Emerging from the deep freeze
 

It looks like I'll get to ride outdoors today, the first time this year. After 5 mild winters near St Louis, the winter here in Wisconsin this year was a shocker!

Anyone else breathing fresh air and turning the pedals after a prolonged sheltering indoors?

Thinking of stretching my legs outdoors later....with all the snow melt and rain, flood warnings abound. Replace one environmental hazard with another.

I haven't been out yet this year. Saturday March 9th would have been a good day but I managed to get sick. It won't be much longer until the first club rides of the season!

Yesterday was the first day (NYC) where the cold air didn't feel like a winter day. Felt like a cold spring day. Probably the angle of the sun.

Probably about three weeks away from riding the road bike here in Minnesota. Still have about 2.5' of snow in the yard and the snowbanks are 3-4' high everywhere. Only riding I've done this year so far has been the occasional ride on the fatbike when conditions permitted - either too much snow or too cold (deep subzero).

From a snow standpoint, our winter has been a bust. Lots of annoying little snow events, but.. cold. Forecast is for ONE day of 65F weather this Thursday. Of course accompanied by rain and possibly thunder and then back down to below normal temps. :(

Ours shattered the previous snowfall record....I think we went over 50" of snow so far this winter. Would get belted, then it would warm and melt almost completely, then belted again.

I'm not sure how much snow we've gotten for "this winter." It seems you have to search by calendar year. Anyway, we average five feet per winter, per year, take your pick. :rolleyes:

Well, I got out for a little more than an hour and it was superb. I found the right layers of cycling kit and I was in good enough form to enjoy the climbs and descents. I took the filthy-weather Cyclocross bike with fenders. It was wet in places as I crossed temporary streams of snow melt running across the pavement. I like the trainer, but even a good day on the trainer is not as enjoyable as any ride with real fresh air and real sunlight.

Been kind of a crazy winter here. Our two biggest snow storms were around 8 inches in mid-November (a bit early for that much snow) and around 10 inches earlier in March. In between, a few small snow events but a few big storms that had that mix of some snow but extended periods of freezing rain, which is even worse to deal with. Weather overall was colder than average but, again, with a high in the single digits on Thanksgiving, the cold came earlier. I really don't like using an indoor trainer so I managed to get out most of the time - working around the days with extreme cold or the deeper snowfalls to at least keep a base of conditioning. But, definitely hoping we've turned the corner on extreme cold and snow.

I'm still going on a ski tour Friday and Saturday but I'm starting the feel the beginning spring vibe in the air :-)

Rode to work this AM...flood warnings abound, and even before the rain started falling the trails near mi casa were under standing water

NW Ohio lousy winter too
 

Cold windy lousy winter in NW Ohio this year too. I did ride my 3-speed that I have been servicing on a couple of short shake down rides around the block. Today we are supposed to hit 65 degrees for the first time since mid October, but with the unpleasant wind. Perhaps a short neighborhood ride before work. The old 3-speed is nice for that; just getting a bit of fresh air.

I've been going to an hour's spin class, 2x a week, nearby since the New Year as Denver's weather has been continually hit by snow this El Nino winter. Love the spin class, though it kicks my butt, big time! And at sixty six, still keeping up with the youngins... for the most part. Great workout.

Got out for the first time this year, this morning before the rains came. Still lots of snow on the sides of the road but the temp hit 40 degrees so I went out. Only a short 10 kilometer ride but put a grin on my face.

I enjoyed my first 2 hour ride of 2019. Temperatures in the 40's and bright sunshine was better than expected.

It was a tough winter in the northern midwest and there were quite a few days when I couldn't get out to ride. But riding outside, even in the winter, beats riding in the basement, even with Zwift. You have to accumulate the gear and it takes some experience to learn how to manage the cold, snow, and ice. If you have more Wisconsin winters ahead of you, you might think about winter riding.

The people around here who truly love winter riding have fatbikes. I don't, but I do OK on a cx and studs. I have about 1000 outdoor miles since January 1.

Today was a glorious day to ride in the twin cities metro. 50+ miles in the relatively warm sunshine (low 30s by the end of the ride feels luxuriant now - that's 20-40 degrees warmer than the real winter riding). But with all the snow melt and the cold morning temperatures, there was lots of ice. I was out with a half dozen friends, one of whom didn't ride much in the winter. Even though he was rocking studded tires on a good cx bike, the ice freaked him out. The rest of us have been riding this stuff for months and were quite comfortable.

Yes, Fat Bikes are popular in my area as winter bikes. Certainly, using a fat bike on trails and well frozen lakes is more interesting than trying to share the road during winter. When riding during winter I have correct clothing and equipment. As a commuter is Chicago I built a monstercross bike and installed studded tires. However, I discovered that temperatures below 25f were unpleasant due to perspiration and damp layers. Rides longer than an hour were not enjoyable for me. I also found studded tires to be painfully slow going. I do enjoy a sunny day with mostly dry pavement when temperatures are above 25f, and I'll ride during winter on ideal days. I keep a Cyclocross bike with gravel tires and fenders just for wet, salty and gritty conditions, but I use discretion.

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/l...700snow001.jpg


I actually like the trainer. Structuring a plan and getting all the benefits from the technology is interesting to me. Once or twice a week I'll load a virtual ride using data I saved. I can recreate the outdoor experience with enough realism to be very satisfying. The interval training and sessions that provide base miles are less enjoyable, but are an improvement over inactivity.

Emerging from the deep freeze only to enter the flood zone. I used to live in the area so there were many familiar WI town names with reports of flooding - Prairie du Sac, Lodi, DeForest and Mazomanie. Even saw the name of the street that ran at the east end of the farm I lived on as one that was closed by flooding. March always seemed like the cruelest month when I lived there. You get signs of hope only to get slammed again. May was a great relief.

The bad thing is that since flooding is fairly rare motorists don't understand just how easy it is to get washed away or in water so deep you need to be rescued. It's a common occurrence during thunderstorms in the Southwest so they even have summer PSAs on TV and on billboards warning motorists to turn around, don't drown when streets are flooded.

This is probably more appropriate for the Winter Cycling forum, but there are ways to deal with the perspiration. Some simply use newepaper. I have a friend who uses anti persperant liberally on his trunk before he rides. I prefer a merino wool base layer. Clothing technology continues to improve.

Also, yes, riders are shorter in the deep cold. But unless you have really great mental strength, rides longer than an hour on a trainer are also difficult.

Yup, studs slow you down. But you get a good workout and the outdoor scenery in winter can be beautiful.

That's where you and I part, for sure. I hate the trainer. Zwift has made it much better for me, but I'd still choose to be outside on any day when it's not really dangerous.

To each their own.

I started with Zwift on a trial basis. I eventually selected Rouvy, mostly because I didn't like the cartoonish virtual reality display seen on Zwift.

I admire anyone who can ride more than 200 miles a month outdoors in winter in MN. I am satisfied with my 100-200 miles per month outdoors during winter in Wisconsin. I'll accumulate another 200 miles indoors when winter won't provide reasonable riding weather.

Its sunny and warm here, I am refusing to ride the KK Turbo Trainer I bought at Christmas anymore, and tomorrow I hope the doctor or nurse can get this damned flu I have been fighting for two plus weeks now so I can go riding this week. Bleeaaaahhhhh......

Bill