Base miles/turbo/winter/ice etc

Will.C

So. training was going very well up untill the freezing cold weather hit. 4 - 5 hour club run on a saturday, 4 hours training on sunday in the surrey hills, turbo 3 - 4 times a week and gym work. Now the cold weather is here i'm down to just turbo training and gym work. The club runs are cancelled if it's below freezing and I tried going out a couple of weekends back after a very slight frost and came off with in 15 minutes turning a corner. Now i'm a little dubious about stepping foot/wheel outside when theres ice as I can't afford to bust my bike or myself.

Now according to everyone and their mum, winter should be used for base miles, getting high mileage, lots of time and medium intensity, non?
My question is how does one do this on a trainer without your brain turning to mush, plus nothing quite adds up to training out on the open road, it's just not the same in the kitchen on a trainer.

I'm doing lots of sufferfest sesh's and various workouts from that turbotraining website but nothing ever over an hour and a half so I'm only really getting 5 or so hours at most in a week on the bike. Do I just carry on untill the sub zero temps ease up? Or can I do more?

Thanks for your help.

Will

glasgowbhoy

I'm in the same boat and doing about the same amount of indoor training.
At this stage, from my limited cycling experience, I think that a solid high intensity hour on the turbo using the sufferfest is the equivalent of a couple of hours at a steady pace on undulating terrain out on the roads. The high intensity stuff is keeping me ticking over at the moment and I'm sure in a few weeks if we get a break from the ice and snow a 3 hour weekend ride won't be much harder than it was before the bad weather.
If I was writing this in March it may be different though.......

jibberjim

Will.C wrote:

Now according to everyone and their mum, winter should be used for base miles, getting high mileage, lots of time and medium intensity, non?

No, that is a stupid way to spend winter, it's too cold to ride easy, it's too icy to ride a long time in interesting locations. Short intense sessions are much more logical way to spend winter.

vorsprung

The icey weather won't last the entire winter

Until then do some turbo work but you don't have to do base mileage on the turbo. It is perfectly ok to do intervals of some sort

sheffsimon

jibberjim wrote:

Will.C wrote:

Now according to everyone and their mum, winter should be used for base miles, getting high mileage, lots of time and medium intensity, non?

No, that is a stupid way to spend winter, it's too cold to ride easy, it's too icy to ride a long time in interesting locations. Short intense sessions are much more logical way to spend winter.

+1

jgsi

jibberjim wrote:

Will.C wrote:

Now according to everyone and their mum, winter should be used for base miles, getting high mileage, lots of time and medium intensity, non?

No, that is a stupid way to spend winter, it's too cold to ride easy, it's too icy to ride a long time in interesting locations. Short intense sessions are much more logical way to spend winter.

Totally with you.
I fear people's sanity if they think that riding in the cold making riding totally uncomfortable makes for good sense.
My only niggle is that I dont have an indoor trainer but have a treadmill that was bought for shared use. It is a good one, but I hate the nastiness of running with a vengeance.
My '10' on Sunday brought it home that riding with attitude in temps that are here to stay probably till Feb or later are NOT good for the body, well not mine at any rate..... taking in lumps of damp dank cold air brought on a coughing session that lasted until that evening.
Realistically, it will take a dry sunny snap in the weather to tempt me out... you can get those sort of days... but falling on a Sunday?
I do have acces to a gym but it is a distance to me.. and petrol .. as an aside £1.24 this afternoon...... grief...

inseine

I'm a great believer in the turbo but come the come the weekend I'm out on the bike. With modern clothing I don't see the problem it's not like we're in Sweden! I can count the Sundays I miss a year on the thumbs of one hand, though -13 last year was a bit rough!

glasgowbhoy

inseine wrote:

I I don't see the problem it's not like we're in Sweden! !

I'd love to have watched you out cycling around my training routes the last few weeks.
You'd have spent as much time on yer arse as you would have on the bike.

holmeboy

Alternative to a turbo? a cyclocross. I've cycled to work right through the snow and ice. Good grip on snowy roads and good strength builder through the off road snow.

Tom Butcher

Depends where you live but certainly round here (East Mids) the days when you can't ride because of ice are relatively few. As has already been said - if you are too cold then you aren't wearing the right/enough kit.

