What’s the lowest temperatures you’ll ride in?

Dorset_Boy

I was told on Saturday by SWMBO to bring the turbo in from the shed due to the cold, and the likely cost of running the electric heater out in the shed!

singleton

I did a turbo session last night, inside as we have no garage.
Started off being a bit chilly, but within 10 minutes I was sweating like a good-un and reaching for the fan.

seanoconn

Drew the line at -6 this morning. Although roads looked fine and there were some hardy souls biking to work. Train strike might have been a motivator.

daniel_b

I even drew the line this morning at getting on the turbo in the garage, as it was minus 5.6 in there. Did the school run instead to earn some brownie points, and will carry it out at the end of the day instead.

pblakeney

daniel_b said:

I even drew the line this morning at getting on the turbo in the garage, as it was minus 5.6 in there. Did the school run instead to earn some brownie points, and will carry it out at the end of the day instead.

I've always looked on in jealousy of people with permanent set-ups.
Quite happy to continue setting up in the living room now. 😉

Dorset_Boy

pblakeney said:

daniel_b said:

I even drew the line this morning at getting on the turbo in the garage, as it was minus 5.6 in there. Did the school run instead to earn some brownie points, and will carry it out at the end of the day instead.

I've always looked on in jealousy of people with permanent set-ups.
Quite happy to continue setting up in the living room now. 😉

Having been told to bring the turbo indoors, it's set up permanently next to the dining table .... for now.
It will have to return to the shed for Christmas though!

Hopefully come next winter the shed(s) will have been replaced by a properly built garden gym!

mrb123

daniel_b said:

I even drew the line this morning at getting on the turbo in the garage, as it was minus 5.6 in there. Did the school run instead to earn some brownie points, and will carry it out at the end of the day instead.

I started off in the garage this morning with a down jacket on top of thermal jersey and short sleeved jersey. Also gloves.

Doesn't take long to warm up mind and start peeling off the layers.

Remote control socket for the fan an absolute must.

daniel_b

pblakeney said:

daniel_b said:

I even drew the line this morning at getting on the turbo in the garage, as it was minus 5.6 in there. Did the school run instead to earn some brownie points, and will carry it out at the end of the day instead.

I've always looked on in jealousy of people with permanent set-ups.
Quite happy to continue setting up in the living room now. 😉

It's a properly built garage, but heating it would be unviable - days like these where it is properly minus are pretty rare to be fair, I turboed at -3 on Monday, which was ok, I'm going to carry out my session after work late afternoon, and it's about 1c in there currently with the sun doing it's thing, and by Saturday the temperature will have reached the heady heights of 0, which is perfectly fine once you get yourself warmed - plus I have two fully remote control fans now, so can tinker with the volume of airflow as I warm up, rather than having to battle a tornado when I'm still freezing.

Once upon a time I had a turbo inside, but I'd still rather the permanent setup outside, as I just know the extra setup time, I would use an an excuse not to do it!

Most of the time for me, someone who uses two LARGE fans, it would simply be too warm for me inside as well - even though I am someone who feels the cold

Not quite sure how that works.

joeyhalloran

-10 on the 30 min ride to work this morning. Nearly all off-road and was actually great fun. First time I've worn double winter tights. Everything but the toes and eyelashes was pretty warm.

seanoconn

joeyhalloran said:

-10 on the 30 min ride to work this morning. Nearly all off-road and was actually great fun. First time I've worn double winter tights. Everything but the toes and eyelashes was pretty warm.

How do you keep hands warm in -10?

joeyhalloran

I had thick undergloves and some mountaineering gloves. I also made sure my hands starter warm by putting my gloves on before leaving the house.

The Rookie

-8C yesterday and found out I can do that OK.
Newer gloves needed (have them already, just trying to get the most out the old ones!) as fingers were a bit chilly (the insulation is a bit compressed - I reckon on 3 winters of commuting before they die - these are on their third allowing for pandemic impacts).

I know we are all different but that was
2 Pairs regular socks (I always commute in the same socks I wear in the office anyway), Knee warmers, baggies over boxers (again same as I wear in the office), normal short sleeved base layer and a long sleeved Aldi soft shell, lycra headband and some Planet X gloves from circa 2017/18.
7.9miles/32minute ish commute.

daniel_b

Does anyone on here who turbo trains, struggle in freezing conditions?

Both sessions this week, VO2 and Threshold, I have properly struggled to complete properly, which is not what I am used to.

As of last weekend, after a recovery week, TrainerRoad gave me a new higher FTP (My highest to date in fact) but it was only a bump of 4 watts, a 1.6% increase.

