I’m no fair weathered cyclist. Luckily I adopted the bicycle as my first mode of transport a few years back so any other alternative hasn’t really been an option. Winter however has it’s moments – moments of extreme cold where the tips of your fingers are so cold that you question if it’s necessary to use the brakes for the entirety of the journey or moments when the rain pours so hard you have to squint your eyes in order to see the rain/sleet induced star wars like slip stream of road in front.
I keep trying to think about last winter when club friends tell me ” It’ll benefit you when summer comes, you’ll be much stronger ” … I don’t remember thinking last summer that winter riding really helped. I suppose on the flip side, say you cut your winter rides out, pile the pies in and the pounds on to jump on the bike May/June, I’m sure it would be a pretty massive shock to the body.
As many of you will be feeling the same I don’t feel alone in this lull of getting on my bike, there’s no easy aspect about it whether it’s clear and freezing or mild but drizzling with rain. Rest assured it will pay off and personally, as weird as it sounds, I’m just looking forward to riding to work in bibs and a jersey again.
Hopefully you’re working your way towards some attainable goals for 2015. I sure am! I’ve simmered down about The Transcontinental Race for the minute mainly because the fear has well and truly sunk in. I’ve less then 5 weeks to train before I cycle from Leeds to London and back over the course of 4 days. 440 miles in total.
This will be a huge mental test for me, riding over night without sleep, something I’m already nervous about. Whilst doing Rapha 500 last year, one thing I noticed was once the sun set my mood dropped and with it went my motivation. All I wanted to do was get home and get to bed – after 200KM you can’t blame me for feeling that way.
I’ll be setting off at 9PM thus cycling through the night at the start of the journey though which will hopefully help with those feelings…
Given we’ll be in February I’m hoping the worst of the cold/wet weather will be out of the way although I’m not holding my breath… Once the cold moves on it just seems to pour with rain until April!