10 tips for Winter Road Cycling

Picture courtesy of Cyclesportphotos.com

The "W" word.  I'm not saying it yet, but you know the season that comes after Autumn where things start to get a little wetter and colder.  So what should you do to prepare for the change in conditions.  Here's some tips that I've picked up in my short time riding: -

1. Invest in a turbo trainer.  When the days are just too cold or perhaps the risk of black ice too high, if you still want to spin the pedals, £100 invested in a turbo trainer will give you an option to train.  They're not for everyone, some swear by them, some hate them.  Try it and see if it's for you.  Alternatively, you might consider investing in an indoor static bike like a Wattbike.  Wattbikes can be hired from £60 per month.
2. Consider changing your tyres to 700x25C.  Most road bikes come with 700x23C tyres, so if you don't have a winter hack, consider changing the tyre to a slightly wider tread to give you better road grip and confidence during the winter months.
3. Regularly clean and oil your key moving parts, chain particulalry.  I use a wet lubricant, which is designed specifically for the winter months and keeps the chain in good condition.
4. Invest in some decent gloves.  I don't mean just one pair, I have about four different pairs for different conditions.  A pair for heavy rain, a pair when it's just cold but not wet, a really thick pair for when it's freezing and a general purpose pair.  It's surprising what wear each pair gets.
5. Carry a space blanket in your rear pocket.  I've witnessed riders going over on black ice and in one serious incident last year, a fellow rider hospitalised.  It's vital to keep people warm if they have an accident. You can pick up a space blanket of e-bay for three or four quid.
6. Fit some mudguards.  If you're lucky to have mudguard mounts on your frame, get a decent pair.  A lot of modern road bikes don't have them, so invest in a set of Crudguards, which will mount onto nearly any modern road bike with their unique mounting system.  A tip for you, put a little piece of electrical tape underneath the mount, to prevent frame rub.
7. Heat goes through your head.  If you want to stay really warm, ensure you have a decent wooly hat on underneath your helmet. 
8. Always wear a base layer.  It's surprising how warm your core still gets on a cold day.  A base layer will effectively wick away the sweat and help to keep you cool.  Starting from around £15 and going up to a hundred for something at the top end, they're really worth the money.
9. Clear your bike regularly to prevent grit build up.  Invest in some specific bike cleaning products.  I use Purple Harry cleaning products and wash my bike down after every ride, it only takes a few minutes, but for the long term it will ensure that your bike remains maintenance free.
10. Be seen.  Invest in products, lights and jacket particularly which are going to make you highly visible to other road users.  It's amazing how quickly the night draws in and if you're delayed due to a puncture or mechanical, you may get caught out.  Always have some fully charged lights on your bike, to overcome these situations.

What would you add to the list?  Drop me a comment to share with others.

Guest Post from Ron Fritzke of cycling-review.com

In the latest of my guest blogposts.  American blogger - Ron Fritzke - has written a great article on turbo training and offered a couple of indoor sets you might like to try.  Ron's details can be found at the footer of the article.  Thanks for the contribution Ron!!

Bikes Are For Outdoors, But...


Make no mistake about it, bikes are to be ridden outdoors. Really. They're the most efficient human powered machine on the planet, and you can get all sorts of variations of bicycles to accommodate just about any outdoor situation. But besides that, there's nothing like the exhilaration of screaming along on your bike, under your own power. So why my current obsession with writing bike trainer reviews?


Well, What Are Bike Trainers Good For?


There are times when going no place on your bike serves a valuable purpose. Take last Sunday for example. By the time I finished wading through some tech issues for an internet project I'm doing with my cycling coach, I had just over an hour before we had to meet some people for dinner.


Crap, there went my plans for a session of 'five times three minutes hard' intervals...and on top of that, it had begun to rain. So I went for a short, intense ride in my living room on my Kurt Kinetic Road Machine bike trainer.


After ten minutes of warm-up, I did ten minutes of alternating 10 seconds 'full on' with 10 seconds of easy spinning. I then sat there on the trainer doing a 10 minute warm down. Not bad...a thirty minute workout featuring 30 leg-burning sprints.

How To Best Use A Bike Trainer


Which brings me to the best usage of a bicycle trainer.  Here's what they aren't good for: during the winter before my first year of bike racing, I was intense about getting in a good cardio base. One Sunday I rode for four hours on the trainer to get in an endurance ride.


That was longer than it took to watch my favorite football team get trounced. The last part of the ride was listening to commentators explain to me what had gone wrong.  It was a miserable ride, both mentally and gluteally. Bike trainers don't shine for four hour steady-state rides.


But when the weather's horrendous, the traffic's a nightmare, or time is of the essence...a focused ride on a bike trainer works out well.


A Sampling Of Good Trainer Workouts


One very quick cycling trainer workout is the one I mentioned earlier (ten minutes of alternating 10 seconds very, very hard with ten seconds of spinning)



Another good trainer workout would be...

• Ten minute warm-up.
• Three minutes hard, at a perceived effort of seven on a scale of 0-10 (with 10 being an all out sprinting effort).
• Three minutes easy spin.
• Three minutes hard, at a perceived effort of seven.
• Three minutes easy spin.
• Three minutes hard, at a perceived effort of seven.
• Three minutes easy spin.
• Three minutes hard, at a perceived effort of seven.
• Three minutes easy spin.
• Three minutes hard, at a perceived effort of seven.
• Ten minute warm-down.

A 'pyramid' workout would be...

• Ten minute warm-up.
• 2 minutes at an effort of 7 or 8, followed by 2 minutes easy.
• 3 minutes at an effort of 6 or 7, followed by three minutes easy.
• 4 minutes at an effort of 6, followed by three minutes easy.
• 5 minutes at an effort of 5 or 6, followed by three minutes easy.
• 4 minutes at an effort of 6, followed by three minutes easy.
• 3 minutes at an effort of 6 or 7, followed by three minutes easy.
• 2 minutes at an effort of 7 or 8. 
• Ten minute warm-down.

That pyramid workout will kick your butt, depending on your 'perceived effort'. I have a Powertap meter on my bike, so I have to throw perceived effort out the window and go with prescribed wattages.  Bummer, no self-delusion allowed!


Types Of Trainers For These Workouts


For my money, I'd go with something like a Cycleops mag trainer, or the aforementioned Kinetic Road Machine. They have enough resistance capability to stand up to your hard efforts, no matter what you 'perceive' them to be.


Bike trainers of a lessor grade may not be able to provide enough of a workload, or in the case of wind trainers...may be too loud for most cyclists.


You'll get no resistance from me if you argue that bikes were made for riding outdoors. But there have been many times throughout the snowy winters where I live that my bike trainer has saved my cycling fitness skin.  It may be the same for you.


About the author - Ron Fritzke has been reviewing a variety of cycling gear on his website, Cycling-Review.com for about six years now. A converted runner, with a 2:17 marathon to his credit, he's turned to cycling to stay fit without the shock and impact that a runner's legs have to withstand.