I'm normally on the bike every other day, be it turbo or commute, but this week, due to life getting in the way, I had the threshold on Monday early, and then Thursday after work for the VO2 - don't like carrying them out at this time, but -6 in the morning, and meetings around lunchtime meant I had no choice.

A few options I can see.

The new FTP is too high - though I don't think it's likely, as if I had dropped the workout intensity by 2% I do not honestly think that would have made the difference.

I'm fatigued - again, seems unlikely, as I've come off a proper rest week - normally I try and do endurance rides towards the top end of the range, or choose ones with sprints in them, do them without any fans, or spend the entire duration in the drops.
That week, the first one of 5 rides I chose a harder recovery workout, then I had 40 miles of commute 2 days later, but definitely took it easy, then the following two turbo sessions were properly gentle workouts, nothing tough.

Another possibility is that I am coming down with something, or simply not 100%.
I'm sleeping mostly ok, when my cat allows, not feeling hugely tired or anything, though the night before last I did feel pretty cold overnight, but that might simply be because it was bl00dy cold.

No 4 is that maybe the bitterly cold conditions are not gelling too well with me, and I'm not operating at my best in it - although I have trained for many years, and must have trained in -5 temperatures before, it won't have been for several years, and I can't honestly recall how I did.

Another possibility, that I dearly hope is not the case, is that I've hit a plateau if you like, as I guess it's the highest value I have had, not somewhere my body has been before as it were.
I've almost been training week in week out for some 16 or so months, and didn't have any plans to stop, and lose momentum for all of the gains so far.
I have heard of training fatigue, but am not really sure what it feels like - could potentially be that I suppose.
About 6 weeks ago I had a dip in form and motivation, but then without changing anything I suddenly felt really energised, and aced the next few weeks worth of workouts.

Open to suggestions if anyone has any - have a 90 minute sweetspot effort tomorrow, but it will still be minus conditions I believe at 6am

Will go in with a positive outlook though, and simply see how it goes.

webboo

Could it be over training. Your rest week doesn’t seem like a real rest. A rest week after a hard block of training would be a couple of gentle rides. Do you race as most people at the end of the season have a couple of weeks off.
Also it’s pretty hard to maintain peak performance through out the year and as you mention it’s suddenly gone cold from being very mild which will effect most peoples performance.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

I couldn't picture myself doing z4+ turbo sessions in anything close to subzero conditions with my fussy lungs, in previous winters I've set up the turbo each time in the kitchen, but last winter I moved the bedroom furniture around and it sits there at least semi-ready to go on the floor to my side of the bed (furthest away from door, near the window).

The heating doesn't usually go on as high or as often in the bedroom as the other rooms, so it's not usually a sauna in there, but there's been the odd exception this past week... And then it makes "racey" efforts a struggle.

And for something different, Zwift Insider Tiny Races on Saturdays, quartet of back to back races that start every 15mins. 0900/1500/2100 GMT. Great for z4/5 for approx 7-13mins and recovering to go again.
https://zwiftinsider.com/tiny-race-week-21/

Dorset_Boy

You cannot function at your best when it's really cold. Simple as that.
Overtraining is highly unlikely if you're only riding every other day - 3 to 4 times a week is not much in that respect.

veronese68

-8 Garmin as I rode in today, think that's more likely -4. Cold, but not unbearable. The ride home was worse with freezing fog in the park meaning I had to ride slower as I couldn't see very much and had to have my lights pointing almost straight down to avoid glare from my own lights. Couldn't see what the temperature was but the moisture certainly made it feel worse. Is it 14'C forecast for Monday, that's going to be a welcome change, shame about the rain.

daniel_b

Thanks for the replies all :-)

Looked back on Strava at the recovery week.

The Saturday was my last hard effort ride, which was a 90 @ threshold.
On the Sunday I then did a 2 hour endurance session, which was towards the upper end.
Time in the saddle that week = 6hr 15

Tuesday was commute day, and didn't go for it, TR has them as 0.65 & 0.67 efforts.

Then two more endurance turbo sessions later in the week, 0.63 & 0.59.
Time in the saddle that week = 5hr 26 (2hrs 45 outside)
Does anyone think that is too much time spent on the recovery week?
I'm fairly certain that the effort was about right, although I appreciate the weekend prior was quite well loaded.

This week so far is just the two efforts on Monday and Thursday, up early to try the 60 minute sweetspot effort, regrettably still -4.6 in the garage

I always thought the body was meant to operate more efficiently in cold conditions, but I guess that's more around the 0 or low positive values

Currently having a nice hot coffee to prepare - and my reward for being up this early is I get to visit not one, but two bike shops later this morning

Dorset_Boy

Not even an hour a day average on the bike over a week isn't going to result in over training. Yoy'd need to be well over double that unless every effort was flat out.

