Winter
As Cyclists, we are uniquely subjected to the changing of seasons. The green canopy of forest that we ride through in Summer gives way in Fall to one of orange and yellow that mimics the fire of sunset. Just as those hues give notice to the changing from day to night, so do they now signal the change from Summer to Winter.
It is also a time of transition in our riding. The rides are first wetter, then cooler. Soon, we’ll be rooting about the kit bin for gloves and a wooly hat. Shorts become three-quarters and three-quarters become fulls. There might be a shadow of trepidation in bidding the warm months adieu, but there lurks some excitement, too. Wearing long sleeve jerseys and leg warmers signals to us that the fight for peak form is behind us and our rides now have a sense of insouciance about them; it is freeing to embrace the lack of structure to our rides. We ride, once again, simply for the pleasure of riding.
There is something else. The longer days of Summer almost afford us too much liberty in our training. The sun rises early and sets late; the possibilities to train are endless; the morning ride is skipped for the likelihood of riding in the afternoon. The afternoon schedule fills up and the ride is missed and the training takes on a more frenetic nature. The shorter days of the winter offer less choices, so the rides are fought for more vigorously. Choice can lead to indecision while restriction often feeds discipline.
I embrace the coming Winter and its accompanying discipline. Besides, after the Winter come the Spring Classics, and we loves ourselves some cobbles. Vive la Vie Velominatus.
Greetings!
I, too, am thrilled about the shorter days and cooler temperatures. There is nothing more revivifying than to dismount after a long bracing ride on a cool winter morning.
Before I wax on sentimental, I should introduce myself: I am a new registrant, or perhaps more appropriately, a novice amongst your esteemed ranks.
I have just returned to riding after a 25 year hiatus. In my younger days I rode. I rode like Forrest Gump ran. I just rode. My whip was a beautiful Bianchi Nuovo Record. I loved that bike. Then I just stopped riding. I moved, got busy being, or imitating a grown up or whatever. Sold my bike along the way, don’t even know what happened to everything else.
Two months ago and days before my 51rst birthday, I found myself on a friends road bike for the first time. The frame size was right, but everything else was wrong. It has these gel inserts in the frame to dampen the vibration. I hadn’t ridden in many years but it just felt wrong – I coudn’t feel the road. My butt hurt. My breath wheezed. I just couldn’t believe how the climbs taunted and antagonized me. I was in love.
So, now I am reacquiring bike(s), gear, tools, kits, accessories, bike racks – the whole of everything. I found “The Rules” surfing about the internet and felt as though I met my kin. I keep the rules handy so I can evaluate my attitude and aesthetic, and thus give my respect to our tradition and to my colleagues on the road. I am glad to be here. Though, it did pain me a little when I took my cool stainless Lezyne hand pump off my bike. I now carry it in my jersey pocket with an inner tube and tire spoons.
Now, I am looking for winter clothing and putting together an all season steed with a hand built steel frame and gorgeous fenders from Portland Bicycle Works. Deciding on the component group and wheelset – grouppi or san, not warm on the bro yet. Probably Campangolo. We’ll see.
I lived in Pennsylvania when I rode into young adulthood, so we had five months of winter. Unless the roads were iced, I was bundled, layered and ready. I always loved the transition from being cold at the beginning to not thinking about anymore unless I stopped. I look forward to experiencing this again.
Peace to all of you,
Shemsuddin
Frank, I also derive great, slightly smug, satisfaction in the winter from the feeling that it’s only the “proper”, committed cyclists who ride as the weather worsens.
I plan to make a virtue of necessity and commute on the bike over winter. I’m sure i’ll feel the smugger for it.
When was the pocketable mini-pump first “invented”?
>>> his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking <<<
That’s classic.
Cheers!
I am in my late thirties and experiencing my first years of serious cycling. Before the bike was merely utilitarian. It would be in storage by this time of year.
I don’t mind so much getting caught in the rain, or riding out in cold weather, but I am finding it really hard to go out when it’s been cold and raining for two days with only more of the same in store for another two.
These last days of autumn with winter looming are really testing my discipline. Any tips? Apart from quoting rules 5 & 9 that is …
Down here in Australia we prepare for the onslaught of summer now instead. We cherish the precious couple of months between rain and blistering heat. Each ride now is bathed in glorious sunshine yet still cool enough to warrant arm warmers. Soon the bitumen will liquefy and tyres will make an odd sucking sound when Max V is applied.
