I think it is safe to say that the last remnants of autumn have now well and truly disappeared, although a very mild start to winter it certainly couldn’t be classed as ‘nice’ weather! Many parts of the north are currently underwater with severe floods affecting large parts of the country.
So are people still cycling? There are a few….we have certainly noticed the hardy souls on our More Adventure Strava Club who seem to ride in all weathers, but for most mere mortals to say the cycling tapers off during the winter is an understatement. This is fine we are all for rest time, except that by the first glimmer of spring our enthusiasm is not matched by our fitness, spring becomes summer and summer becomes Autumn before we start to feel fit again….then comes the same old promise, “I will keep cycling over the winter”.
How can we remedy this?
Cycle Outdoors
Brrrr! This is an option for the hardy amongst us, we can certainly do a few things to make this (slightly) easier, such as handpick our cycling days. This is great on those crisp winter mornings under cloudless blue skies…but if we only cycled on these days our winter mileage would amount to exactly 43 miles!
We can just toughen up and cycle in all weathers and the right kit can help but there are a long list of things you need to be aware of cycling in winter. Here are a couple of great articles to get you started:
Cross Training
Cross training from a cyclists perspective is basically keeping fit by any other means but cycling. Running, rowing, boxercise class, circuit training, weight training, swimming, walking, badminton, football….the list goes on and on. You name it if it gets your heart rate up it is doing something. All this is great and many of us cross train all year round and we think this a much better option than just cycling 100% of the time, however whilst you may be a demon in your local boxercise class this will not automatically make you a strong cyclist. For that you need to…well… cycle!
Indoor Cycling
Spinning classes, Watt Bikes, Turbo Trainers, rollers whatever your image of cycling indoors, there are now, thanks to technology, lots of options not only to cycle indoors but to test, track progress and keep you entertained!
Indoor trainers are great because it is a controlled environment, no traffic lights, no slippery corners, no potholes to avoid and no dog chasing you! All this means if you need 30 minutes in a certain ‘training zone’ it is much easier to achieve whilst sitting on your turbo trainer in your garage where the distractions are reduced.
There is however a problem, a big problem… boredom. Most people find cycling indoors excruciatingly boring and the trouble with boring things are people tend not to want to do them which means less cycling which leads us back to our sparse winter cycling problem.
As I mentioned earlier technology is here to help and there are now many applications that can make your weekly indoor rides bearable and even enjoyable! A couple we have experience of are:
Trainerroad
Trainerroad is a fantastic training tool that lets you follow specific plans and tracks everything you need tracking including power, even if you do not have a power meter. If you like your workouts structured then we highly recommend Trainerroad.
The Sufferfest
The hugely popular ‘Sufferfest’ is all about motivation, pushing yourself all the way….hence the name! The premise is that you watch videos of other cyclists whilst listening to high tempo music to give you the feeling that you are racing. It is surprisingly effective!
Both Trainerroad and The Sufferfest are well worth checking out, they will certainly make your winter indoor training less of a chore and dare we say it…fun!?
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