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Posted by Bill S on July 10, 2007 at 3:32:16 pm EDT
In reply to Getting back in shape - posted by SteveTheFolkie on July 3, 2007 at 11:15:53 am EDT

Blackbeard,
Yeah, riding the rollers gets pretty boring. There are several varieties, ranging from rollers that you have to balance on your bike (the bike just sits on the rollers, with the balance being all your own as you ride) to various kinds of wind trainers that the front fork (minus front wheel) is locked into while the rear wheel drives a fan or the type that the rear wheel is latched into the roller that drives the fan, with the front wheel still in place, sitting on the floor. In the wind trainers (we have regular rollers with a fan attached to the rear wheel section), the resistance increases with speed, since you are pushing harder into the air. You can also change resistance by shifting into higher gears.

Still, just sitting there on the bike spinning the wheels while staring into space gets boring after a few minutes. But some people put a TV in front of the bike and watch something exciting like the evening news, hmmm, well, maybe an exciting movie. There are computer programs you can get that link to the bike and simulate riding in a race or on a scenic route.

On the other hand, if you have a goal and a riding program, riding the rollers isn't too bad. The program would be something like warm up, ride a distance (assuming you have an odometer on the bike) or time at a steady speed, then do some sprints (out of the saddle sprints get real exciting on the type of rollers where the bike isn't locked down - a friend rode through the wall once when the bike came off the rollers), then a slow steady cool-down. Make up your own program mixing steady distance with sprints and changing resistance to simulate hill climbing.

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