A properly coordinated frame pump would have been considered entirely appropriate at that time. I still prefer a frame pump to a CO2 cartridge.
“Choice can lead to indecision while restriction often feeds discipline”. I love this line and I can completely relate to it. I am a school teacher and I do more training during term time than during the holidays. The structure of the commute and the restricted time available means that I don’t even think about when I’ll train – I just do it; whereas during the holidays the training ride will happen at ‘some time’ and sometimes ‘some time’ never comes around.
@Shemsuddin Millard
Welcome.
@Jay
I agree with your former point. I think I used mine more to fend off dogs than to inflate anything back in the 80’s when it wasn’t considered a hidious thing. Come to think of it, I haven’t been chased/harassed by any dogs on quite some time. More electric fences maybe, or perhaps they’re lazier now? My best sprint training used to come from farm dogs.
The winters on the midwestern plains are cold and harsh. The day I realized I gladly drive 8 hours to strap on the sticks and fly downhill at 60K in 15 degree fahrenheit air is the day I decided I could kit up and drag my 5+ decade old butt over the saddle of my gravel ride and make turns to work in the cold dark days between fall and spring, ice notwithstanding. Not to mention that subzero weather means my deck turns into a microwave for beer.
Insouciance? Has someone been at the thesaurus again?
I for one much prefer the cooler months. I get to wear my Flandrian best on every ride! But also I feel like my engine turns over a lot better in these lower temps. Best of all about winter riding though, is those long, lonely rides in the hills on a crisp, dry morning with the sun hanging low on the horizon. Bliss.
“Choice can lead to indecision while restriction often feeds discipline.”
words of wisdom indeed. Especially since the alpine ski season started yesterday!
Case in point this morning. Barely light when I got up, cold, foggy outside. Did not look inviting. Set off to meet my buddy and gradually as we rode the fog burned off and it turned into one of those beautiful, sunny, chilly, windless autumn mornings. Great to be out.
And there is of course cyclocross in winter.
Today I punctured and fell off or possibly fell off and punctured.
Mostly I hit soft stuff so I lost a lap in the race whilst I ran around looking for my wheels in the pits (top tip – one set of knobbly tyres looks very much like another when viewed en masse) and then rejopined the race and finished last in the old guys event.
It was fun and I recommend it to everyone.
@the Engine
Yes, CX in winter… here in the deep south we raced #2 of our state association series. Was cold. Yea right… was 50’s and sunny, warming up fast, and super dry. Simply beautiful weather for CX racing. I couldn’t imagine cold and wet and muddy CX racing.
I rode without any sunscreen on the other day. Soon I will begin to think about donning some arm warmers.
I welcome the coming of winter to separate the cyclist from the………well whatever they fuck they are. Anyone can have a good day when its not too cold, not too hot, not too windy, and not too humid. The ones that are all hell bent for leather when the weather is just perfect, but nowhere to be found anytime it is less than ideal. I take great pleasure in riding in the worst of conditions, and draw strength from the challenge of the elements. Bring on the shit, let us see who is truly hard.
-Eddie
Just to say the turbo didn’t get used last year;although to be fair it was a mild winter and January was wiped out with a full flu(not even man flu as the better half had it too).
Saturday was a great ride with two others up to that Naarfuck for a nice 130k,cold enough to give my new Isadore long sleeve a try(it was ace btw)but not so cold as to make you think twice about going out.
Only downer was a section of mud-splattered fen roads which caused a couple of moments but apart from that one of those cracking rides with great company,a little bit of ‘banter’ and a brisk return leg.
Bike got a bit crappy but worth it and a fine sense of satisfaction when giving it a clean after such a cracking ride.
A fine fen sunrise;
Just a bit mucky;
And the recovery beverage during yesterday’s recovery ride;
Mmm;pics still not working then I take it,,,,
@fenlander
Or it was very foggy. The start of my ride yesterday was a bit like the current pic postings…….
@Teocalli
Can you imagine my agony? Daddy’s got a brand new bike and I cannot post it!!!!
I do have the winter bike out and ready to roll, and post-cogal the TCR has been cleaned, greased and put away.
I’ve started some base training and committed to leading a 3hr turbo ride on Zwift every second week. 3 hours seems like nothing on the road but it’s bloody hard on the trainer, physically and mentally.