As for base miles not being a sensible way to spend the winter - I'm not saying it's the only way but I know plenty of good cyclists who do put in lots of *relatively* steady miles over Winter so it can't be that poor an idea. .

jibberjim

Tom Butcher wrote:

Depends where you live but certainly round here (East Mids) the days when you can't ride because of ice are relatively few. As has already been said - if you are too cold then you aren't wearing the right/enough kit.

The weekend day times have been fine, but even here in suburban london with high traffic warmer temps and plenty of salt on the road have road temperatures below freezing with ice patches most of the last 2 weeks.

Tom Butcher wrote:

As for base miles not being a sensible way to spend the winter - I'm not saying it's the only way but I know plenty of good cyclists who do put in lots of *relatively* steady miles over Winter so it can't be that poor an idea. .

I know plenty of good cyclists who do little but get drunk all winter too, it doesn't really say anything. If base miles were a good idea as part of a training plan, I'm going to do them in the spring when the roads are clear the sun is up and there's plenty of time to enjoy it, for me winter is a silly time for such a period.

Tom Butcher

We did have a spell of untypically cold weather up to midway through last week - not really a reason to abandon the idea of training outside in Winter. Personally I think the roads are rideable for all but a handfull of days but maybe I've just got fantastic bike handling skills



I doubt you do know any good cyclists who start training in March but if there is the odd one then I doubt even they think that is an effective way of training.

You said that a high mileage medium intensity Winter is "stupid" - I'm just pointing out to you that plenty of riders manage to do better than OK using such a "stupid" training programme. I'd go a bit futher and say that the best riders I know tend to lean towards that kind of approach.

Pokerface

I've already fallen once (nothing serious), but have to agree with those that say that riding most of the year outdoors *shouldn't* be a problem.

Right after (or during) a snowfall - forget it. But give it a day after that and it's usually OK on major routes where I live in Cheshire.


It ain't fun - but it's doable.

ut_och_cykla

inseine wrote:

I'm a great believer in the turbo but come the come the weekend I'm out on the bike. With modern clothing I don't see the problem it's not like we're in Sweden! I can count the Sundays I miss a year on the thumbs of one hand, though -13 last year was a bit rough!

Erm... I'm in Sweden! And it has snowed here too. I don't ride outside for exercise - neither do many others but quite a few people commute - using old MTBs and tyres with studs. I do run - you can get shoes with studs and rubber contraptions you can pull over your normal running shoes which work very well. Here in the south this kind of prolonged snow and ice is unusual (and early this year) but only slightly further north long distance skating (on the big lakes) and cross country skiing provides plenty of outdoor training opportunities for thsoe that want them!
Personally I find the trainer/gym/run mix suits me fine during the winter but then I don't race or have any other greater ambition than keeping fit and enjoying summer cycling!

dulldave

Tom Butcher wrote:

You said that a high mileage medium intensity Winter is "stupid" - I'm just pointing out to you that plenty of riders manage to do better than OK using such a "stupid" training programme. I'd go a bit futher and say that the best riders I know tend to lean towards that kind of approach.

Perhaps because they spent the whole season racing and are just easing off a bit. The average cyclist hasn't burnt themself out in this way.

Even then I doubt they ease up for too long. I'd be very surprised if all they did were long slow winter rides.

rock_hopper

I'm with holmeboy on this one, my cyclocross bike has been great in the recent cold, snowy weather. Its a lot more reliable and quicker than public transport for commuting. Use good, grippy tyres, light yourself up, take extra care and its fine.

As for 'base miles', I call it endurance training and its steady not easy and find that I go really well with solid endurance training in my legs. I can cope with higher intensity riding, recover quicker and can hold a higher pace for longer in a race. All those things that the coaches say about base training is true.

jermas

rock_hopper wrote:

As for 'base miles', I call it endurance training and its steady not easy and find that I go really well with solid endurance training in my legs. I can cope with higher intensity riding, recover quicker and can hold a higher pace for longer in a race. All those things that the coaches say about base training is true.

+1

I don't think base training is particularly necessary for riders doing lower yearly mileages, but
for high intensity, high mileage riding it's essential so as to avoid burning out.

Will.C

Thanks for the replies, I gotta say I'm with Jim on the ice, It's not worth it, whether that means I'm soft or have cr@p bike handling skills so be it, if the club doesn't go out, and I came off very soon after being out on ice then I'm not gonna bother when it's below freezing.

I'll stick as many miles and time on the bike as I can untill the weather looks up and change my training accordingly and hopefully not crash and burn (per se) in my first 2011 race (and beat jims best time up B-Hill).

