Winter Training
Merckx famously professed that after a night of sinning, the body must be cleansed. He obviously meant this figuratively, not literally, because those mud guards on his bike aren’t going to take a big bite out of whatever that lorry has to offer him by way of a Flandrian facial.
Winter is a tough time for those of us pawing about in search of our climbing weight. With the shortening of days, the nesting instinct awakens. Darkness falls in late afternoon and when we wake, we are greeted by the same darkness that wrapped us all through the evening. Nature urges us to combat the darkness with food and drink; summer’s dinner salads are replaced by slow-cooked meat and potatoes served with a side of pasta and bacon and washed down with a few bottles of red.
Weight defies the conservation of mass; it is more easily gained than lost. Fitness occupies the opposite realm; it is more easily lost than gained. Riders like Kelly, Merckx, and De Vlaeminck were famous for their discipline throughout winter; training long and hard to lay the groundwork for their Spring and Summer campaigns. With a sea of months between us and next season’s goals, there is little urgency to train properly. But keeping our weight down and putting in the long base kilometers will reward us throughout the season. Besides, it hardens the character to train in the cold, wet winds that characterize the winter months. The training we do in summer feels a luxury by comparison.
I cherish the winter months when my training is peaceful and free of pressure. I look forward to the sun warming my muscles, but for now I am content to stock up on fresh Flandrian Best, prepare the bike for the winter roads, and submit to the solitude of the cold training hours that lie before me.
@RedRanger
Where is “here”?
@Marcus
I would love a new LeMan one but still have a perfectly functioning Kurt Kinetic Pro stationary trainer (good for really killing it) and a set of 2.25 inch Kreitler Rollers. I almost always ride the rollers over the stationary trainer and get a great workout. The 2.25 inch are NOT hard to ride resistence-wise and would suggest anyone to get that size if you are buying some new ones.
@revchuck
Old cycling youtube videos or World Cycling Production videos are all that I watch while on the trainer/roller. Soooo cool seeing some of these 1960’s/70’s Giro’s or Spring Classics, esp if they are in Italian or French.
Forgive me father for I am about to sin…..can you request forgiveness before the act? I am afraid I will follow Big Migs winter regime…eat…drink…and be merry and worry about spring when spring comes. I will however still be riding but I lack the discipline….no fuck that…I simply do not want to deprive myself of all that the festive season has to offer…and…over indulge I shall!
@Cyclops Tucson
@Gianni Im originally from NYC and I spent 3 years in the twin cities. I can deal with some cold.
@Optimiste
The Red Pony is a good girl. She has a knack for bearing my sorry ass to Painsylvania and back that other bikes don’t have.
So noted, though you are quite correct with regard to environmental conditions. To my mind, the Rules are not license to get all haphazard about gear.
@Optimiste
Aah, the voices. So very true. They also speak of doubt.
You can’t really keep that effort up, not for another fifteen minutes. Ease off, let the cadence drop, just snick it onto a bigger cog.
I was all set for the idea of heaven @deakus had set before us until I decided to try for a space on the RVV or LBL sportives, now it looks like the holiday period will be all velodrome and turbo sessions if the weather is beyond a stern application of Rule #9.
I can’t wait!
@frank Perhaps the guidance should be that tasteful fenders when deployed for Rule #9 riding are acceptable. The flagrant no-no would be one of those awful seat post mounted plastic tail things. Properly fitted fenders can give a bicycle an air of utilitarian functionality and don’t necessarily ruin the visual line of the machine.
@dissolved
You’re signed for these??? Oh MAN! How awesome!!! If full course you will indeed be needing to kill yourself this winter! So jealous!!!
@Deakus
No-one can knock you for being honest! Well, they probably will.
@Buck Rogers
Buck the registrations open on November 1st (RVV) and 15th (LBL). I figure if I don’t get in one I’ll get into the other. If I don’t get into those then I’ll have to go for the P-R option. The most I’ve done in a day is 230km which was mainly flat so the training is going to be immense.
I was already training for a 4 day ride in June next year but RVV/LBL will be more pain than 4 days condensed into one I am absolutely certain. Excited already
@dissolved Just awesome! Bonne chance on the registrations!!!
I suppose one of the nice things about living in the PNW is that it very rarely gets so cold that you can’t get out and ride. Once in awhile we’ll get freezing rain or snow for a couple days, but that’s it.
It’s not fantastic to ride in the rain at 2-3C, but at least it’s not 2M of snow all winter like the mid west, rockies and NE. When it gets intolerable, I can always take a 3hr drive to Bend and get some sun (even if it’s cold, the sun reinvigorates the soul).
Good post. I got a couple of free Flandrian Facials at the weekend, two days of wind, branches and broken glass. No big frosts here in the southern UK yet, so at least there is no road salt to make the cuts sting. I have a turdbo but its just not the same as exfoliating your every orifice with whatever the autumn has left out on the road. Then there are the squirrel brains and other roadkill. Mmmm.
