Rollers anyone?

[OakLeaf]

It's been a very long time for me.

But, don't have your husband hold the bike - that will keep it from moving under you. In fact, don't have him hold anything. He stands next to you and you put your arm/hand on/around his shoulder until you get going.

Or, just set up next to the wall as Deb said. If you rely on another person to get on/off, then you have to keep riding until you can holler loud enough to get them back!

[7rider]

1. Set up next to a wall. Keep 1 hand on the handlebars and 1 on the wall. Ride and lift your wall hand off the wall...longer each time as you grow more comfortable. Eventually, you'll put that hand on the bars, too.
1a. Until you are comfortable, try it with regular shoes, and don't clip into your pedals.
2. Speed is your friend. It is actally easier to ride rollers fast, rather than slowly.
3. Look at a spot about 10' straight in front of you and imagine you are riding the bike towards it. That will help with holding your line.
4. As you get more comfortable. start to "explore" the edges of the rollers. I once rode right off my DH's rollers - okay, accidentally - and found myself.....upright and standing there by my bike. No big deal - no spectacular surge forward into the wall (or t.v.) or collapse to the ground. It made me realize that falling off rollers is not the end of the world.
5. If you absolutely cannot get the hang of rollers, but see and appreciate the value they offer in training, invest in a pair of parabolic rollers. I have a pair (not these) and love them. I call them my "cheater" rollers.

[PinkBike]

ditto to everyone else, plus start with your hands on top of the bars right next to the stem. as you get more comfortable you move out on the bars, but i still always start off in that position.

[PinkBike]

oh, and start in a big gear, high cadence is not your friend

[smurfalicious]

Hey keep us posted how it turns out for you! My roommate has an ungodly expensive set of rollers he threatens to put me on. He swears it will improve my balance and ability to hold a line. I told him I can balance and hold a line, and I can work my bike through crazy turns. Problem lies in the fact that my limb length issue means it's hard for me to remove hands from the bars because I use upper body weight to compensate for the lower. My mom has an old Blackburn trainer she's not using, I'd rather talk her out of that! Watching movies and spinning in the winter sounds more my speed!