningless.

tcarl

I agree with all of the above.

Sangetsu

Noting will improve your stability and pedal stroke like riding on rollers. I suffered a few falls on my first attempt, but on my first ride afterwards, there was a noticeable difference.

I started out using a set of rollers which uses two smaller rollers on the front. The smaller rollers greatly increased resistance, and it took a fair amount of effort to pedal. Letting up on the pedals, the wheels immediately slowed, and balance became difficult. But the smaller rollers were also noisy, and when I pedaled in "squares," they made a "whir-whir-whir" sound with each pedal stroke. I began to focus pedaling in circles, and when I did it right, I got a smooth and steady "whirrrrrrrrrrr".

Balance is more difficult because although you have gyroscopic forces to help you stay upright, not being able to lean left or right very much limits your balance. My coach's advice for balance was "pedal with your butt." It is hard to describe how it works, but rather than using your hands on the bars, or leaning your body one way or the other, you balance through the seat of the bike.

A few years ago I gave a demonstration of how to use rollers at the Tokyo Bike show, and surprisingly, a hundred or so people lined up to give it a try. This was good for a few laughs, especially when I managed to fall down while trying to prevent a rider from doing so.

qcpmsame 

Great input so far, I agree with all of the above. I had some old school Kreitler rollers back in the late 70s and early 80s, they really do help you with your balance and feeling how your body positioning effects your riding. Always felt as if I had worked harder during a roller session than on any ride, of a comparable time period and pedaling cadence. Now, I could not dream of riding on rollers, due to my Parkinson's Disease, and the balance issues it has in my case.

Only thing I can offer is to make sure you have some air circulation around and on you while doing a session. I remember that I could overheat quickly on rollers, since there isn't any wind from forward movement, or atmospheric conditions either. I just set up a fan ahead of me, usually a quartering cross wind setting, rather than head on into my chest and face.

Bill

blacknbluebikes 

Set an iPad on a barstool centered in front of you and watch youTube videos of great rides. You can do about half of famous climbs of the Tour that folks have recorded on their GoPro cameras. Or you can take a ride around Las Vegas, or Surrey England and much more. You might even find spin class video with excellent views. Anything not to be looking at the wall. I keep two short 2x8's stacked on the left, inside the frame of the Kreitlers for mount/dismount. Do think about sweat management, you'll make a puddle. Richard Simmons headband worthwhile, but remember to take it off before anyone sees you. Fan is critical. Tire pressure varies resistance. Have something to grab - I ride next to the basement stairs and can grab that railing. Even after a couple of winters, I still unexpectedly need it sometimes. Keep in mind that if you fall, you only go sideways - you have practically zero forward momentum.

Sangetsu

This is what I did on bad weather days. The TV on in front of me (no Youtube then, but I had lots of VHS cassettes of races), a fan to keep me a little cool, and a towel on the floor to catch the sweat.

superdex

Yup. Sounds about right. You're on your way, welcome to a great Spring next year. Every session will be a little less uncomfortable.

enjoy,

Harvieu25

Thanks for all the input. Sept marked my one year mark cycling, and even with 4200+miles in that time I was still floored by how much harder the rollers are. Looking forward to next spring already!

FBinNY 

Here's a trick that will making riding rollers easier and safer for newds.

Set the rollers up in a door frame, so your shoulders line up. The door frame will give you something to brace against as you start, plus depending in the widths of your shoulders, may give you early warning as you move side to side.

Another trick is to set the rollers up in front of the TV, but at some distance. Yoiu instinctively ride to where you're looking, so simply watching TV keeps you centered and upright,

pholuvr

Here's an even better trick:

Move to someplace with a better climate and ditch the rollers.

Kaze6

For fun, have someone ride on the rollers then you feel how much air is coming off of the front tire (especially if you have a standard splash fender).

When you ride down the street, that's all "built-in headwind."

I have a rear fender mounted backward on my front wheel, which guides all of that wind downward rather than to the front. Looks a little strange, but makes a difference!

Harvieu25

I've been having a great time on the rollers so far, and only one crash. The fan makes things much harder, even 1/4 open the effort is such that doing 24 mph is tough on an interval and recovery speed is around 12 mph. That low speed makes it tough to balance. Without the fan connected, baseline speed is 18-20 mph and intervals are at 38+ mph. Much easier to balance at those speeds.

The fan makes it so where you seriously have to pedal circles. Much more so than without. Still think it's funny that at all speeds it's way tougher than riding on the road. Seems like riding greased tires on wet ice while drunk...

Interval training is seemingly where this thing shines. No interruption at all. If it wasn't for this set up I wouldn't be getting many miles right now. Too cold! I do wish I would have bought them last year.

CrankyOne

Our coach didn't understand that. When I raced we were based in Montgomery AL or Savanah GA. We were still required to ride rollers quite frequently at home as well as at races.

thumpism 

Sounds like American Classic hybrid rollers. I had a set of those briefly and it was work to ride them. Never rode rollers after that since I was never into training.

bruce19

I just scored a set of Kreitler rollers w/3" drums from a young woman who was a college racer. $50.