As far as efficiency, I suspect you have confused cool with brassic!

Enjoy you bike shops today!

pblakeney

daniel_b said:

Thanks for the replies all :-)
...
Does anyone think that is too much time spent on the recovery week?
...

No issue with time imo but Saturday and Sunday were not recovery efforts.

joeyhalloran

I disagree with some of the above, you can easily overtrain on very little time on the bike but it depends on the rest of your life. It's about total stress, your hormones don't know the difference between a hard VO2 max session, a tough work deadline and caring and worrying for a family member, etc...

Overtraining is simply consistent training above what you can recover from and your recovery depends on sleep, diet, lifestyle, stress, work, etc...

daniel_b

Cheers all - happy to say the sweetspot workout went significantly more smoothly than the earlier ones this week.

It certainly wasn't as manageable as I would ordinarily expect it, and I had to grind a bit (But then I tend to do that anyway) but it was an overall successful session, and a decent power number (for me) at the end of it.

Does look like the temperature is playing a decent part in my struggles.

Bike shop visits went swimmingly, hoping to pick up the built bike on Monday with a prevailing wind :-)

pblakeney said:

daniel_b said:

Thanks for the replies all :-)
...
Does anyone think that is too much time spent on the recovery week?
...

No issue with time imo but Saturday and Sunday were not recovery efforts.

No agreed, but the Saturday was the final workout of that 3 week block that was meant to be hard, but then I maybe should not have gone straight into a not that easy 2 hour endurance session afterwards.

pblakeney

daniel_b said:

...
No agreed, but the Saturday was the final workout of that 3 week block that was meant to be hard, but then I maybe should not have gone straight into a not that easy 2 hour endurance session afterwards.

Yeah, I'd have had a z2 ride on the Sunday, if anything in that case.

davebradswmb

I managed my commute at - 6° last week. I've invested in a pair of studded tyres since the December freeze, which I have fitted to my cyclocross bike, and a new pair of gloves. My hands were cold for about 10 minutes then warmed up again. My feet were surprisingly warm considering I was wearing a normal pair of cotton mix socks under a cheap pair of MTB shoes. The benefit of the shoes is that they're made of plastic with little ventilation. My commute is 11 miles on a mix of urban roads and country lanes. Although the roads were mostly dry there was, and still is, ice where water is running off the fields, this got worse over the week as vehicles spread the ice along the road as slush where it has re-frozen to create patches of lumpy ice. The tyres have been great at keeping me the right way up, but they are hard work, the ride is taking about 20% longer than usual, and my commuter is not exactly a speed machine.

davebradswmb

I managed my commute at - 6° last week. I've invested in a pair of studded tyres since the December freeze, which I have fitted to my cyclocross bike, and a new pair of gloves. My hands were cold for about 10 minutes then warmed up again. My feet were surprisingly warm considering I was wearing a normal pair of cotton mix socks under a cheap pair of MTB shoes. The benefit of the shoes is that they're made of plastic with little ventilation. My commute is 11 miles on a mix of urban roads and country lanes. Although the roads were mostly dry there was, and still is, ice where water is running off the fields, this got worse over the week as vehicles spread the ice along the road as slush where it has re-frozen to create patches of lumpy ice. The tyres have been great at keeping me the right way up, but they are hard work, the ride is taking about 20% longer than usual, and my commuter is not exactly a speed machine.

seanoconn

-6 here too PB this morning. As above, fingers were cold for first 10mins but everything was toasty after that. Base layer, light jersey, wind proof jacket, light rain jacket, balaclava, scull cap, Roubaix tights, fleece lined mtb trousers.

veronese68

I should have bought some studded tyres

photonic69

At this rate I won't ride in any temperature that is outside of April till September!! Brrrrrr...wearing a hat and (cycling) gloves in the car!

drhaggis

We had (positive) double figures today in Edinburgh...

davebradswmb

I managed my commute at - 6° last week. I've invested in a pair of studded tyres since the December freeze, which I have fitted to my cyclocross bike, and a new pair of gloves. My hands were cold for about 10 minutes then warmed up again. My feet were surprisingly warm considering I was wearing a normal pair of cotton mix socks under a cheap pair of MTB shoes. The benefit of the shoes is that they're made of plastic with little ventilation. My commute is 11 miles on a mix of urban roads and country lanes. Although the roads were mostly dry there was, and still is, ice where water is running off the fields, this got worse over the week as vehicles spread the ice along the road as slush where it has re-frozen to create patches of lumpy ice. The tyres have been great at keeping me the right way up, but they are hard work, the ride is taking about 20% longer than usual, and my commuter is not exactly a speed machine.