What to do when the weather is not good for riding?
 

I will start this out with yesterday saturday 11/29. weather overcast and high of 45 in the morning and rain afternoon. At least I had not planned any riding saturday since it was my parents 50th wedding anniv. Yeah they got married 11/29 and I was born 12/01. We attended a church where my parents renewed their vows and then the family and friends all went out for a big dinner. This leads to Sunday 11/30, rain all day high of 42 with 30 to 40 mph winds. I built a bike rack out of PVC to hold the 4 bikes and then cleaned out the 3rd bedroom and moved all the bike gear, bikes and my roll around tool boxes in to make a bike room. So I guess there are things that can be done when the weather is against us.

Or . . . you put on your wool cycling clothes, and your rain jacket, and maybe stretch one of those motel shower caps over your helmet . . . and you ride regardless. I turn my rear red flasher on too, just in case.

Rick / OCRR

Or you do the obvious thing and hang out here. ;)

I rode in the rain today. It was a light rain, so the drops on my clothes didn't build up.

I went for a walk in the snow today.

Ditto - wife and I, also yesterday we took a pretty good hike in the beautiful snow.

It's been raining here since Friday afternoon. It finally stopped today around 4 PM so I went out for a 2 mile walk. Maybe I can ride tomorrow or Tuesday or next Spring. :(

:thumb:

But I'd rather ride in snow than cold rain. And the OP's high winds would tempt me to cycle as little as possible. (I don't use a car so I ordinarily ride every day of the year, no matter what the weather is doing.)

Brew Beer:)

Fenders, lights, foul weather gear, and ride anyway.

Although I draw the line at 35-40 MPH winds. As they say: Hills make you strong, headwinds make you mean. I don't need to be that mean.

Our weather in the Seattle area wasn't too bad the last few days, 50s and heavy fog. I got in 3 rides over the weekend for 100+ miles. Plus I got 2 bikes washed (necessary after the rides). I should have ridden a bike with fenders but rode the newer, "faster" ones.

Build a bike. It take longer to achieve N+1 so you appreciate it more.

:thumb:
It's a worn out cliche' but I like it anyway....
"There is no bad weather, only inappropriate clothing."

I will ride in almost any weather if I really want to get out, but the last few weeks I have been running more often instead. The weather doesn't get bad enough here to prevent me from running. Even if the snow is deep someone has been out with a 4wd and broken a track. There are times I would rather xc ski and I look at those as an opportunity.

The only exception might be a layer of ice, but the road crews salt it pretty quickly, so it is never 24 hours before it is fit to run.

I choose to run. I think running helps my cycling. The heart rate ramps up faster, takes less time. Workouts are shorter so you have the rest of the day to enjoy that runner's high and do other stuff like be with the family. Cycling takes too much time anyways.

I don't ride and listen to music but for running its different because I'm not really concentrating on traffic. In fact I can go to the local high school and run on the track with my IPod.

On the track I can even do intervals and be real precise as to distances and time between sprints. Its more difficult to do this when cycling.

As long as I don't have to run a lot and take up the constant jarring, I think running is pretty darn good. Its cheaper as far as gear. There's even some hill work that I can do. If it rains, running sucks. If it's foggy, its actually fun. If you get soaked, all you have to do is to let your running shoes dry out. The running shorts and shirt goes in the laundry.

I see a lot of people like running, I for one totally dispise running, had to do it while in the Air Force and again while on the SWAT team. I can honestly say running is the very last thing I would even consider. I guess that is because all the experiance I have ever had with running was mandatory and demanding, This has definately tempered my thoughts on running.

I found a piece of rope and told myself, self you are going to jump rope when it is too cold to ride... that has not worked out too well either as I am not motivated............ peace

Just wrap up, put the goretex on and ride.

Move?

While watching football.

No no no...drink it!

The answer is simple and frankly I'm surprised no one has come up with this one yet:

HTFU.

Realistically, though, I'm bouncing right on the edge of giving up for the season. Personally I take it day by day. If I can make myself ride that day, I do. If not, I don't beat myself up about it. I do have a bit of fear of the inertia that comes with inactivity though, so I try to make riding the default position in my mind and make myself justify not riding. I mentally put it in terms of trying to explain to someone else why I didn't ride, and when I have the conversation in my head, the other guy always derides me for not riding. In fact, the answer is usually the one I typed above: HTFU.

I've never been forced to run, but I can't make myself do it. I just can't. I hate it. I hate it when I start. I hate it while I'm doing it. I hate it when I finish. I've never gotten a runner's high. Cycling is different: Sometimes I hate it when I start, especially if it's cold out, but once I warm up, I always end up enjoying the ride.

I spend a couple of hours patching up about a year's worth of flatted tubes.

Doesn't HTFU mean harden the frick up? It doesn't seem like you'd have to be very hardened to ride a bike in the winter in TEXAS.

:roflmao2:

I gotta agree with you - some of us are brewers and some of us are drinkers. Brewing beer is much too important a job to leave it to me.

I too chose to run. I don't mind winter riding, but find the change of pace a good thing. It takes less time to get a good workout when running and with shorter daylight that is a plus. I don't find running helps my riding much though. I do find that my running fitness coupled with some dumbbell work transfers nicely to my rowing performance.

I consider the weather here pretty moderate and we have over 2.5 times as many days with a low below freezing than Fort Worth. It really doesn't get cold there. HTFU indeed.

I run too when I'm short on time or when the weather is not so ideal. Running helps my overall cycling performance tremendously. That's probably because I don't use the bicycle as a training tool. Just the thought of training on the bicycle bores me.

We're blessed with year-round riding weather in Seattle, as long as one is equipped to ride in the rain. We have a few real "storms" each winter (lots of rain plus high winds), but usually it's just a constant drizzle from November to March. Roads are always wet, but it isn't always falling from the sky.

If you stay out of the heavy winds, the "hardest" days to ride are cold/wet rain - lots of days in January / February are 37 to 39 degrees and raining. If it's colder, it's usually dry.

IF you are prepared to get the right clothing- then cold weather riding can be good. You may slow down a bit with all the weight of clothing and you may not feel like pushing too hard on a wett and slippery road- but Providing there is no Ice- then cold weather riding is better than any other sport.

BUT if you just can't do that- Join a Gym. Treat it like a bike ride and go down at the weekend for a couple of hours Cardio- Vascular- get a coffeee and PIE in somewhere and then do a bit more training in the weights room. Then a couple of sessions in the week and you may be lucky enough to get a spinning session aswell.

Fatefull thing to do is decide it is too cold- or too wet- or I just don't feel like riding----And stop exercise till the spring. Do a full winters riding or Gym work and you will start the spring in peak fiteness.

Unfortunately you go downhill from there as it will be too hot- too humid- or you just don't feel like riding because the grass needs cutting.

I do the gym thing 3 days a week even in the summer, We have a gym at work with everything that the local Y has and we even have the good looking nurses that work at the hospital. Some of these nurses can be quite wild. I just posted this to se what kind of replies I would get. I do believe after tomorrow the weather is supposed to improve and should be in the 50's by week end. I will be riding this week end. Got to get ready Wife is taking me out for my birthday today, Yeah I am an official member of the 50 + group as of today.