[Closed] Tips for perfecting pedalling technique on bike rollers?

Interested in this myself, feel relatively comfortable on rollers now but can barely get the RPM above 107/108 before the bucking bronco starts at the rear wheel.

Going to try shortening the distance between the rollers (they're set up as long as they'll go for my 29er) and pumping rear tyre up a bit more. Don't believe it can all be down to my pedal stroke, I've spent a fair amount of time singlespeeding with a low gear...

I think the tingling numb hands is just a nervousness thing, pretty sure mine got better as I got more comfortable on the rollers.

Cadence/form drills, there’s a few TrainerRoad workouts that deal with them...Pettit, Bald Knob, West Vidette etc.

+1 to the Trainerroad workouts.

The on/off squeaking will most likely be due to inconsistent/varying power itself due to pedalling technique - you are probably overdoing the downstroke.

The bucking bronco sensation at higher cadences is a mixture of pedalling technique and muscle control - the leg that is on the upstroke should pull just enough that it offers no resistance to the leg on the downstroke, it's not enough to just let it relax so that the momentum of the pedal pushes it back to the top of the stroke. You shouldn't really feel any pressure on any part of the rising foot except maybe a very little on the top of the foot.

unclip one foot and make sure you can cycle without wobbling.

Good for checking saddle height and position as well.

Thanks for the replies.

@TurnerGuy - I've done that many a time on the turbo but the idea of doing that on the rollers (at this moment in time) brings me out in a sweat!!

Ride fixed wheel. HTH.

Now practical advise. Use a front light to shine a dot on a wall and keep your head up. Try and keep the light with some bounds. Then practice wiggling those fingers. It relaxes your shoulders and death grip. Keep your cadence high - 90 rpm really is a minimum, there is no flywheel (unless you have kreitlers) so stop pedalling and you errrr stop. Keep it smooth and think CIRCLES. It does help. Lighter gears and less mashing. The whir, whir, whir is lack of smooth pedal stroke. Practice one leg pedalling. Don’t unclip, just force with one leg then the other. My single sided power meter is great for this. Power on the RHS will drop to 20 watts if I’m doing it properly.

Then practice touching your nose with each hand. Then touching the water bottle, then eventually you will be able to take a bottle.

It gets easier. I ride two or three hours at a time. Resistance is about 230 watts in my favourite gear, maxing above a threshold of 309. I can do intervals on mine. I also have a KICKR

TiRed.
Every once in a while someone posts something that’s an absolute nugget of pure gold. I trawl the internet searching for these things that will influence my training.
Cheers mate. You’ve just made the Hall of Fame!
I love the light thing. Genius!

Ride fixed wheel. HTH.

Don't use a track bike though. I'm perfectly fine on my road bike but my track bike is twitchy as hell and bloody lethal!

Right. Tidying shed tomorrow and getting back on rollers.
Used to spend hours on them.
Standing up and peddling helped a lot to get rid of numbness. Don’t have space now. But used to side hop on and off to get confidence up. Also showed up bad bike set up, If could not ride with no hands on bars usually bike is bent or wheels out.
Think it’s time for a sweat fest

Track bike is best on rollers when they are set up right . You should be able to sit up and eat etc

Squeak could be tyre pressure, you need to pump them up to the maximum pressure on the sidewalls plus about 10%. The ride will feel much better for it.

Tingling is due to the static position you are in, try relaxing the shoulders and moving from drops to tops.

As others have said, fixed wheel can help with balanced pedaling. I find my track bike is bliss to ride on the rollers (unlike molgrips!).

General advice is look ahead to a wall/door etc and have a really loose grip (flat palms on the tops with fingers outstretched is good every now-and-then).

Edit: Ensure front wheel axle is inline with center of front roller.

https://www.britishcycling.org.uk/knowledge/article/izn20141126-How-to-ride-the-rollers-0

I ride my track bike, fixed road bike, road bikes and TT bike. The track bike is shorter wheelbase so needs a little adjustment but is easier than gears because you can’t stop pedalling. The fixed road bike is bliss.

Getting down onto the aerobars was a big achievement. I use it to warm up at races. If you want to see roller skillz go to a junior race meet. The kids are all masters.

Now for out of the saddle. You need to practice pushing down harder with your dominant leg to lift off the saddle very slightly. Look up when you do it! Then again, then you will eventually lift right out of the saddle. Try counting to five, then ten. Soon you will be sprinting.

I ride to Eurosport races, resting in adverts and sprinting when I need relief from numbness.

I’ve not read all the replies so excuse any repeats. To perfect your pedal stroke my tips would be: think about pedalling from the hip and pretend to scrape shit from your shoes this will give a smooth power delivery right through the full stroke. Spin the highest cadence you can so you get those fast twitch muscles firing ( higher tyre pressures reduces resistance massively so worth inflating to over 120psi if trying to spin) Finally get a track bike to use on your rollers and go to some local tracksessions. Fixed will sort any issues you may have with your pedal stroke very quickly and vastly improve your mountain biking. Worked for me!

Saw this a while ago. Rollers made easy!