I have a roller similar to this one here.

Got on the roller tonight; as for a long time I’ve only been using it to warm up at races. Having missed two night trainings this week due to a lack of members and cold I dusted off the cobwebs and put my new training plan to the test.
I’ve been thinking of ways to measure my fitness lately and this came to me as a possibility while I was at work today dreaming of my next ride.

As I can’t afford a power meter I want to improve my strength and be able to measure it with a ride. This was one idea.
Start at 25kph in an easy gear and every 5 minutes increase the speed by 5kph.
5 mins at over 25kph and under 30kph.
5 mins at over 30kph and under 35kph.
5 mins at over 35kph and under 40kph.
5 mins at over 40kph and under 45kph.
5 mins at over 45kph and under 50kph.
5 mins at over 50kph and under 55kph. (This is where it starts to get hard).
For each additinal minute from here I just increased speed by 1kph.
ie. 31st minute go above 56kph, 32nd minute 57kph etc…
It’s hard to exactly control the speed and I made a rule that if you go under the speed limits by even a fraction twice that is the end of the test. STOP. I tended to be riding at plus 2kph in the early parts and found I had to slow down to the minimum limit after about the 45kph stage.
Tonight’s first attempt results…
Distance: 22.27km
Average speed: 40.5kph
Max speed: 58kph
Time 32:56
I didn’t push myself too hard as I want to improve each time. Felt good and I didn’t worry about cadence but as the speed gets higher and the gears get heavier, the only way to survive is to go at a faster cadence. I think it works out well for cadence too as the starting pace is only warming up.
Next time I’ll use my Polar so I can see how the cadence changes and also max out my heart a bit more with a few extra minutes at the end. Especially in the latter stages of the work out. Looks like a good work out for the Saiko race too.