Long Distance Competition/Ultracycling, Randonneuring and Endurance Cycling - What do long distance cyclist do during winter.

My cycling will be reduced by the shorter days and icy pavement starting in December. I enjoy alpine skiing, but only ski about 15 days a year.

I try to take care of business travel during winter and am able to plan my work schedule around cycling to some extent.

What do you do to with your recreational time in the winter?

Michael

I moved from Chicago to Seattle so I can ride year round. :thumb:

All I miss are the Chicago-style hot dogs.

Should we reserve a spot for you?

1) Ride my wind trainer weeknights.
2) XC ski weekends. If there's no (or cr*ppy) snow and the roads are clear, I'll ride. If the roads aren't clear, I'll ride the trainer for a couple hours.
3) I'm planning to try some snowshoeing this winter too.

Overall, my activity level is much lower from now 'til February or so, when I start commuting and doing my long weekend rides, starting at about 100k, building to just under 200 right before the brevets start up. Not only does the reduced activity allow for physical rebuilding, the time off the bike has me rarin' to go come Feb.

SP
Bend, OR

I moved from Chicago to Seattle so I can ride year round. :thumb:

All I miss are the Chicago-style hot dogs.

Should we reserve a spot for you?

Yes, I would be very happy out west. I could bike and ski more :D.

But my family is here and they may not be as transportable as me.

Michael

I live in Monterey, and I ride year round.
winter... i actually focus more on "training" and cut back on the amount of time i'm on the bike.
come feb/march I'm ready for a double.
year round, I'm able to do a century.

I live in Boston and I still ride year round ;p

I also snowshoe and do indoor rock climbing.

Lucky ones get to live in warmer climates and keep in shape all year long.

The "offseason" is when I do the bulk of my intense training. The mileage will be shorter, but the effort will be there. The local bike club puts on a winter race series, so I'll be doing most of those. Generally I do speedwork training and try to work on getting my doubles faster each year... It's worked the past few years! ; )

Ride once it warms to 20+ F if the streets are clear in most places. Causes me to miss a day or two in a week in winter, but I only miss a whole week or more once or twice during then.

As long as there is not ice in the traffic lanes ... put on more clothes, switch on the generator light, ride ...

DC area gets cold, and there is fairly often snow on the ground, but the roadways get cleared fairly quickly. For commuting, I just ride on studded tires.

Xc skating two to three times a week, forest roads with studded tires at least once a week and my short 4 mile commute on cx-bike with studs on weekdays.

"What do long distance cyclist do during winter?"
I was about to reply that they get cold.
First ride of the year in the snow yesterday in my part of the world (Bavaria).
I don't have a trainer so I try to go out anyway. I guess I should go XC skiing, but it's a major hassle without a car, and I'd need to learn how to do it properly too.
So I just try to ride normally, road conditions permitting. When not possible then I will probably go to the swimming pool since it is close-by and should provide a decent workout.

My "A" race is in February, so I train all winter - over 40 degrees outside, under inside. :(

I moved from Chicago to Seattle so I can ride year round. :thumb:

All I miss are the Chicago-style hot dogs.

Should we reserve a spot for you?

I miss the lake front too:thumb:.

During four of the years I lived in Winnipeg and central Alberta I did the Century-A-Month Challenge. I successfully rode at least one imperial century in each of the months of the year in 2003, 2005, and 2006. I was attempting it again in 2008, and got as far as November. December 2008, however, turned really, really nasty on me.

So there's that ... you can go outside and ride centuries.

When I lived in Winnipeg, I also commuted to and from work by bicycle most of the days of the year. There were the occasional day when it was just too snowy to get through, but most of the time the roads were rideable. I rode in temps down to -40C on those commutes.

I have discovered I also enjoy spinning classes and will attend a couple days a week in the winter. They're usually a good workout. In addition to them, I ride my trainer, of course.

And then there's stuff like long walks, weightlifting, yoga, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing.

At one point many, many moons ago, I used to be a bodybuilder, training with a coach etc. and I'm still very fond of weightlifting, so my winters usually involved quite a bit of that. When I was in University at Edmonton, I'd go to the gym and use the rowing machines and treadmills as well for some variety. Rowan and I have bought some weights here so that I can do something seeing as cycling would involve attaching pontoons to my bicycle these days.

Again in Winnipeg, I bought snowshoes because I could carry them with me on my mtn bike easier than I could carry cross-country skis. I would cycle out to a local park, do a little snowbiking, and go snowshoeing. I did snowshoe on the river behind where I lived, but after falling through the ice on a day that was about -35C, I didn't do that again.

I ride... even through our brutal cold snaps here. Last year we had about three days when the high was 40F.

Scary! :D

actually, what impresses me is that there aren't a lot of rides in the intermediate distances after June. So you can either ride 200k or 1200k during the last half of the year.

actually, what impresses me is that there aren't a lot of rides in the intermediate distances after June. So you can either ride 200k or 1200k during the last half of the year.

Traditionally, in the randonneuring world, that has been because we have had to get all our qualifiers for PBP done and recorded by the middle of June. So, even in the non-PBP years, clubs still organize their schedules the same way. And some other 1200K events have also required people to get their qualifiers in early as well.