Ta

walsht1105

Will.C wrote:

I'm not gonna bother when it's below freezing.

Just because it says -1 on the weather forecast it doesn't mean the roads will be ice - if there is no water to freeze of the roads, or if the previous days' temperatures were higher than freezing, how many cars use the road, how many houses are on the road will all affect the actual temperature of the roads themselves. So a -1 temp on the forecast could mean the roads are still +1 etc etc

Saying that though, I dunno how many hours your putting in but I really can't bare sitting on the turbo all week then the weekend.. so if it is safe then I will choose cold weather roads over the turbo all day. If your happy on the turbo then you can probably get some better quality miles doing a turbo session than being out on the road in dodgy conditions which will naturally slow you down.

Horses for courses......

Jeff Jones

For the last three weeks I've done a mix of roller sessions during the week and longer rides outside on the weekends. So far no probs, although this weekend could be a bit dicey...

I did a three hour ride a few weeks ago and it was -5 at the start, reaching -1 by the time I got back. Even though it had been snowing quite a lot, the main A and B roads I used were fine. The lanes were impossible, so obviously you've got to pick your routes carefully, and sometimes this is not possible.

Anonymous

I tried going out at the weekend, got 500 yards. Ended up in hospital with concussion and whiplash. It has somewhat knackered my winter training. Stick to the turbo!

Zachariah

Ouch! What happened?

dennisn

FWIW we get bad winters around here also. Most of our club(Maumee Valley Wheelmen)
members do a good fair share of training / racing Spring, Summer, and Fall. That's a lot of hard work. Not to mention that they all have jobs, family, and other demands being put on them. Most of them are ready for a bit of a break come winter. Trying to continue a pace like that all year will most likely simply burn you up. Almost to a rider they give it rest with
pretty much easy rides when they can get out. When March rolls around again things start to pick up in tempo and by May / June / July they are back in really good form and racing once or twice a week. Ride all winter??? Sure, get out there and keep the legs turning. I just don't believe that hammering yourself into the ground during the winter will reap much in the way of rewards next race season. You'll just end up burnt out and tired all the time. Even the pros take a break.

inseine

Sorry to hear that Nap, I see the effort you put in so hope you're better soon. For most cyclists a bit of enforced rest is a good thing.

vorsprung

Now we are onto riding outside instead...

Last year I had 3 or 4 offs on the ice. I commute every day. This year I got winter studded ice tyres. They are rediculously heavy but it is unlikely that I will come off on ice

Not sure how useful they are in a training context however. It's more to just get to work and keep riding. It makes my Carbon Fibre bike with normal road tyres seem jet propelled.

sturmey

If it's sub zero temperatures after snowfall then it's a fair bet you are going to come across some icy patches on the country lanes.
Personally, I don't bother going out in these conditions,it's just too risky. If there's one thing guaranteed to screw up your winter training regime it's a broken arm or collar bone. Stick to the turbo or go for a run in the park/playing fields/canal towpath.

There is,after all, more to life than cycling.

Isn't there?....

Zachariah

Burn the heretic!

galaxyboy

-10 C this morning but still managed my commute. Take it steady, no chance of getting any hard training out of it but 2 great mornings commuting.

bontie

Hi there,
I am new to the UK, and not used to this weather at all. I always used to be a keen cyclist. I sold both road and MTB before moving here. I ahve recently ordred anew road bike, but I dread the day when I will receive it, as it will break me to have a new bike and not get to ride it... When will the snow and ice subside?

What I want to know is, when should I get the bike as I ahve paid a deposit and the shop is keeping it for me at the moment?

Thanks

Buckled_Rims

bontie wrote:

Hi there,
I am new to the UK, and not used to this weather at all. I always used to be a keen cyclist. I sold both road and MTB before moving here. I ahve recently ordred anew road bike, but I dread the day when I will receive it, as it will break me to have a new bike and not get to ride it... When will the snow and ice subside?

What I want to know is, when should I get the bike as I ahve paid a deposit and the shop is keeping it for me at the moment?

Thanks

Snow up to April, then rain until June, August will have a brief sunny day and then it's down hill towards next winter

griffter18

LOL invest in Tacx or simiar.
You can do intervals, Hills etc as with most but in addition you can blast the winter blues away with a Virtual ride (google earth) or a video ride (RLV).

Right , sod the cold Im off for a quick blast up Alpe-d'Huez with the heater on full blast