I have been caught totally unawares by the sudden and brutal onset of autumn here. One day I was happily riding the Fruska gora trails in temperatures of almost 30c, the next it was pouring with rain for two days, with temperatures below 15c. And it’s REALLY depressing. Just when I was enjoying the season, just when I was starting to really get some improvement in my fitness. I thought summer would last forever…
Now it is impossible to ride in the woods, it’s just way too muddy, though I may still try it. It’s also just too cold to be enjoyable riding on the roads, and anyway, I don’t WANT to ride on the road!
So now I am suddenly faced with that awful choice:
What to do in winter when you can’t ride your bike?
The options boil down to the following, and I don’t know which of these I find less appealing:
- cross-training: running. Thoroughly un-enjoyable, and doesn’t help with mountain-biking very much.
- cross-training: swimming. Did it all last winter, dull as ditchwater, just ploughing up and down, plus even less use than running.
- cross-training: anything else that’s not biking. Not interested!
- joining a gym: well, maybe. It’s an extra expense, but they DO have exercise bikes I suppose, with quite elaborate programs which simulate most types of riding. Could close my eyes and think of summer…
- buying a bike trainer: spinning the wheels in the comfort of my own home. Less flexible though than a full-featured exercise bike, and money better spent on my bike!
- tinkering with the bike all winter. Lots of people use winter to buy a new bike, sell their old one (e.g. see here for 2008 Cannondale stuff), upgrade parts etc. Frankly, I haven’t got the budget for that, and anyway, that’s no substitute…
- just go out and ride anyway. Despite the cold, this seems like the most appealing option right now. I will keep you posted!
How are you going to cope with winter?
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Posted on September 16th, 2008 by markowe
Filed under: Biking - general
Love the pink trainer
Seriously–I ride the trainer all winter. Occassionally if we get a weird warm day–which happens here in New England, I’ll venture outside. But the trainer is a dull, yet reliable friend during that long stretch of winter dead ahead. It definitely makes me a lot stronger once spring arrives!
Good luck!
-Karen
Ha, people probably won’t see the pink trainer! Those ads get served up without me having much control over them. Pretty cool though, I will ask for the pink if I go and buy one!
I would really like to train “properly” all winter so I can have a stab at one race in particular at the beginning of May, so I am not sure if I can really simulate the kind of interval-type training I need to do for that on a trainer.
I was thinking, maybe the gym option… They have those fancy exercise bikes with the full program that takes you up the hill and down again, almost like the real thing..!
“The trainer, a dull yet reliable friend” - i like it