Categories: Belgian AffirmationsThe HardmenTradition

Winter Training

There is drafting, and then there’s this.

Merckx famously professed that after a night of sinning, the body must be cleansed. He obviously meant this figuratively, not literally, because those mud guards on his bike aren’t going to take a big bite out of whatever that lorry has to offer him by way of a Flandrian facial.

Winter is a tough time for those of us pawing about in search of our climbing weight. With the shortening of days, the nesting instinct awakens. Darkness falls in late afternoon and when we wake, we are greeted by the same darkness that wrapped us all through the evening. Nature urges us to combat the darkness with food and drink; summer’s dinner salads are replaced by slow-cooked meat and potatoes served with a side of pasta and bacon and washed down with a few bottles of red.

Weight defies the conservation of mass; it is more easily gained than lost. Fitness occupies the opposite realm; it is more easily lost than gained. Riders like Kelly, Merckx, and De Vlaeminck were famous for their discipline throughout winter; training long and hard to lay the groundwork for their Spring and Summer campaigns. With a sea of months between us and next season’s goals, there is little urgency to train properly. But keeping our weight down and putting in the long base kilometers will reward us throughout the season. Besides, it hardens the character to train in the cold, wet winds that characterize the winter months. The training we do in summer feels a luxury by comparison.

I cherish the winter months when my training is peaceful and free of pressure. I look forward to the sun warming my muscles, but for now I am content to stock up on fresh Flandrian Best, prepare the bike for the winter roads, and submit to the solitude of the cold training hours that lie before me.

frank

The founder of Velominati and curator of The Rules, Frank was born in the Dutch colonies of Minnesota. His boundless physical talents are carefully canceled out by his equally boundless enthusiasm for drinking. Coffee, beer, wine, if it’s in a container, he will enjoy it, a lot of it. He currently lives in Seattle. He loves riding in the rain and scheduling visits with the Man with the Hammer just to be reminded of the privilege it is to feel completely depleted. He holds down a technology job the description of which no-one really understands and his interests outside of Cycling and drinking are Cycling and drinking. As devoted aesthete, the only thing more important to him than riding a bike well is looking good doing it. Frank is co-author along with the other Keepers of the Cog of the popular book, The Rules, The Way of the Cycling Disciple and also writes a monthly column for the magazine, Cyclist. He is also currently working on the first follow-up to The Rules, tentatively entitled The Hardmen. Email him directly at rouleur@velominati.com.

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View Comments

gaswepass says:

Oct 30 2013 at 6:03 pm

@gaswepass

@frank

@gaswepass

oh, and yeah- i am the gear destroyer. at least twice per season the shop mechanics provide a rousing chorus of "I've never seen that before" when they check out the evidence of my destruciton

some people have finesse and some don't; it can be learned to an extent, but some of it is inate.

on the pavÃ© of roubaix there is one section with a huge hole and we all ride it several times and you have to unweight the bike just right not to fuck your wheels.

Only one person in the group fucked a wheel; Johan's kid. And he was riding my golden tickets. And FMB.

I'll remember that when the next mtb riding cx'er rubs alongside me for warmth.

and finesse, well, yeah... i am slowly refining but it ain't gonna equal finesse. thats ok- bell shaped curves need all the components to look right
PeakInTwoYears says:

Oct 30 2013 at 6:39 pm

Rack v. pack... Last summer the VMH and I did a four-day, from the front door ride that involved four ferries and four (I think) islands and three nights in B and B's. Fun times. I set myself a 10-pound weight limit for packing, and cleared that by three pounds. The question was how to carry the seven pounds. I decided, holding my nose, to try a stem-mounted rack.

Oh my fucking god did I detest that thing. I had, already in my possession, a little 900 cubic inch day pack that had been used on a 15-pitch climb in Yosemite and would have been perfect for this job, and instead I spent three of the four days with that piece of shit making my bike look like it had a grotesque cancer and feel like it had battleship up its ass.
frank says:

Oct 30 2013 at 6:51 pm

@Steampunk

@xyxax

@frank

I am so fucking sorry in advance for posting this, but given that CX is a viable winter training option, I have no choice but to laugh to the point of tearing up looking at this.

Yes, tears...hilarious.

I loved the kid getting bowled over. Does that make me a bad person?

That, and the weinerdog going all cat-against-the-wall on the hedge. It doesn't stop being funny. I pressure-tested the theory. It does NOT stop being funny. Fact.

@PeakInTwoYears

Rack V. pack... Last summer the VMH and I did a four-day, from the front door ride that involved four ferries and four (I think) islands and three nights in B and B's. Fun times. I set myself a 10-pound weight limit for packing, and cleared that by three pounds. The question was how to carry the seven pounds. I decided, holding my nose, to try a stem-mounted rack.

Oh my fucking god did I detest that thing. I had, already in my possession, a little 900 cubic inch day pack that had been used on a 15-pitch climb in Yosemite and would have been perfect for this job, and instead I spent three of the four days with that piece of shit making my bike look like it had a grotesque cancer and feel like it had battleship up its ass.

That story is worth a gold star right there. +1 badge hasn't been awarded in a while. It's time.
PeakInTwoYears says:

Oct 30 2013 at 7:04 pm

@frank

Thanks. I'll wear it with pride.

The weinerdog, though, damn. I felt his pain. I have bounced off that fucking hedge so many times.
frank says:

Oct 30 2013 at 7:32 pm

@PeakInTwoYears

@frank

Thanks. I'll wear it with pride.

The weinerdog, though, damn. I felt his pain. I have bounced off that fucking hedge so many times.

I thought you were the pot-bellied yorkie who nailed the left-hander.
PeakInTwoYears says:

Oct 30 2013 at 7:59 pm

@frank

I'm going to take that as a compliment and have another glass of wine and another cookie.
Andre the Fish says:

Oct 31 2013 at 12:31 am

@dissolved

I was all set for the idea of heaven @deakus had set before us until I decided to try for a space on the RVV or LBL sportives, now it looks like the holiday period will be all velodrome and turbo sessions if the weather is beyond a stern application of Rule #9.

I can't wait!

Oh now you've done it. Think that you have just solved my problem of maintaining motivation this winter.

Do or die I guess.

Andy
xyxax says:

Oct 31 2013 at 12:33 am

@Steampunk

Absolutely not. I'd say it's a metaphor for life, if I knew what "metaphor" meant.
xyxax says:

Oct 31 2013 at 12:47 am

@Puffy

Indoor vs Outdoor....

Aside from rollers smoothing your stroke.. is there really a benefit that can be had on a trainer that can't be had on the road? I live in a rural town, so 5min warm up and I have 100"²s of kms of uninterupted roads. Flat, rollers, steep hills, a mountain, you name it. Basically I can go out and do my 2x20min TTI intervals, or whatever you like without interruption. I've been giving it a lot of thought but I can't see how doing those on a trainer is going to be any different from a physicological responce point of view than on the road. Part of me wants to get one, but I think it's just because I like buying gadgets, not because it's a fine addition to my training. My coach was non-commital about it. He suggested that I should ride on the road or trainer, where ever I felt.

To answer seriously, your coach is right in the absolute sense of whatever gets you on the bike and finish a training. As someone with increased square-footage, the big difference for me is the exponential effect of wind resistance, even ignoring wind direction.

Wind resistance and gravity: two of the 4 horsemen of the Isuckalypse

and not seriously: you're living my dream.
xyxax says:

Oct 31 2013 at 12:48 am

The other two being age and V-lessness