I’m not sure where to post this, so I’m just posting it here. Sorry if I got the area wrong. I’ve got a problem and haven’t been able to find an answer anywhere on the net or even a story of someone else with the same problem.
So I got the elite nero rollers very recently, but I’ve been having a problem with them. While riding on them, my sweat falls on the front roller, which very quickly causes these strange white flakes to form on it, which makes riding on it feel “rough” and makes it very difficult. I can get those white flakes off the roller by cleaning it with one of those rough sponges, but they’re always back almost as soon as I start sweating again.
I have a sweat net but that doesn’t help much. I mostly sit on my bike with my hands at the ends of the handlebars, so the net doesn’t catch the sweat.
Has anyone else here ever had a problem like this with rollers? Does anyone have any advice? Any reply is much appreciated. Thanks!
Hi Jeff,
I have used Elite rollers in the past and have not noticed that issue. I’m guessing the white flakes are salt from your sweat.
You may already be doing these suggestions but I wear cycling gloves and a long sleeve top as indoors I notice my arms sweat. If I’m racing/working hard I will use a sweat band on my head and a towel down the front of my cycling jersey, at times I have also cycled with a towel around the back of my neck. You could also try wrist bands and have a small towel next to you.
I also use multiple fans, 3 at the last count for me, plus one for my trainer and another for my laptop. LOL
The main problem would be the sweat coming from my forehead that is falling on the front roller… Can you recommend a particular sweat band that works well at sucking up sweat? Where do you position your fans exactly? I’m a bit nervous about using fans because I have gotten sick in the past from using one next to my bed in the summer - How do you avoid getting sick when using that many fans?
Hi Jeff,
the headband I use is just a tennis headband made of toweling. I only wear it whilst racing or really hard workouts. I also have wrist bands of the same type.
Fan wise…
I have a large floor fan that is off to my lower left, one large one on a stand directly ahead of me just below my line of sight and one smaller one off to my upper right at head height. Each one is kinda remotely controlled to enable me to control the amount of cooling I receive, which is good on the cool down phase. The large floor fan is for racing/hard workouts the other two will usually be on after I warm up depending on what I am doing. I never have all three on, 2 at most.
I also use a dehumidifier to remove moisture from my training room. That has helped I think to keep my lungs healthy. I was surprised how much moisture it collected. I’ll mention the brand (Meaco) as I tried a couple of others that did not collect much at all.
A friend of mine rides with the window open on warmer days, which could be good but I haven’t tried that. He is definitely wired up differently to me though as he uses a heater at times? and doesn’t own a fan!
Oh, I just remembered, in the summer months I have a largish fan that blows air into my training room, LOL I really must get out more.
Hope that helps a bit.
ps
How do you find the Nero rollers?
Are they your first set of rollers?
I’ve gotten sick before from using fans and since then, I have avoided them as much as possible. I could install one or two in the training room but I’m hesitant to do so. Why do you think the dehumidifier makes much of a difference in that regard? Is humidity the reason why people get sick from using fans?
Do you actually breathe in much of the air the fans give you? That meaco dehumidifier is very expensive. Not sure I’m in the mood right now to spend that much money. What % humidity does your training room have?
I’m happy with the elite neros in that they do what they are supposed to. They aren’t my first pair of rollers. I also have the basic tacx rollers and I didn’t have this sweat problem with them. The tacx rollers just weren’t very good for training really because it’s very difficult for an average, not super coordinated person to do things like sprinting on them and zwifting was difficult on them as well.
Jeff: You might try the SweatGutr. I have used it with reasonable success (I sweat a lot) and it works pretty well. The drawback I have noted is that the silicone is molded pretty thickly, so if your forehead is not uniform the sweat can get in behind it and still drip a fair amount. I have devised a sort of workaround for this by cutting some notches into the top part to allow it to conform to the shape of my forehead a bit more. This has improved the function, but it is still not perfect. A Halo headband may also work for you, depending on how much you sweat. This conform to my forehead better, but also have a fabric that can become saturated, and then it just drips.
Also, with regard to the fans, they don’t necessarily have to blow right at you, as long as they keep the air circulating. And the dehumidifier can help because a dry room gives the sweat more air to evaporate into. Think riding in Houston vs. riding in Denver.
Hi Jeff,
I thought the dehumidifier was a good idea as I didn’t want to breath in moist air.
When i start it up it may show 54% but as I Zwift it will go up to 72% on a harder session. The dehumidifier is a more recent purchase, and I agree its not cheap.
I have never associated a fan with any illness but I may be missing something, I’m certainly not an expert on any of these issues, but I felt breathing in moist air, may not be the best idea for me. My fans are generally on lower settings unless racing.
I really enjoyed using my rollers (Elite) with Zwift and would like a set of Nero’s but I can’t justify anymore expense really. I would love the controllability they provide though. Maybe one day.
I hope you find a solution Jeff. Let us know how you get on. Have fun and keep in touch if you need to.
“Ride On”
