masi61

All year I have struggled to get up to that sense of ease that you experience completing 2500 miles and working hard at the gym. I wish I could bottle up the nitro that I have felt the last few 50+ mile group rides I've been on. Riding is really easy when you get good. Every time I become unfit through falling backward I curse and complain inwardly and outwardly that I am going to be consistent year round. At age 56 I have learned a few tricks that help me stay on my game longer...

Feel free to corroborate...sorry I can't elaborate more now due to being at work.

Milton Keynes

I just hope I don't do this year what I did last year... only it was in October. The weather got really cold, and I got off my bike. I also got off my diet and started eating whatever I wanted, and with the holidays it was hard to say no to sweet treats. Ended putting on 10 pounds last winter. Luckily I've lost that and then some, but I don't want to have to keep working it off every spring.

I do have a trainer which I can set my bike up on during cold weather, and I will make the commitment to do that this year. I don't think I did much last winter.

cyccommute 

Don't stop...ever! Most people think there is a bicycle "season". I haven't experienced a "season" since 1977. I ride all year long in every possible weather condition. I haven't missed riding at least once a month since 1977...and that includes getting hit by a car and spending 6 weeks healing (the crash happened mid-month, thankfully), experiencing a stress fraction of my tibia that I had broken about 25 years before and having to undergo surgery to remove hardware, as well as more crashes than I care to count. I even got out on New Years Eve with the broken ankle so that I could keep the record alive.

Now I don't ride everyday but I ride often. Commuting to work by bicycle is what keeps me riding all year around but it does keep me riding. I understand that it takes a lot of effort and commitment to ride in cold, snow and ice but it is worth it. I always have that "August" performance. It just takes work and not a small amount of stupidity.

Oh, and you can't get me on a trainer for love nor money. I'd rather risk crashing then ride one of those boring things!

TrojanHorse

It's not so much crashing, it's that the mental acuity of drivers in my area drops 40 points when daylight savings ends... not sure why.

And zwift is pretty awesome when it's dark out. I don't know what it is but chasing somebody's fake bike around a fake countryside makes me work harder than riding solo dodging homeless people.

cyccommute 

I don't think their mental acuity drops when it starts to get dark (much sooner than the end of Daylight Savings time). It's pretty low to begin with and stays steady throughout the year. But I depend on that during the winter. I put powerful lights on my bike and my helmet, even in urban settings. Drivers don't know what that bright light coming towards them is so that pay more attention. I don't know if they think it's aliens coming to probe them or a giant truck or a train that has jumped the tracks, all I know is that they will often stop at signs and stay there until I've passed.

And none of the front facing lights is a blinky. Nothing screams "bike" like a blinking front light. I don't want them to know what is coming at them. I want to trigger that part of their brain that is still related to being eaten by a saber tooth tiger.

masi61

Rock71

I definitely need to adopt your mindset. I get very bored with the trainer. I have made it my number one priority to keep riding/training through the winter. Even if that means a couple of weekdays on the trainer and then riding on Saturday and Sunday. Like Milton Keynes I to have a hard time around the holidays not putting on the extra weight.

talphie

Milton Keynes

I listen to old radio programs while on the trainer. One program with the commercials removed is 45 minutes long, which is what my usual 10 mile morning rides are. A while back when I was getting bored with my morning rides I rigged up an amplified speaker attached to my handlebars and connected to my phone to listen to those programs, but I haven't used it lately. I'll definitely be listening to them on the trainer since sitting there spinning for 45 minutes or so is mind numbing otherwise.

jpescatore

Winter of 2016/2017 I bought a "smart" trainer and paid for a Zwift subscription and loved it for when too cold, icy, wet or dark out to bike. I am now in "August condition" in March. My times up my local hill are actually slower in August!

I've kind of reversed the old way I did things - I'm doing intensity over the winter and base mileage later in the "season." Lots of 60-90 minute training sessions, rides, races on Zwift, then following by long outdoor rides when weather changes.

Rock71

I tried the stationary bike last week on a couple of rain days and I hated it. I kept wanting to move my seat forward. Maybe if I could find one with an adjustable seat both ways. The one thing I did like about the trainer is if you stopped peddling for more than 60 seconds it would flash across the screen "keep peddling, keep peddling" ..

cyclist2000

Just try to keep it up, What I do when the weather gets colder is to ride my hybrid, it is fitted with knobbier and platform pedals. That way the bike will handle better if I hit slick spots and I can wear warm winter boots. If it is really cold, I bing watch tv or read a book while riding the trainer.