Oh and Eddy is pushing that truck, BTW
@xyxax
This. Even more than souplesse, riding rollers has given me enormously improved balance/fine motor control. To hone this, last winter I worked on riding no handed on the rollers for about 5 minutes at the end of every indoor session. Took me a few days to get it down but definitely a useful skill. A friend once told me a teammate climbed all 1000m of Diablo hands free, only touching the bars lightly to shift. I’d like to give that a shot at some point.
My comfort range for outdoor activity has definately changed over the years. I used to X-country ski, speed skate, ice climb, as well as winter biking, but those were all in my younger years. While I’m not ready to pack up the mobile home and head to Florida to yell at kids to get off my lawn, I find that I no longer want to hibernate for the summer in an air conditioned basement. I’ll deal with 35°+ and 70% humidity thank you and leave the 5° days for someone else.
Besides the kegerator is only 3 steps from the rollers, ready for a post workout recovery beverage. I need to get a barleywine kegged.
@Mike_P
@Deakus I do not condemn your premeditated repentance, I can only lament your inexorable fate. There is no forgiveness for the winter-bound Velominatus, only a delayed sentence. No matter your commitment to ride through the cold, dark winter; justice will be served afresh by The Man with the Hammer come springtime.
Yet, your chosen path may serve as a cautionary tale for others. Thanks!
Rollers for the really bad days. And a dose of Rule #5 and Flandrian best for the rest. Just bought another bike so hopefully that will motivate me.
I think I owned a trainer for about a week in the early 80’s. I was sweating up a puddle on the floor after about 45 minutes of going nowhere. I looked out the window here on Maui and thought of the guy in his basement in MN sweating up a puddle too and him looking at me and thinking about what a pussy I was. Trainer retired that moment, I can’t even use one to warm up before a TT.
@frank
Straight up brilliant! The crashing dog at the hurdles came right over for a beer hand-up and a bit of bacon before continuing.
@RedRanger
I was thinking of the wet and gray of Seattle, that would be a transition from Tucson.
@scaler911 We used to drive hours from Corvallis to get to Bend and Smith Rocks. The sun there kept us from committing suicide by 3.2 beer poisoning.
Indoor vs Outdoor….
Aside from rollers smoothing your stroke.. is there really a benefit that can be had on a trainer that can’t be had on the road? I live in a rural town, so 5min warm up and I have 100’s of kms of uninterupted roads. Flat, rollers, steep hills, a mountain, you name it. Basically I can go out and do my 2x20min TTI intervals, or whatever you like without interruption. I’ve been giving it a lot of thought but I can’t see how doing those on a trainer is going to be any different from a physicological responce point of view than on the road. Part of me wants to get one, but I think it’s just because I like buying gadgets, not because it’s a fine addition to my training. My coach was non-commital about it. He suggested that I should ride on the road or trainer, where ever I felt.
Frank, good one!
” prepare the bike for the winter roads, and submit to the solitude of the cold training hours that lie before me. ”
I don’t know why but winter training always seemed to be a solitary endeavor, both indoors and out. Riding the rollers and setting off in “exciting” weather – both needing that kick start that then leads to the reward of I did it and few others are.
Speaking of rollers I think that true roller racing should be brought back. I was part of a dozen riders who raced once a week in Cambridge Massachusetts at the BiEx. It was the best winter workout and also taught speed, snap, spin and confidence that you could go that little extra at the end.
This was real roller riding not what I think they are doing in NYC which is a stationary bike on rollers. Maybe it is still practiced in Oz (rollers set up on the bar in the pub) and I know it used to be popular in Scotland.
If anyone thinking of winter work indoors then @Marcus has nailed it.
@Marcus
@Gianni
I was mentored by the guy who was in the guidebook for the first nude co-ed ascent of Monkey Face.
4 day weekend. .. I guess I requested this Friday and Saturday off which leaves me with my usual Sunday and Monday off…. so im going to pull off 300 miles in 4 days and 1,000 miles in November. This isn’t something I expect people to understand amd you’ll ask “why?” “what for?” And ill respond with “this is who I am. This is what I do. Rule #V. Obay the rules” so if you’re willing to join me in my long journey this month let me know.
@gaswepass
It’s amazing how hard some people are on their gear. Have you managed to finish a race on your main bike yet?
@Gianni
Dave always like to. And in the small ring no less.
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/mv-yXM8/breaking_away_chasing_a_truck/
@Bumbleberger
Excuse me, are we talking about the SAME Rules?
@dissolved
@Deakus
Given the above, and assuming @dissolved is referring to the same @deakus, may I suggest you reconsider? Those are serious rides and you will be utterly fucked if you take the winter off and (worse) let yourself become a fat fuck.
@frank my post was expressing a desire (and previously defined plan) to follow @deakus ‘ eat drink and be merry idea, it’s all out the window now that I’ve mentally committed to one of the Spring Classics.
As it is I climb well for my weight so this is going to be a serious winter.
