In my early days of cycling, I used to take the winters off completely ... put the bicycle away in October and dig it out again in April. And every year it was like starting all over again. I don't recommend doing that.

If you aren't riding your bicycle outside, are you at least keeping active in other ways? Are you attending a spinning class once or twice a week? Are you going to the gym to lift weights? Are you participating in winter sports like cross-country skiing, skating, etc.?

It's not a bad idea to back off a bit now and then to allow yourself to rest, but don't back off to the point of being a couch potato.


I'm really struggling with my fitness level now. After hardly cycling at all from the beginning of June till mid-September (winter), and only walking about 2 km a day during that time ... and then spending 2 weeks in hospital in August hardly doing any activity ... I'm finding it really difficult to get back up where I was in May.