Rolling on rollers

All the snow and sleet recently has rendered any type of outdoor biking nearly impossible. One brave member on our team tried to get in a MTB ride on Thursday night and sent back a pretty hilarious update about trail conditions. "Well that was a bust. Snow is heavy and slick, there is water running under it so getting traction is near impossible, steering is pointless, you go where the slope of the trail is heading regardless for your best intentions, trails are a not starter till this melts or freezes solid."

I guess we will be stuck on the trainer for the next couple of days. Since we were inside, Jeff and I decided to learn how to ride the rollers. Niether of us have ever riden rollers before, but we knew 2 things about starting. Set the rollers up in a doorway so there are barriers to stop you from sliding off sideways and look straight ahead to help with balance. After one graceful fall, Jeff picked it up quickly and even had the skills to take a drink from his water bottle and start doing intervals. 

My debut on the rollers was not as smooth. The rollers are really slidey. I started out with a death grip on the wall. So much so that my hand started cramping. Then I progressed 2 hands on the handlebars while Jeff held my bike and stopped me from toppling over sideways almost every pedal stroke. Death grip on the handlebars meant both hands cramping. Then I progressed to no Jeff support and slid back and forth between the doorway walls steadying myself with alternating elbow bumps. Finally, I figured out to keep my upper body still, my weight back on the saddle and my pedal strokes smooth. But once I got going, I was a bit afraid I would fall over trying to stop!

I definitely need more practice, but I'm hoping soon to master the art of bike rolling multi-tasking like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybFvomdhW2Y