@frank
thats actually first time in 2 seasons had to jump on pit bike- and it wasn’t that per se that was necessarily the issue at the time. mechanic found the damage that evening. rode 3.5 laps of race like that. Ruckus composites gonna take a look, see what happens.
oh, and yeah- i am the gear destroyer. at least twice per season the shop mechanics provide a rousing chorus of “I’ve never seen that before” when they check out the evidence of my destruciton
@scaler911
Word word word.
@Lukas Wrong.
@mauibike
Anyone living on Maui is not a member of the power base for this discussion.
@Lanterne Rouge
Flanders Facials, Flemish Tanlines, I love them all.
I love that he’s sitting on the tops. It could well be that they’re going up a false flat. Anquetil would go on motorpaced rides where the car went 50kph uphill, downhill, anywhere. His objective: don’t get dropped.
This reminds me I need to build the old #1 as a “Winter” bike. Salsa Campeon with 32h H-Plus Son TB-14s, mix of Shimano 105 and Ultegra. Fun bike!
@frank
Whilst there is no case to answer for fenders in any circumstances, is fitting a rack to your #1 (where #2 is as mountain bike and #3 is a BMX) in anyway acceptable if it is done to allow commuting to double up as training? Or does that sort of thing fall under the Masturbation Principle?
@Chris
If fenders are unacceptable (which I don’t believe they are) then a rack is way out of line. Of course, instead of a rack, you could stuff all your gear in your rear pockets if there’s enough room after putting everything that might go in an EPMS in them. (Emoticon here btw)
@wiscot I’m not quite so fat that I can fit a laptop and a change of clothes into my jersey pockets!
The difference between a rack and fenders is that the rack is necessary to carry the things I need for work whilst fenders a merely to lessen the enjoyment of Rule #9 days.
@Deakus
Bread pudding with heavy cream sauce!
@wiscot wiscot, you didn’t happen to be riding on Hwy. 45 in the Campbellsport/Kewaskum area this past weekend, did you? On my way to a scout event with the young lad, and I saw a rider on an all-black steed…
@Marcus
That’s my winter MO, to a T.
@Chris
Hey Chris, this was my very predicament. Former #1 had a rack and fenders. It is still like that as my #2 commuter. Turn up on it for a ride or two when it is chucking down, the looks and jeers are harrowing, so you better ride good if you consider doing so! Super boring and practical.
Lets get this straight as a fucking straight thing, Masturbation Principle or not, it looks shit.
1)Would your bike comply with the rules? Would it look fantastic? No.
2)Would it be a practical tool to ensure you ride through shit conditions, without a heavy laptop on your back? Yes.
1>2 if you want #1 to follow the rules. Otherwise you are just turning it into a commuter…
@The Oracle
Yes sir. That was me. West Bend – Kohlsville – out west of 41 – Kewaskum – New fane – Campbellsport – Waucousta – Dundee – loop north and south to Beechwood – New Fane – Kewaskum – West Bend. 135 kms. It’s a great loop with some serious rollers in there – especially the bit west by Hwy 41. The roads are, overall, really good though.
Failed to apply Rule #5 and do the extra 25 kms to get the 160 in. Too windy, too late in the year and I was too buggered to do the extra hour. (Hangs head in shame).
You’re up near Fond du Lac now, right? A flatlander!
@gaswepass
some people have finesse and some don’t; it can be learned to an extent, but some of it is inate.
on the pavé of roubaix there is one section with a huge hole and we all ride it several times and you have to unweight the bike just right not to fuck your wheels.
Only one person in the group fucked a wheel; Johan’s kid. And he was riding my golden tickets. And FMB.
@Beers All good points. But let’s get this straight, the rack is going to be on the bike for commuting only. It will come off at the weekend or for other rides during the week (except roller sessions) regardless of whether thy’re group rides or solo affairs.
And there will be no fenders.
@The Oracle
It merits consideration as part of the training plan.
@Chris
It falls under the “are the lobotomy scars obvious?” principle.
Fucking fuckity fuck.
@Chris
Two words: backpack, idiot.
@frank This is meant in the nicest possible sense but, Fuck Off with your backpack.
For one, my back is fucked enough as it is without lugging my fat arsed laptop around on top of it. It’s bad enough trying to reach my feet to put my socks on some mornings without the extra grief that would cause.
And have you not ever noticed how stupid people look on road bikes with a backpack? The hipster twats even invented courier bags to avoid looking like that much of a cunt.
Fucking fuckity fuck, indeed.
@wiscot
@wiscot: Wow, that’s a great ride. And as for The Oracle being a flatlander – ha! At least he has the Niagara Escarpment on the east side of town and can head to the Kettle Morraine pretty quickly. Everyone knows flatlanders are living in Appleton!
@The Oracle: Good on you on doing Scouting with your son. Did that with my two sons, and I’m still involved even though the youngest is now 27. If you look closely you’ll find that it actually teaches some of the Rules, albeit with different language:) It’s a program that makes a big difference — and one we really need.