Of course yesterday was the first one and also a lovely sunny autumn day when it would have been perfect to go out. Oddly the Zwift course that day was London and it was very weird to see it raining in virtual London while I could see sunshine out my window.
No doubt next week when I can go out will be utterly miserable and I’ll ride the trainer anyway. Cold I don’t mind, rain (and ice) are cause for discretion above valour.
The Prophet’s bike has clearly just come out of a garage or a car. Note the position of the downtube levers – at the end of a ride* it was de rigour to push both of the levers forward to take the tension out of the cables; something I learnt from a club elder in the early 80’s.
*When I went out on my bike it was called a ‘ride’, whereas in the case of The Prophet an activity which involved a bicycle will have been called ‘the crushing of souls’.
First road bike ride in far, far too long this morning. Having a four month old has seriously cut into riding time. Oh well, the little guy is pretty fun to be around (sometimes!). Anyway, nothing like riding in full kit on a pristine road bike after a few weeks of only riding the commuter bikes.
For the first time in around 14 years I’ve had to use a car on a regular basis. I really, really don’t like how motorists behave, from ignoring the laws to plain ol’ selfishness. (Until I can put the lil’ guy in a bike trailer, I have to take him to his dayKeeper, a good friend of ours). Goddamnit, people. Turn signals aren’t optional. Neither are lights in the dark or rain. And you don’t block a fucking intersection because you chose to run a red light.
I run front/rear lights at all times when on open roads. At this time of year, with the sun at odd angles, it blows my mind that many cyclists don’t use lights. I was out yesterday and I EXPECT (meaning I look for them in order to pass them in a very safe manner) to see cyclists and saw three different groups of proper road cyclists in all black, no lights, as the sun was getting low. If you’re a drunk guy with bum bars, I get it. But if you’re on a $3000 bike in brand new $ kit, you have no excuse to not ride with lights. I just don’t get it. $50 and it might save you from getting run over.
A local director of transportation was hit in a hit and run last week. Guy who did it is 33 years old and he’s been arrested 18 time. Have to believe he was extremely unsober, as he was spotted driving around with the bike still on his windshield/roof…
“Wearing long sleeve jerseys and leg warmers signals to us that the fight for peak form is behind us and our rides now have a sense of insouciance about them; it is freeing to embrace the lack of structure to our rides. We ride, once again, simply for the pleasure of riding.”
This sums it up for me – quite nicely I might add.
I’ve really noticed these past few weeks that I’m favouring enjoyment over making sure that I’m ticking all the training boxes…
…sometimes I ride slower and it doesn’t even bother me that I’m doing so.
…power meter, heart rate monitor? Meh.
I’ve been exploring some new routes and taking in the sites along the way and it has been very nice.
Base Training doesn’t start again for a bit yet. Taking some recovery time now is likely the very best thing that I could do to ensure that my body gets the most from the base training that awaits me over the winter months.
Much less bike traffic on the roads as the temperatures fall. I must admit to getting some satisfaction from this.
@KogaLover
That’s gotta hurt!
@Ron
Mini-Reverence piece: I’ve been running the Bontrager Flare this year and have yet (knock wood) to be buzzed by a car. Earlier in the summer, I left a group ride and the guys said they could still see my light a km or two up the road.
That’s a Inbredicus rednecki subspecies dumbassae , you gotta watch out for them.
@paolo
Yup, no sunscreen, that’s always a watershed, isn’t it? then it’s knee or legwarmers. Cap under helmet. Gilet. Overshoes. Winter bike. Full winter kit of many layers. Co-workers incredulous that you rode. Bring it on.
@KogaLover
Have you tried messaging Frank? He can’t possibly read all the posts.
@wiscot
LOL ! I might get as far as knee warmers, And maybe an undershirt, So Cal winters are pretty mild affairs.
@Ccos
I’ve been thinking about getting a Bontrager Flare. I’ve seen a few around and they are amazingly bright. I ride solo a lot and I always feel more vulnerable alone. Might have to pony up for one.
@paolo
They’re expensive but 100% worth it. It was a 9 ride this past weekend and I had the ion 700 front light on flash. It was the first ride that I didn’t have to wave to get the attention of drivers pulling out (of course it may have blinded them). I may use it all the time as a result.
