High Roller...

My friend Jon came round this morning and with him he brought a set of tacx rollers. He's been banging on for ages about them being a better alternative to a turbo when the weather's not great. After a couple of coffees and with much trepidation I gave it a go. Set up in the kitchen I sat astride my bike, quietly terrified and curiously already sweating slightly (Was the heating on?). As I started to pedal I was clinging on the the side of the sink with one hand and the other on the bars. I just couldn't let go of the sink!

Being told that you will fall off when learning to ride these things is never good. I'm not really that keen on falling off bikes anymore. Jon said he'd leave the rollers with me for a couple of weeks whilst he's on a training camp in Majorca, the lucky sod.

I have moved the rollers to the hall so that I can fall against the wall rather than smashing into the kitchen floor. I've done 2 x 45 min sessions on them now and completed 10 miles per session. It's quite hard going but with some music on the Ipod and a bit of practice it seems pretty good. I've got sore elbows from bashing against the wall for the first 15 mins of the first session but it seems quite natural already. It's quite high cadence work that I'm doing on the bike and that seems to suit the rollers. The faster you go the smoother the thing seems to be.

I'm going to do another 20 tomorrow before going mountain biking at the weekend. That is, if my cheese eating companion can drag his ass out of bed this time.