Re: smooth out your pedal stroke *?*

For what it is worth, riding a recumbent on a trainer in my unheated
garage is a completely different experience than riding it on an
upright bike. It doesn't hurt and, while reading an ebook, I can
comfortably ride for a hour without any discomfort other than sweat
getting in my eyes.

And, it probably does smooth put my pedal stroke ;-}!

             Mark



On Tue, Feb 8, 2011 at 10:25 AM, Andy Goodell <[email protected]> wrote:
> A trainer has nothing on rollers. It's one thing to just sit on a
> saddle and move your legs while watching movies on a trainer. On the
> rollers, you need good focus, and while rolling off the edge isn't as
> awful as it may seem (the wheels just stop quickly, though you might
> burn the rug!) there's a real fear to it. My rollers are about 1.5'
> wide, and while I did get up to watching films while riding, the
> riding still takes a majority of my focus because you are still
> handling the bike. The part that's easy to forget is that while you
> are spinning 30+ mph, any slight turn in the handlebars sends you
> quickly to the edge, so you learn how to make very minor adjustments.
> Standing up for power is a fun experience that I wouldn't recommend on
> your first try either! Eventually I got up to riding no hands, and
> coming to a full stop and starting back up again, but it takes some
> good practice for the balance of that.
>
> Last winter I rode 100 miles on the rollers, mostly while watching
> bike messenger racing films. I nearly dumped it several times because
> it's hard not to react when you see a cyclist nearly get smashed every
> 5 seconds from all the crazy weaving through traffic they do.
>
> Ultimately I gave up on winter training. I commute 8 miles a day
> anyway, and just couldn't stand biking for more than 15 minutes
> indoors. Maybe I need one of those video game biking systems?
>
> On Tue, Feb 8, 2011 at 10:12 AM, Jeremy Kindy <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Roy,
>>
>> >From my experience, rollers and an indoor trainer are *completely*
>> different.  With a standard trainer (where you put the rear axle in a
>> vise-like device), you sit there and just suffer.  With rollers, you
>> have to keep balanced and make sure you don't run off the edge, so
>> there's a lot more to do than just think about pedaling.  I don't
>> quite enjoy rollers (I haven't tried watching a movie while on them,
>> for instance), but I find them much more enjoyable than a trainer.
>>
>> I also have yet to try the fixie on the rollers...
>>
>> On Tue, Feb 8, 2011 at 9:05 AM, Roy Bird <[email protected]> wrote:
>> <snip>
>>> I guess it's a matter of "what turns your crank"(how appropriate!)
>>> In my case a dislike the experience so much that I would much rather go for
>>> a run. Last year I tried an indoor trainer throughout the winter but found
>>> it to be a less than enjoyable experience.
>>> Cheers
>>> Roy
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