On a side note, even though we meet at sunrise, one friend always asks “wait are we meeting at 9 now?” When I note that it will be a 9 ride…
@paolo
So worth it. I only started to ride with one a few months ago but now I do not like to be out without one. I use the Lezyne 600 Macro XL for my front light and it is just amazing.
I’m loving the unstructured feel of riding this time of year. I love the change from sweating all summer to pulling out long sleeves or arm warmers.
Totally agree with the collective sentiment about lights. I rolled away from the house this morning and my headlight just shut itself off. I rode the short way home sans headlight and then managed to get the thing to work and turned around and made my way to work. I’ve had my eye on the new Serfas E-Lume 600 headlight so I’ll be snagging one of those ASAP and relegating the old one to backup mode.
This winter’s goal is simple: Ride long, ride slow, ride fixed. I need base and weight loss. I need form. Currently on the workstand is my first real road frame + new wheels and geared up to be fixed. I ride only for me this winter. There will be no computer, sure as hell no Strava, not even MapMyRide. Just a silent ride through the chill to return me to Way of the V.
I should note that my first “real” ride was a Lotus Elite 600 — a 12! speed Shimano 600 Gruppo. Steel is oh so real, baby! And now it is fixed.
@Ccos
I’ve been using the USB chargeable tail ones since they came out.Excellent lights but had three destroyed due to water ingress. Their weakness is the charger port seal. The slightest bit of dirt and it doesn’t seat properly aftyer charging (or at all) and you end up with a tail light full of water that won’t recharge because the connector corrodes.
A partial cure is to cover your tail light in cling-film but that’s likely not compliant with a Rule I haven’t even thought of yet.
@erik
Rode my steel Nr 9 Koga yesterday, 12 gears Shimano 600 Arabesque. Still pristine.
Is your fixed “fixed” as in “1 gear only but freewheel” or “really fixed & no brakes”? In the latter case I wish you all the best, in winter, out on the open road. May the road then only rise up against you (and not down)!
@KogaLover
It technically has a flip flop hub on the back, but I don’t have a ring on the freewheel. It is pure fixed. I’m so out of shape right now I figure the only way to get back to it will be rides along the river trail here, low pressure tires, and keep the legs moving.
@Buck Rogers
Buck – I’m exactly the same way! I now can’t imagine riding on open roads without a front/rear light at all times, whether morning, afternoon, or evening. I’ve had to actually drive a car lately (the newborn is too young to be in a bike trailer and needs to get to daycare) and cyclists with lights or bright clothing definitely grab my eyes much, much faster than no lights/dark clothes riders. Being a husband and father these days I’m definitely more in the mindset of “it can only help me stay alive” than I was in my 20s.
I’ve been very, very happy with Planet Bike Superflashes Minis & Turbos on the rear. One on the bike, one on my helmet with a small Velcro strap. I’ll even add a Serfas Thunderbolt in rainy conditions. All are USB rechargeable and I’ve had ’em for years. Serfas USB-5 up front for a be-seen, assorted Lezyne lights for commuting. Lately been using one on the bars and one on the fork…game changer for commuting in darkness with two levels of lights on the road.
Also, and at the sake of being blasted for encroaching on YJA territory, I finally found some race-cut, slim roadie body jerseys in hi viz colors. Giordana makes some awesome ones that balance brightness and style. Kinda like a Tinkoff jersey sans sponsors. Very, very happy with them. Aside from catching the eye, I really feel like at least some Inbredicus rednecki subspecies dumbassae see me and think, “Wow, that guy fills potholes all day!” or “He must work for the city” instead of thinking, “Goddamnit, I hate skinny fuckers on shiny bicycles. I’m gonna buzz that guy, fuggemm!!!” Besides, I think a neon jersey, plain black bibs, and white socks looks pretty damn slick.
+ exposure lights cycle-lights road
@universo
I use a Diablo and Strada for full on MTB rides on trails in the dark. If you don’t dim them when on the road cars are so blinded they stop.
Though I did have an interesting moment or two on a high speed descent a couple of years back when my main light switched from constant beam to pulse. Somewhat less than ideal to say the least!
@Teocalli
SIRIUS 550 lumen output
@universo
I think the Diablo is 1200 Lumen on max or something silly. It melts cars with a single glance.
@Graeme Armstrong
The south coast of South Australia obviously did not get your memo !
I’m still in the full Gabba / Nanoflex combo atm.