What do you do during winter?

sparknote_s

How do you train during the winter, when it's snowing? I'm in Wisconsin, so it's pretty hard to bike during the winter.

Yippie Kye Ay

Whereabouts in Wisconsin?

I am planning on buying a Lemond Revmaster spin bike for the winter months down here in Idaho.

Virenque

Last winter if I couldnt go out because temperatures or snow I was running and on saturdays we had team trainings in coastal region! Winter is time for fitness too, so thats what you can do 2 or 3 times a week! Ski-running is very good training for cycling too!

racer dave

Try some cross-country skiing during the winter- it's great aerobic training and it's great cross training for cycling. If you don't have the equipment then try to find a ski shop that will rent some stuff out to you (that's what I'm doing), and try to hook up with some people. A lot of pros do it- I even think I once heard that Simoni does it competitively during the winter.

Of course there's also the indoor trainer, but that can get terribly boring. However, I know a few training studios in Montreal where you can go use an indoor trainer next to with other cyclists all in one room to keep a good atmosphere going. Everyone can do their own workout or you can also do classes with a coach or trainer. See if you can find something like that, maybe ask some clubs in the area.

-Dave

whoawhoa

Ton's of base miles. The weathers not horrible, but it gets dark early. During the week i night mtb ride and do the local training crit. That's only for an hour or so so i also ride the trainer. Then lots of four or five hour rides on the weekend.

triathlete2004

I agree with Virenque, running is goos for fitness- I do around 50 miles a week in winter, and swimming is also excellent.

KeSs

From November - January i will be just riding for distance, nothing major. Maybe 3 times a week. My main focus is going to be the gym, i plan on building up my abs, legs, and back muscles. Hopefully by Febuary i will have my muscles built to where i want them to be and i can start the riguous training plan for next spring....


It snows around here, so if i feel like being outside i am just going to do some snow mtb riding. If not then i will just spin and work on my cadence

dice2833

Don't focus your winter around the gym soley! You must do spinning also! The spinning is where your body will be able to incorporate the training you have done in the gym, and the riding muscles that you use!

You must always remember to train that awesome Aerobic Engine!

S. Thomas

Many, many YMCA's across the nation have Spin classes with stationary bikes and instructors, it's only 45-60 minutes, but it's enough to stay in shape. Besides that, sit-ups and riding trainers with Spinervals (www.spinervals.com) works pretty well too. That's what I do when it's below 30 or raining.

That said, I live in Texas, land of the sun. There is no real winter here, heh heh. So, I'm usually out riding year-round with my team.

origanic

I keep up with spinning on an indoor trainer a few times a week over the winter. This allows me to throw my bike onto a magnetic roller and spin on my bike so i can keep my form.

I am also starting up jogging while the winter is here to get ready for cycling season come Aprilish

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Bluey_27

well its getting into winter here and its dark by 5:30. I get out for 23min of tempo on a big hill, then desend (takes 10-15min) and ride back home (all up 1 hour). Then i either put the bike on the wind trainer and do 30mins untill dinner or do 1 - 1 1/2 hours on the wind trainer after dinner...or both. Im getting bored...I only have my Music and my Brick wall....oh yeh, and that great sound that the wind trainers make when you really get into it after all thats the sound of wind!

spacefuzz

I also live in wisconsin, I either use the trainer, go to a spinning class, or just do homework. usually just ends up being homework.

Wolfzazi

My winter pretty much consisted of indoor spinning and lots of it, with some emphasis also on working my core and my stairclimbing fitness. Spinning was done alone but with a new movie always on the screen (one of the peaks of working at a video store) it helped to keep me spinning on a daily basis. I now feel the benefits of having a stronger core from my ab workouts during those months, so i'm happy with that. Stairclimbing in a building's stairwell builds my quads up well and climbing skills, but is VERY intense if doing intervals on them. It's also a good way to mix up my competitiveness, i'm planning to travel to New York for the 2007 event of the State Empire Climb in which the first place for male and female is $2000, that is once i'm able to lower my time from a 12:50 to a sub 10:00 minutes for 150 stories. Theres also an interesting climb at the CN Tower done twice a year if any of you are interested. It's a great cross training work out and surprisingly not stressful on the legs, at least for most.

ouo

I go to school in Toronto, which obviously has crappy, cold winters.
So I workout on the stationary bikes... and wish I lived in a place where the year round tempurature ranges between 15*c to 30*c.

Someday, I will, because I hate cold weather.