Getting out in the cold

Last week with some motivation from a friend we did 3 1/4 hours on the mountain bikes. I don't think it ever got above freezing and the wind chill was around 12-20.

And it actually wasn't all that bad.

My new best friends:


I use one pair on my wrists/lower palm, and one pair on top of my toes. They seem to make things bearable for about 3 hrs. After that it's just toughness training.

Today, I suprised myself and did 4hrs on the road bike in 35degree weather with a howling wind on the way back. Bonking in and out the last 2 hrs. This was tough. The legs just didn't want to turn on the hills.

I didn't prepare properly eating wise before hand. Hit a convenience store midway and restocked Gatorade and for the first time in months grabbed crap food. Doughnuts even.


I was a little worried my stomach would rebel. It did a little, but the doughnuts worked well actually. Cake type foods don't bug me as much as other sweets. Now if there was a lot of glazing or jelly filling I'd be writhing in a ditch somewhere.

But it was a good reminder to carry more food that I'm used to.

Just getting out the door was the training. I am supposed to do some sprints first then a long ride, and the next day do a long ride and end with Muscle Endurance intervals.

But I just couldn't do any sprints. Just turning the pedals in the cold and going from A to B was all I could muster. And barely at that. Crawling up the last hill. And I've been a wreck since the ride finished.

Road riding is definitely harder than mountain biking...You pedal more.

One of the traps I fall into now and then is thinking in terms of the training I'm gonna do. Next month I'm gonna do thes. Next season I'm gonna do this. Instead of right now I am doing this. When the time comes to do it, ofen times it's much slacker than what you were gonna do.

I'm trying to get away from gonna dos and just do. Today I did.