Triathlon Magazine Canada

How to Ride Rollers

- BY SEAN MACKINNON Sean Mackinnon is a writer and former pro cyclist, medalling at the 2015 PanAm Games.

THIS WINTER IS likely to be long and lonely as we continue to battle with the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of us find our ability to use gyms, pools and fitness facilities extremely limited. All things home fitness seem to be backordere­d into oblivion, so if you see something that might make the winter feel a bit shorter, I suggest you jump on it as soon as possible. One piece of indoor cycling equipment that might not be flying out the door as much as other training equipment is rollers.

For those not familiar them, cycling rollers are essentiall­y the simplest form of an indoor trainer. Still very popular with track cyclists as they warm up at the velodrome, you can ride any bike on a set of rollers without needing to remove or attach wheels to a stationary trainer. Rollers use three cylindrica­l rollers, with two supporting the rear wheel of the bike, while the third roller at the front of the unit supports the front wheel of the bike. All rollers use a resistance band (or collection of them) to connect the rollers and provide resistance to the bike.

I think what most people fear about this activity is that, unlike a trainer or spin bike, you are responsibl­e for not only keeping the bike upright, but also balancing yourself in place while you get on and off. Last winter I brought my rollers to a few of the sessions I coached on the bike. It was very entertaini­ng to see the athletes at the workout look in awe as I got onto the rollers, clipped one foot in and proceeded turn the pedals with one foot before jumping onto the saddle and getting my foot clipped in. One or two of the athletes familiar with riding the rollers told me they had never seen someone get into the rollers without leaning on a chair or wall. I laughed, telling them that my years of early morning pre-starts (30-minute, low intensity, pre-breakfast spins) would get boring, so my teammates and I would find ourselves pushing the limits of the equipment, so we could get to our first meal of the day that much sooner.

If there is one thing I will attribute my time spent on the rollers, it would be just how much it improved my bike handling skills. I have been around rollers my whole life; as a kid I remember accidental­ly letting our family dog into the basement while my parents and their training friends crammed down there for a workout. The dog barreling down the stairs would put everyone’s workout on hold and I always remember my dad screeching to an abrupt halt on his rollers in fear of Ruby losing her tail. The first day I ever tried the rollers was when I was about 12 – I was determined to do my cycling workout on them and take my bike off the CompuTrain­er for good. I kitted up and headed to the basement, put the rollers in between the bathroom door, and spent the next hour trying to keep myself from falling or leaning on the door jam.

Fast forward a number of years and I was getting phone calls from my coach from the national team asking me to please stop using the rollers for my team pursuit-specific intervals. It was a funny conversati­on, as I was still hitting the power numbers for the intervals, but my cadence was not consistent enough for the windups required to get to 600+ watts.

Suffice it to say, learning to ride rollers is not difficult, and I truly believe if you can ride a bike outside, you can ride on them. While it is daunting to begin your roller journey in a doorframe,

then moving to a wall, then using a chair, etc., doing so will help you improve your bike handling skills for the upcoming season.

Another aspect of triathlon training that riding rollers can help with is getting you comfortabl­e in the aero position. If you’re one of those people who tends to zig-zag down the road while on your areo bars, rollers can help you learn to ride in a straighter line. One of the easiest ways to improve your bike split is to take the straightes­t, smoothest line on the road, and mastering the balance required to ride on rollers is a great way to work on that.

Like all things in our sport, prices vary dramatical­ly for rollers. While many people may already have a fantastic smart or turbo trainer, it doesn’t hurt to invest in some rollers to mix up your indoor training. When I used to prepare for the upcoming cycling season, I would often switch between my smart trainer and rollers as a way to mix up my long, six-hour indoor rides.

As we all know, stationary riding can get boring and turn us into zombies who sometimes forget that, when we do get outside, we will in fact need to use more than just our leg muscles to perform on the bike. Riding rollers will help make the transition to riding outside even easier.

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