Rollers and Trainer Road

Morning all,

I’ve started using rollers in my training for the first time in a while, I find them easier to set up quickly in the house if my wife is out and I’ve got a bit of time after my daughter has gone to bed.

However, as I’m sure many of you have found, I can’t really achieve high power on them. For example, last night was Berryessa 8 x 20s @ 200+% FTP which for me is 518W, but I was struggling to achieve much more than 300W in top gear at over 115rpm in the reps. As a result my TSS was way off target, although part of this is probably due to stop / starting as I found my feet on the rollers again, I was still working up a sweat and my average cadence was 94rpm, approx +10 over a trainer ride.

I guess my question is, is there any benefit in doing this high cadence work all be it at lower than target power, normally efforts in this sort of range would be 95-100rpm, where as on the rollers flat out is between 115 & 120? Alternatively, does anyone have any advice for how to get resistance up on rollers? I have the Tacx Galaxia rollers.

Thanks in advance

Callum

1 Like

I have Galaxia. With the worst possible tyres (Michelin Lithion.2) power curve measured with Favero Assioma was like this…

obraz

You can make Sweet Spot intervals, but power burst are impossible :frowning:

I’ve just bought the elite arion digital smart rollers and there are actually pretty decent even if they are a little flimsy looking.

Power accuracy is abysmal over 400w but they manage erg mode power matched with my assioma pedals better then my tacx vortex does.

There is also a version that has manual resistance that obviously wouldn’t do erg mode but would help with the issues you are having.

1 Like

I’ve been listening to early episodes of @Jonathan’s MTB podcast and I think it’s episode 10 where he states how poor tacx rollers are at being able to push high power. He gave a very similar example of doing 120rpm in top gear and his power output didn’t get anywhere near 200w from memory. I’ve no experience of rollers but I know Jonathan swears by the Elite Quick Motion.

I’ve got Elite Quick Motion Rollers and I make 20s sprints in Zwift with 550-700W without any problems.

2 Likes

I haven’t all-out sprinted yet (new to rollers), but my Inside Rides manage 300-ish at 90 rpm in 34x28 climbing on Zwift, and nearly 700 in the saddle in a higher gear (big ring, mid cassette, on an uphill sprint section on Zwift).

Not a ton of options to increase resistance with plastic drums.

  1. You can run lower tire pressure is about the best option.
  2. Some people place a towel under the drum for more resistance, but I don’t love that option, especially for plastic, since it can lead to roller damage.

Im considering buying a set of quickmotion rollers to work alongside my Kickr for some variation. Do I need the bluetooth connector to use TR or can I just run with my bike’s powermeter?
Thanks

Just use your bike’s powermeter.

Great thanks :()