Winter: Go Long/Easy or Go Short/Hard

[itboffin]

The weather over the recent few week has seen my weekly mileage drop of a cliff, i'm trying to stick with a minimum 1 hour afternoon ride 5 days a week and then 2 slightly longer rides at the weekend, my aim is at least 10 hours a week, now all low speed but big gears and low cadence on the bike, if I have time i'll add a weekday daily short hard turbo ride as well, one of the big cols ADH, Tourmalet, Angliru etc

I had a target of 6000 miles YTD which i've revised to 8000 i'm on target if i stick to that plan, if riding outside becomes more difficult i'll up the turbo sessions. I just hope that doesnt have to happen, turbo is sooooo boring.

 

[dodgy]

Unless someone is paying you to ride your bike, just ride in a way that makes you happy.

 

[PaulSB]

I stopped my 36 mile round trip commute in 2012 - at this point I was the fittest I'd ever been. I retired in 2016 and my fitness slowly improved as I rode more and more, usually 60-80 milers or more.

Then came lockdown and I began to ride 5 days out of 7 for +/- 2 hours per ride being 30/35 miles at an average of 15-17mph. This has resulted in me, at 66, being fitter than I can remember and in the form of my life!!

I would say Go Short and Hard........I restarted this regime on Monday with the intention of coming out of this lockdown as fit as possible.

 

[Drago]

Am i just weird, carrying on riding as I notmally would regardless of the time of year?

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Mtn biking is perfect outdoor interval training. Its not like you have anything to aim at right now. So just getting out and having fun and keeping your motivation going is key.

 

[ColinJ]

Am i just weird, carrying on riding as I notmally would regardless of the time of year?

0.5 km, 3 times a week...









... on an ebike?

 

[pjd57]

I don't " go hard " .....

Winter cycling, go slower , brake earlier before the corners . That's about it.

 

[Bechdan]

For me winter is short hilly rides I've got one loop with four variations (8 if you include the reverse) which are 15-18mi 6-800m ascent and take 1-1h25.
I also run which is a great adjunct to fitness over the winter as it's less weather dependent and there's less stuff to keep clean.

 

[cyberknight]

In the winter all you need to do is ride regularly, don't worry about effort you put in. Just ticking over will keep your base fitness surprisingly high and you can worry about performance when the better weather comes round again.

good job last 2 morning my commute home i have been wrapped up in full winter gear and my average has plummeted .

 

[nickyboy]

I stopped my 36 mile round trip commute in 2012 - at this point I was the fittest I'd ever been. I retired in 2016 and my fitness slowly improved as I rode more and more, usually 60-80 milers or more.

Then came lockdown and I began to ride 5 days out of 7 for +/- 2 hours per ride being 30/35 miles at an average of 15-17mph. This has resulted in me, at 66, being fitter than I can remember and in the form of my life!!

I would say Go Short and Hard........I restarted this regime on Monday with the intention of coming out of this lockdown as fit as possible.

Very similar here. Before lockdown I would do 100 miles a week, but it was usually 60/20/20. During lockdown I was riding alone and no cafes were open so long rides weren't as appealing. So I changed to 25/25/25/25

This made a huge difference to my fitness. Basically I can keep up a high intensity for 25 miles but I can't for 60. The 60s were nice but not doing anything to improve fitness

 

[Juan Kog]

Am i just weird .

I couldn't possibly comment

 

[johnblack]

Nearly all outdoor riding on the MTB from Nov to Feb, anything from an hour or up to four, might just ride the roads, but plenty of options to clip off and do bridleways / byways too. You can make it as hard as you want and MTB miles are harder than roadie miles. Supplement with spin bike sessions in the house when I don't go out.

 

[johnnyb47]

This time of the year i only get chance to ride in the dark. I don't like cycling along busy A roads in the dark, so it's usually the dirty filthy lanes i use. The road bike takes a long deserved winter holiday and the MTB comes out to play. With some good puncture resistant tyre's i quite enjoy the different type of cycling for the winter months. You get to ride different routes and enjoy new places to explore with the MTB. It just adds to the fun of mixing up the different types of cycling you can do over the year.
I cycle much slower over the winter though and try and enjoy it more on the basis of just getting out there to clear my head. If I push myself to hard in the cold weather i usually pay for it the next day with painful knees.
As the MTB is a rough and ready old bruiser im not to bothered about keeping it, pristine clean like my posh road bike. Just so long it's well oiled and mechanically good I'm more than happy to get out there and come home covered in Welsh mud.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

I've always found the idea that anyone would go out and ride as hard and fast as possible rather strange TBH, unless you are a pro and being paid for it!
Likewise the apparent need to take a really technical approach to fitness gained from cycling. I find just jumping on a bike and going for a ride, any sort of bike and ride, seems to do the trick - and I place a lot more value on enjoying some fresh air and scenery than worrying about my average speed, cadence or heart rate.
Some rides I put a bit more effort in than others, but I'm not out to try and prove anything. All my rides this week have been on a hack Apollo MTB and I've probably averaged about 10 mph on a mixture of surfaces. Yesterday I did nearly 20 miles, the other days no more than 15. I'll be out again today, likely another 15-20 at a fairly easy pace. Compared to the majority of the population that spend most of the day sitting on their arse, whether working at a desk or whilst travelling somewhere, anyone who regularly partakes in any form of physical activity is going to be way fitter than average.
There's no need to overthink or overcomplicate cycling. Just go for a ride. Any ride.

 

[ColinJ]

I've always found the idea that anyone would go out and ride as hard and fast as possible rather strange TBH, unless you are a pro and being paid for it!

I've always found the idea that anyone would NOT go out and ride as hard and fast as possible rather strange TBH, unless they don't like the endorphin rush, and the satisfying fatigue that follows!

(Actually, I do like easy rides as well. I just wonder why some people don't enjoy extreme exertion?)