Who cycles inside in the winter?
 

Who uses cycling rollers in the winter. Who uses a cycling trainer in the winter? What model do you own and why do you use it? how fast do your tires wear out on it?

If you're worried about tire wear, just use one of the michelin trainer tires for the trainer.

I cycle outside in the winter as much as possible.

When that is not possible, or when I just get tired of putting on 7 layers of clothing and enduring the pain of that first half hour in cold, I ride a trainer.

My trainer is a Nashbar Fluid trainer. I like it ... it's solid and quiet. As for tire wear ... my tires don't wear on it. I've been using the same bicycle and same tires for three winters so far, and so far my tires are just fine. I use Conti 1000 Ultra Sports for all my cycling.

Kurt Kinetic. Unlike others, I see trainer time as a way to work on certain facets of biking. High cadence. Standing pedaling. I use a velo press book that has nice variations...written just for the trainer.

I'm looking at rollers this year, to work on smooth pedaling and bike handling techniques. And to add variety.

I do ride until about the 2nd week of January if there is no snow. But then the cold gets too severe here in WI.

I have a separate set of wheels for indoor riding. Got some Reynolds Alta Comps for $160 and put on some Conti hometrainer tires.

http://www.dubbayoo.net/files/pics/c...oor-wheels.jpg

I ride all year long outside when weather permits. My cut off temp is 55 degrees and sunny. But when it does get cold and nasty outside (and it does here in N. Texas), I try to ride at least an hour a day, 5 days week on my Cycle-Ops fluid trainer when there's no way I can ride outside... I don't like it much though.

Say Dubbayoo, I thought those trainer specific tires were just for the back wheel (to reduce wear on the roller)?

sure...but what if you're riding rollers?

worrying about wearing tires out on rollers?

i thought i read it all on bf. i was wrong.

I work in a lab on the computrainer twice a week and then on the Kinetic at home...the kinetic is pretty good...nice resistance curve and i haven't had any problems with leakage nor have i read of any problems.

Those two sentences seem unlikely to be paired together. 55 and sunny is gorgeous weather.

unless you're a prutser.

I see you're in my neck of the woods...you're right...55 and sunny would be tropical for at least 3 months of the year:) What team are you with?

why not, they are cheap and gives you a reason to buy a backup set of wheels?

I know ... I was puzzled by that statement too. 55 and sunny is good weather even in the middle of summer here.

I can sort of understand if someone wanted to make the cut-off point the freezing mark (0°C), but 13°C??

>>Who cycles inside in the winter?<<

Nobody. Stationary trainer use is not 'cycling'. It's hamster wheel-ing.

http://www.petwebsite.com/uploadpics/ham000006.jpg

I ride inside AND outside year round. Where I live its either very hilly (8% and up) or pancake flat beach trails which are usually crowded. I do most all my specific training indoors - intervals, sprints. I only go outside to do hills or a group ride. Even doing an outdoor recovery spin means putting the bike in the car and driving unless I want to finish with a 3 mile 6-10% climb, which sort of defeats the purpose of a recovery ride...makes more sense to just knock out an hour on the rollers and call it a day.

I have the Nashbar reduced radius rollers. They're very high quality, and they have completely sealed bearings. There's no end cap or anything to fall off. Aluminum rollers are very durable. I have really liked them so far.

I pretty much wore out my tires this year, so I'm just going to ride them all winter and get new ones in the spring. They do wear the tires out, but you can ride them on the rollers no matter how bald they are. If you've worn entirely through the tire, then you might have problems, but other than that it takes a rock or some kind of irregularity to give you a flat. Just use old tires on the rollers, and invest in some new ones in the spring for outdoor riding.

Same here. I don't see rollers as a substitute for riding outside. That's partly because I can ride outside year-round here, but mainly because I start to go catatonic after a half-hour or so of riding indoors.

I usually do very short rides inside in the winter. I tend to get dizzy when I do centuries in January. 100,000 laps around the playroom will do that.

Kurt Kinetic Trianer virtually everyday all winter long - 7-10 hours per week (usually with Spinervals). Football games are also good for a weekly 2-3 hour endurance ride. I live in northern WI. My wife thinks I am insane.

I ride all winter too, except for when the snow is over 1ft deep, or there is a lot of ice on the road (was born in the south, and still can't handle ice AT ALL). Most of my outdoor riding between November and February, however, is restritcted to commuting to and from work, and doing some mountain or slow road riding on the weekends. I prefer to do most of my 3-4 hour training rides during the regular cycling season such that I can be showered and clean at work at 9 AM, and just don't like riding in the dark, with traffic, and when the temperature is below freezing at the same time. Riding when it is below 25 degrees F. really tears up my throat too. I'm a wuss. I can live with that.

During the winter, most of my aerobic conditionining comes from spin classes at my gym. I go to two classes every M-W-F morning from 5:30-7:30 AM. Spin classes are a lot different than outdoor road riding, but it is a nice change from lone training rides (I like the loud music and group/community feel), works the same big muscle groups, and is like doing non-stop and very intense intervals. I like to throw in a lot of cross training during the winter too, doing things like weights, other aerobic classes that are higher impact than spinning/cycling, lots of core/abdominal work, etc. I also usually go out on a 2-4 hour slow road or mountain bike ride every weekend with non-roadie types as well (just for fun, not speed or training).

Doing different things during the winter not only keeps me in shape, but helps to keep me from burning out on road biking, and I have found helps to prevent injury during the traditional cycling season as well. I like to ride so much, that not riding all winter is out of the question, but I hate trainers and rollers, and like changing things around too.

Beer and nachos during the ride or after?

I do.

No rollers or trainer.

Just have a really big living room ;)

That would be so awesome, to have an indoor track. Oh well, for now I have to settle on the trainer in the garage. I'm usually on it for one hour a week. Strictly low/medium cadence FPT work. We can ride pretty much year round up in northern new mexico. There was a lot of snow on the ground last year from Dec-Mar, but the asphalt dries out quickly and is fine to ride on. Cutoff here is probably 40 degrees, maybe 35 if it's nice and sunny with little wind.