I have wished more clubs had longer rides later in the year too, for practice ... but really ... who wants to do more 600Ks than they absolutely have to!!

if clear roads, ride
or studded tires
xc ski
hike
run
swim

or ride studded bike to gym, swim or do strength, ride home. hike or xc ski later in the day, depending on conditions.

thats the plan, and bits and pieces have worked well the last few years.

I don't ride outside after work in winter, since it's commute time, dark, and usually raining. PNW, so I can do weekend long rides every weekend, unless road surface is below freezing, which is rare. I hit the rollers every morning before breakfast. After work, rollers, spin class, or weights at the gym, often rollers, then weights. If weather is decent in the mountains, snowshoeing one weekend day. I'm thinking about taking up AT skiing this winter, but the gear's expensive. Have to see how the income goes. Since the workouts are shorter, I can work out 6 days/week, plenty to be ready for spring brevet season.

I try to download all the porn on the Internet and drink all the beer in world. But I used to do stuff like run and ride rollers or trainers.

An important aspect of a limited, or "off season" training scenario is to perform some high-intensity effort at least once or twice per week. My own perspective -and experience - suggests that as long as you exercise every third or fourth day (or more) you can retain a good portion of your overall fitness.

Of course since fitness means different things to different people - porn and beer may work just as well for you as exercise.

porn and beer may work just as well for you as exercise.

Keeps the heart rate up anyways...

I live in Boston and I still ride year round ;p

I also snowshoe and do indoor rock climbing.

Commute 14 miles year round, any weather, and only commute (besides yoga), November to April. I would like to motivate enough to do weights.

I live in Monterey, and I ride year round.
winter... i actually focus more on "training" and cut back on the amount of time i'm on the bike.
come feb/march I'm ready for a double.
year round, I'm able to do a century.

I would be interested to see some expansion of this point.

What "training" do you focus on for winter to spend less bike time, and stay that fit and supple.

????

Look at Denver. 10-11 month season, more temperate than Chicago, and has Chicago hot dogs - Custer's Last Stand, same as in Evanston, Illinois.

Look at Denver. 10-11 month season, more temperate than Chicago, and has Chicago hot dogs - Custer's Last Stand, same as in Evanston, Illinois.

You guys are KILLING me :crash: .

This is me in Colorado two years ago (was I happy? yes);

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll210/wildcat-bucket/Spatskiing20083.jpg

Lucky ones get to live in warmer climates and keep in shape all year long.

Who says you can't stay in shape in cold weather? Competitive XC skiers are probably the fittest athletes in the world, and it's kinda hard to ski in warm weather. And as I mentioned above, a couple-few months off the bike does wonders for the ol' motivation.

SP
Bend, OR
Looking forward to XC skiing and snowshoeing this winter.

Cycle a little less, run a little more.

You guys are KILLING me :crash: .

This is me in Colorado two years ago (was I happy? yes);

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/ll210/wildcat-bucket/Spatskiing20083.jpg

You do know that Denver weather is waaaayyyyy different from, say, Winter Park. Grandby, South Park, or Aspen?

Yes and that's what makes it so attractive for recreation.

actually, what impresses me is that there aren't a lot of rides in the intermediate distances after June. So you can either ride 200k or 1200k during the last half of the year.

As our RBA would say, "Then get out there and organize something! Ain't nobody stoppin' ya!"

SP
Bend, OR
(yes, I DO put on brevets over here. By myself.)

I go to Florida and ride there during the winter, ride in Ontario (Canada) during the summer. My off season is right now ... we're up north for three weeks and it's cold outside (24F) and I'm a wimp in cold and wet.

I ride More miles.....

I look at the winter as a time to recover from hard efforts during the rest of the year. I try to ride at least a century on Thanksgiving day and after that I dial things back. I ride outside when I can, ride the rollers when I can't. I run and I also XC ski a lot. I am on the local ski patrol and so I am up most weekends and get in 30k or 40k of skate skiing. I do yoga the whole year but maybe a bit more in the winter and I try to hit the weights a bit more. I look at winter as a time recuperate and retool to hit it hard in the spring.

This is my old winter bike:

http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/3504/coldl.jpg

Bianchi 841, studded 700c x 32 tires, 42 x 19 fixed gear.

This winter I'm riding a Cotic Road Rat with Avid BB7 disc brakes and 8-speed Campagnolo Record, and my winter training goal is to survive the two 200k:s that CK Distans has organised for the last weekend in february.

/s-o

I still get out on the bike twice a week, whether it's road, mountain or cross. I have to squeeze one ride in before work - I have a long commute so I have to be out and back before 7:15-ish in order to get going to work. On the weekend, I will get a decent ride in on Sunday. I'll even use the trainer once a week or so even though I simply cannot stand it.

But mostly I run. Plenty of 5 and 10K races in the late fall and then I'll try to work towards some distance event in the early spring to keep me motivated over the winter months. (Next spring, the National Half-Marathon in March and then the Vermont City Marathon in late May.)