Suffering from a lack of winter motivation

I think the rules are great but sticking to them is not so easy. My marathon time kind of gives me away! And the odd bike race preceded by a swim and followed by a run... But apart from that... Oh, then theres the triple, very useful,I am in Devon ffs but apart from that.....

@racefaceec90, there's nothing wrong with being patient. Inexperience and a new bike mean understandable caution. There's a point where trying to mtfu can lead to a stupid decision that unnecessarily risks your season or even your life.

Those tongue-in-cheek 'rules' are only taken literally by neophytes and those anxious to impress. Nobody tells me what to wear or when to ride my bike.

being a road cycling novice,i haven't ridden my new bike for the last week,as it's been pretty frosty.i really want to ride it,but hear the horror stories about crashing the first sniff your road bike gets of icy roads

i know that (the rules) i just read,mtfu comes to the fore in answer to this predicament.i do not have the balance/reactions of a cat * so i will leave the bad riding conditions to the "hard men" next week the weather looks a lot better

* i also don't want to bin my lovely new tarmac either (or slide under the wheels of an 18 wheeler

I restarted cycling (commuting) about a month ago when my job moved to Bristol. I used to do a lot of cycling when I lived in Munich and Brussels so it's been enjoyable getting back into it and fortunately there are a lot of cycle paths for my commute to work. Anyway, I thought the torrential rain was bad enough but -5C at 0600am is killing me. I think I have enough layers on now but my feet are still cold. I'll definitely be looking forward to the warmer weather!

I hate the winter cold weather. There is nothing wrong with a fresh morning when I get kitted up with warm clothing. But I like it to warm up a bit and if it is raining I don't go out. Icy cold rain. Horrible! Unfortunatly I have become a little fearful of rain in the summer and I realise I need to 'man up' a bit. I always feel a bit ashamed when I am driving around in my car and I see 'real cyclists' still training in the cold rain when I have decided to give it a miss.

Note to myself. 'Man up' in 2013.

Ring in the wind, rain, snow and cold = shimmering thighs of steel in the summer. Probably.

I would agree with the Bedfordshire Clanger. What I do is look at the BBC online forecast the day before and decide from that if I am riding or not and what time; it is rarely wrong. If you just decide in the morning then you tend to put it off...and then it gets dark. The weather is never as bad outside as it looks from indoors. So what you could do is plan a quick leg stretcher, generally when I do this I ride further because I think,"I am out now so I might as well get on!". I tend to avoid very icy or windy conditions because of the risk of injury. If I do not ride (because of the weather) I do a bit of running (I know; Rule 42)but a short jog ticks the box for me!

ah yes #5 and #9 ...

Quote:

However, it looks like things are going to improve next week so now may be the time to meditate on rules 5 and 9.

lol

Firstly, there's nothing wrong with a rest. There may be some good reasons why you don't feel like going out and the past few days in particular have been awful conditions for a ride. However, it looks like things are going to improve next week so now may be the time to meditate on rules 5 and 9. It is always better than it looks from indoors when you are out on the bike and there is no such thing as a bad turn of the pedals. Every mile, every revolution that you put in now will make you a better cyclist next summer. Whatever your goals are - going faster, further, losing weight, burning your mates or just enjoying time out on the bike, every extra minute you spend racking up the miles over winter will pay you back come the summer. What are you waiting for? Get out and ride!

How about getting to one of the winter closed circuit racing series, if you don't fancy racing in the winter just use the facilities while there is nothing, a lot safer and no cars to worry about. Also a place to have a quality, structured session that isn't on turbo/rollers!!

Or, do you have an old MTB or a chunky road bike with Cross tyre that would put up with a little steady off road then try out some of the local byways, common land etc - lots more grip off road, especially in the frost/ice

Either, take a week off, or watch some videos.

Particularly the British Cycling: Road to Glory

A couple of weeks ago I was the same, no races coming up soon, sh*t weather, and no buddies to go out with in London.

My housemaster lent me the DVD, and although I'd seen it before, Wiggins climbing up onto the roof of that car really reignited my passion...

Good luck!

Check here for some motivation

http://road.cc/content/forum/70546-how-do-you-motivate-yourself-ride-rub...