OK, a few tips from another West Midlander who rides through the winter. The cold season does seem to drag on, and hopefully some of these useful or otherwise tips might help:
Category 1: Feel Good Tips:
1) Put an extra pair of slight socks and your gloves on the radiator overnight. Just before you leave, put the socks over your normal socks (trainer socks are great for this) and your gloves on, and you will get the same warm glow as your heated car seat.
2) Treat yourself to a warm mug of tea / coffee / hot chocolote when you get into the office. Obviously if you drove, you couldn't justify the extra calories from the hot chocoloate, and wouldn't feel the benefit of it anyway.
3) On a bad day, don't be frightened of adding an extra layer and feeling toasty when you leave the house. Even if you arrive at work a bit sweaty or have to stop and remove a layer half-way there.
Category 2: Positive Experience:
4) Look for signs of spring, e.g. snowdrops, crocuses, then later daffodils and buds on the tree. Although it won't be getting any warmer, the sights of nature welcoming in the new year will chear you up.
5) Listen for the sound of people scraping ice off the car on frosty mornings. Remind yourself that you don't need to be up any earlier, as you don't need to scrape any ice off anything.
6) Everyone else is thinking the same, so the traffic is worse in winter.
7) More chance of car not starting, e.g. due to worn-out battery.
Category 3: HTFU:
8) It gets warmer only very gradually, and in fits and starts. If you wait until it gets warmer, it will suddenly be too warm, and you have missed your opportunity.
9) Book yourself onto an early year Audax or Sportive, e.g. Sunrise/Sunset or Mad March Hare. Then you will have to keep cycling to get ready for the event.
10) Walk around the office feeling smug that you are hard enough to withstand the cold of winter, whereas those who drove in aren't.
11) Prove to yourself how hardy you are by surviving the worst that the UK weather can throw at you.
and, lastly:
12) If you check out your household appliances, you will see that those used for heating (fan heater, kettle) use far more power than all the others. Hence it takes much more energy to keep warm rather than moving around. Hence if you want to loose weight, it is much more efficient to do so in winter when your body is trying to keep warm as well as cycling, than in the summer when it isn't. After all, don't you have some over-eating and rich food from Christmas to burn off?
