If you live in Florida like me, you ride the same except on the very coldest of days. ;p

Slower, less motivated and starting to gain weight.

Nope. I am equally slow all our fseasons.

Slower. My bike doesn't even seem to be moving.

Well this is my second winter riding outside and yes my avg speed does drop by at least 1 mph on my standard rides. I know I do feel all constricted in my winter garbs. I have been wearing several light but form-fitting layers of merino wool up top and my speeds seem to be up a tad over when I wear my loose-fitting bulky foxwear jacket.

I don't notice any difference, but then again I'm wearing shorts and T-shirt and keep my bike inside.

Between the heavy clothing and extra rain gear, along with all the bad food consumed during the holidays, I absolutely suck at least for the first half of the winter. I don't think anything is better than riding completely unencumbered during the summer, especially after you've settled into your seasonal groove.

Baseballs hit during warm weather and at higher altitude go farther than baseballs hit at sea level and cold temps. This is much in line with a cyclist moving forward in variable densities of air. Increased air resistance in winter is HUGE and certainly affects overall speed. So declines in performance may not necessarily be attributed to less fitness, just physics.

As mentioned all the crud you have to take along + getting your muscles to warm up makes winter cycling all that much tougher. Winter bites. :(

It was 70 here today but I was slow. How do you explain THAT?

you must be too fat for this sport

what about cold muscles not working as well?

a record pace was set in 90 degree weather in a 50 mile race here in Wisconsin.

There's some debate (especially over in the Winter Cycling forum) if it is ...
-- the tire pressure
-- cold bicycle lubrication
-- the extra layers of clothing constricting movement
-- air density
-- road conditions


It would be interesting to see a segment on this topic on Mythbusters ... is it really air density or are there other factors at work?

They'd also have to include the physiological factors of working in cold temps. When I worked in the Arctic I can tell you from a qualitative perspective that everything goes much slower. The near zero humidity and breathing become an issue. -30-60 stinks everyday is a complete drag. Literally.

I know ... I lived in northern Alberta for 11 years. -30 to -60 for weeks on end in the winter was not unusual.

Well I have an unusual test case for you. I normally live in the N. Hemisphere, but in October I moved temporarily to Canberra and so my "winter" is in fact the austral summer. And still I'm slower than I was last summer in the US. I attribute it to the change in my riding regimen. In the boreal summer in the US, I was doing tons of group rides and putting down the hammer several times a week. Here in Canberra, most of my rides are solo and I just don't push as hard. So I'm getting in tons of base miles and keeping in pretty good shape, but I'm temporarily losing some of my top end.

I figure this is actually just about right. When I return to the US, I'll start doing faster rides and the speed will come back, with some endurance as a bonus for all the base miles down here. And if I tried to keep my speed up all year round, I think I'd be in danger of overtraining.

That said - I remember the kids up in Resolute riding their beater bikes on those days. No one is going too fast. :)

I moved from Canada to Australia (Victoria) in June 2009.

I'm still struggling with the seasons. Come November here, when I should be ramping up my distances, I feel like hibernating. Come June, when I could ease up on my distances here, I feel like I should be out riding every day. I figured I'd be used to this by now.

Come on. Weeks at at time? Did you live in Ft Vermillion or something? Even Edmonton has never seen -60, let alone for "weeks at a time". In my career, I have worked all over the Arctic including Alert, Resolute and Polaris and have never seen more than a couple of days at that temperature.

I lived quite a bit further north than Edmonton ... and I didn't say I experienced -60 for weeks at a time, did I?

Fort Chip? Coldest ever recorded is -51. Do I still need to go north to find this elusive -60? Like speeds and distances on BF, people like to exaggerate weather stories.

Please say hello to Uncle Ken for me. He lives in Oxley.

I am much much faster in winter. The summers are too humid here in Kyoto to ride hard.

It doesn't get any easier, you just go slower...

On those rare winter days when the temp gets up to 60F and I'm in shorts and long sleeve shirt, my average speed goes right back up to my summertime average.

Fahrenheit readings and record lows - Resolute Bay Airport. It's cold up there.

Definitley slower foir me! :( I think its because I am always trying not to get sick so I don't always ride where I am breathing too heavy witch for me lead to soar throat.:cry:
Summer is always better no matter how hot it gets.......:rolleyes:

Been there many, many times. It can get cold. It isn't in Alberta though.

Give it a break, Matchka's a right on solid person and says it like it is. You're nit-picking sounds a bit foolish.

Fact often sounds more foolish than fiction. I could care less what she claims and frankly, don't share your opinion. To each his own.

Try this http://www.kreuzotter.de/english/espeed.htm

Yeah, he got pretty angry at me for debunking his lies about shaving hair on legs. He shaves his legs.

In this particular situation, the only thing that sounds foolish is a something or someone called jdon. Cheers.

I posted data which illustrates how cold it can get at various points in Canada - specifically at that latitude near the North Pole. With windchill effects temperatures can certainly dip into lower numbers at lower latitudes in Canada. Either or, the conversation is about the physics and physiology related to perceived speed/fitness in colder temps.

On a physiological note - the kids up there certainly aren't thwarted by the cold as much as I was. They were riding beater bikes all over town ....many without brakes.