Tolerance levels on when one needs to ride indoors vary, but with the exception of the warmest climates, even the hardiest of cyclists will likely have to succumb to the realities of weather, road conditions and darkness at some point during the winter. When that point comes along, here are a few pointers that will hopefully make the experience more bearable if not somewhat enjoyable:
Pick a good environment: Everyone’s domestic situation is different, but picking a comfortable room to setup your trainer or rollers in is a big first step. I know a few athletes who say they can’t stand riding inside but then come to find out they have banished themselves to dark dank basements or garages with poor lighting, no climate control with their trainer squeezed in between unpacked boxes from their last move. Regardless of the space you are in, making it comfortable, well lit, clean and as inviting as possible will do wonders for your attitude towards indoor riding. Get a good fan. It’s not wimpy, when you ride outside you have 15 to 25 mph of wind keeping you cool all the time, you should have it inside as well. Sweating in puddles may feel all Rocky like but it does you no good unless you are a high school wrestler trying to make weight. With a good fan (the spinning type, not the cheering type, although those are nice as well), you will be able to ride longer and your equipment, body and housemates/guests will thank you. Floor fans that you can angle to direct the air work best. Protect the “nether” regions. Tough topic, but saddle sores seem to be more common in the winter for athletes who have to do a lot of indoor riding. Being locked in place and not having the variety of motion to vary pressure points exacerbates the issue. A few recommended approaches to handling this:
Entertain yourself! There is no reason to be miserable. TVs, computers, tablets and audio devices are cheap these days. Any of those can provide hours of audio and video entertainment. If you have the disposable income, advanced indoor trainers such as Computrainer interact with your computer or tablet to provide a virtual course to ride and change resistance to simulate varying terrain. There are also a number of companies that provide cycling specific videos that incorporate workouts into the video and you can use whatever trainer or rollers you have. Pick your poison, expensive, cheap, cycling related, non-cycling related, whatever works and is within your budget, but just don’t stare at the wall hyper focusing on how awful it is to ride inside. Review guru DC Rainmaker provides an excellent overview of trainers and training apps that you may want to consider on his website. Give yourself a break. If doing rides over an hour, take a 5 minute break every 45 minutes to an hour. Re fill bottles, stretch a bit, take a natural break. It does wonders for your mental state. Also, due to the continuous nature of riding on a trainer or rollers (no coasting or drafting) you are really riding longer indoors for a given amount of time. The general rule of thumb is 45 minutes inside is equivalent to 60 minutes outside in terms of stress on the legs. Shorten and intensify. Some folks can slog out hours on the trainer, but if you don’t have the time or level of tolerance, inserting some higher intensity interval training, cadence or isolated leg drills to mix things up can help keep your fitness and technique going in the right direction without boring yourself to tears. There are numerous articles out there on options. A classic option is warm up and then 2 x 10-20 minutes at 85-95% of your Functional Threshold Power (FTP = Intensity you can hold for an hour all) with half the interval length as rest in between repeats. Bring a friend. My wife and I have trainers set up side by side and often ride on the weekends or early in the morning together. Have someone to ride with can help pass the time as well. Eat, drink and be merry! Keep up with your nutrition and hydration. Indoor winter environments are dry and fairly warm, closer to late spring and early summer conditions, and a great opportunity to practice your nutrition strategy and keep on top of it. Your attitude and surroundings will determine how tolerable and beneficial your indoor training sessions can be. Spend a little time prepping you environment to make the experience as enjoyable as possible. Work with your coach or if self-coached, do a little research on your own to set up workouts that will maximize the benefits of indoor riding and minimize the mental strain to help make next season your best yet. This time of year many endurance athletes are taking a break, reflecting on their past racing season, and starting to set goals for next year. One of the most common goals, with road cyclists especially, is “upgrading” to the next racing category. For those that aren’t familiar with it, bike racing is set up on a category system. USA Cycling sanctioned events offer separate races from Category 5 (beginner) to Category 1 (elite) with further separation above Cat 1 at the “Pro” levels. Advancement between categories is based on a mix of experience and results. The idea behind the system is to: 1) give cyclists a tier structure to advance though to help develop their handling skills, tactical ability and fitness; and 2) provide different levels of competition for racers at different ability and development levels and with different time constraints. Given the nature of competition and competitors, it’s understandable why a lot of people aspire to the highest category possible and make advancement a major goal. The higher the category, the better the riders and competition, and the culture of bike racing drives us to want to challenge ourselves and compete with and be associated with “the best”. But what does it really mean to upgrade? Is an athlete really ready? Do they know what they are getting into? Just because one “can”, does it mean one “should”? The beginner categories can be pretty lopsided as everyone has to start at Cat 5. A physically strong individual might be able to “brute force” their way through lower category races without learning much in the way of tactics and race dynamics. But, unless someone short circuited the system, every rider at the “next” level was a top rider at the “prior” level. This means the talent keeps concentrating as you move from one category to the next. As riders move up, the difference between rider fitness and ability shrinks, speeds increase and team dynamics start to play more of a factor. Tactics that worked before, might not have an impact, and the margin of error for decision making is much smaller. A sharper tactical acumen is needed to be successful when everyone is faster, stronger, smarter and more organized. On top of it, distances of events increase which means more dedicated and focused training time required (plus additional recovery time) to prepare the athlete for the increase speed and distance. The combined impact of all of this is it takes more time and effort and is more difficult to get results at the higher levels of bike racing. This may seem obvious, but for many it comes as a surprise. This change in difficulty can have a huge mental impact on athletes who are used to seeing success every weekend in lower categories, or worse, ones who have barely scraped together minor results to get enough points to move up to the next category. I have sadly seen athletes underestimate the combined challenges associated with upgrading and actually end up quitting the sport, especially going from Cat 3 to Cat 2. That said, I am not trying to dissuade upgrading. I believe in the value of competition and aspiring to a higher level is a good way to challenge yourself and one of the key reasons why we are drawn to sport. But don’t let the drive to upgrade become all-consuming without considering the full picture. Athletes can become like the proverbial dog chasing a car, they are so focused on chasing it, they don’t consider what happens if they actually catch it. In addition, racers shouldn’t underestimate the developmental benefits of spending time at each category and “learning the ropes” by competing in a variety of events, including race types that don't suit their strengths and some out of region races where the competition levels may be different. Exposure to different racing types, competition levels and tactical situations will help a rider gain valuable experience and make them a more complete racer. I encourage those considering an upgrade to talk to more experienced riders who are racing at the next level and take some time to reflect on their individual personal situation and be honest about their ability level before making the decision to move up. Many racers would benefit by not hyper focusing on the upgrade itself and instead focusing more on developing fitness, honing skills, gaining a variety of race experience and **gasp** having fun! The upgrade will come in time if you continue to see improvements in these areas and can maintain balance with all your other life factors. And if it doesn't happen, so be it, as long as you are are having fun, there is nothing wrong with enjoying the sport you love at whatever category fits best for you. Photo: Dwayne Farr, US Military Cycling, Mt Tabor Portland, OR Courtesy Tim Yarnell |