Originally Posted by
estciclista
Funny. I live in VT and cannot ride during winter outdoors. Not only is it usually hovering around zero for a good part of the time, but the roads are all snow, ice or salt (and extra narrow due to snow build up).
I used to use a treadmill (which I really liked using until I busted my ankle) and the boredom was mitigated by watching TV during exercise and I am thinking of doing the same on the rollers (if I get them that is).
I live in South Dakota. Below zero a good chunk of the winter with 30+ mph winds and plenty of snow. I'll put our winters up against anyone's. It's really not as difficult as it sounds. Deciding to ride outside is actually tougher than riding outside. Plenty of days where I wake up at 5 AM and everything inside me is telling me to stay inside where it's warm and go back to bed. Once I'm a couple of miles down the road and have a good sweat going I always think, "meh, this really isn't too bad."
I did dedicate one of my old bikes to "winter only" because of the toll the salt takes on it. I bought studded tires and just leave it set up that way. With studs, ice is not a factor as long as I don't get really crazy. Cruising across areas of sheet ice I enjoy locking up my rear wheel and watching the grooves my studs dig in the ice.
I don't watch much TV. I ran on the treadmill some this winter due a few weeks where we had heavy ice (I don't have studded running shoes, lol). I would watch TV but still felt it mind numbing. As soon as I could I got back outdoors. I guess I just prefer being outside.