OMG Winter is coming!

REALLY not looking forward to winter - considering we didnt even have a summer!
but also (yes, really) looking forward to trainer season!
x2 with netflix, or dvds of entire seasons of tv shows.
i can finally get caught up on the shows & movies everybody talks about.
i dont watch tv otherwise.

Ride outside all winter.  Winter riding is actually a lot of fun, and will whip you into shape without spending mind numbing hours on the trainer/rollers.

My hardest bike workout ever was a 7 mile ride through 5 inches (and falling hard) of snow. Took 1.5 hours and I had to keep stopping to let my heart rate come down from the stratosphere. Never thought averaging 4 mph would be so exhausting. Took me nearly a week to fully recover from that workout.

There is a good chance that I will be able to finally buy a new bike this year, just in time for the weather to be crap!  

In which case I might have a really nice new bike on an old trainer and the hybrid I currently whine about will have the knobbies put back on for the snow and slush.

Bundle up and pick up season appropriate tires if you can.  Not every day will be too cold or wet!

-eric

i already got my trainer.

I tried some Spinnervals with Coach Troy DVD's last winter just to mix things up. I was staggering like a drunk when I got off the bike after my first workout. My heart rate was out of control, I was sweating like mad, and I realized I need a fan in the basement! But it was either that or bundle up. I'm ok outside until about 30 degrees. If it's cold AND windy forget it!

I really don't want to think about the trainer yet.  Probably will have to get it set up around the first of November.  Last year I watched TV and movies and played Wii while on the trainer.  Wii bowling is kind of fun; do sprint intervals while the other person is bowling.  I can also play MarioKart on the trainer, but I feel silly when I find myself speeding up my cadence to try to go faster.  Doh!

* Get a five or six fan(s).

* Ride outdoors whenever humanly possible (and safe).

* If you're going to attempt a 'long ride' indoors, then yes, grab a movie or three.

* All other trainer riding (apart from warm-up and cool-down and brief rest between intervals) is best done at a level of effort that watching a movie would be pointless and impossible.  In other words, substitute intensity for time.  I can't even listen to music.  I mean, I turn it on, but at the end of the main set, I couldn't tell you one thing that I heard.

Buy a cyclocross bike.

I actually have been on the trainer since last week, which works out great for me.  I just turn on Universal Sports, and ride with the racers of the vuelta a espana.  I tell them that I won, but they just ignore me.    I have found that if I set my resistance to what they are doing (more resistance when they are climbing, less when they are descending) I actually come away more tired then just riding.  I can usually find either cycling, or Triathlon on that channel, so I pretty much watch and ride.  It is a huge motivator seeing all of the amazing athletes.
My bike on my trainer has a set of Schwable Marathons on it, so I may take an outdoor ride or two this season, but it gets pretty miserable in Oregon this time of year. No real Ice or Snow, but SO much rain and wetness. 

On the bright side I can ride to my hearts content and not feel guilty about leaving my family. I don't need to worry about a babysitter for my four year old either.

The trainer will be reserved for shorter rides only, I don't think I could handle two hours (let alone four) on a trainer. I've got a fixed cx bike with fenders that I'll throw knobbies on come winter. I'll commute and do wet/snow rides on it, and hopefully have a flexible work schedule to get out on a weekday long ride if needed. Other than that, video games and movies.

Oooh!   I really like the Universal Sports idea.  Going to try that - thanks!

Yess!! Winter! I live in Mississippi, so this IS the season for us! Sorry folks, not wanting to gloat but for some of us Winter is our relief period.

No gloating assumed. I would go nuts if I didn't have four distinct seasons. I love each and every one of them.

If it's dry outside, I ride outside.

Snow and rain mean rollers time. Spinervals, Virtual Rides, Carmichael Training System, Bike-O-Vision, all end up on the TV for the interval workout all the way to 4-5 hour rollers sessions I've done.

I prefer to ride outside when I can, but as someone else said substitute intensity for length.  But, as I have said before winter in New England is for this....







Attachments
----------------
1st Family Day Crotched (9).JPG (95KB - 4 downloads)

This user's post has been ignored.

I'm looking forward to winter.  I plan on toning down the tri training volume so I can pump up the weight training.  I put weight training on hold while I dropped a few pounds and worked on HIM training.  I'm tired of being tired and sore as I watch my muscles shrink. 

You live in St. Louis, your outdoor riding season should easily go into December and start again in February.  I went to Southern Illinois this February to get back into outdoor riding.

No doubt.  We really only get about a month of the really bitter cold, most of the time it's 40F and gray.  I don't have a trainer, so I'll be outside. 
OP, I remember earlier this summer you were bummed by the heat, so all I can say is (In my best Goldmember voice), "Well then, there is no pleasing you!"

Good point. Thanks for interjecting some reality into my life.  Three months does'nt seem so bad. This will be my first winter riding so I can just bundle up, but you also have daylight or lack of daylight to deal with.

I just wonder how many tmes I can watch the movie "300" this winter.