Quote Originally Posted by nuthatch
that winter trainer work does not really substitute for the feel of the road and the actual hill climbing! I'm hoping some sort of muscle memory will kick in and we will get back to "fightin' shape" fast! It's that whole outdoor-spiritual aspect of riding that somehow makes winter training a weak, pale mockery of the real thing!!!

Of course, yesterday we had tornadoes and today we have 45 mph winds. Dang March weather!
I agree on the trainer not even coming close to the experience of 'real biking' (as opposed to pretend biking ) One of my resolutions for the coming new year was to change my attitude about the trainer (would welcome using the trainer and view it as an opportunity to ride rather than some sort of 'punishment), hills (I KNOW I can, I KNOW I can) and wind (It is what it is and b*tching won't change it but b*tching will affect my ride). Since the new year I have ridden the trainer six days a week increasing my trainer time from a half hour to over an hour. It really did make a difference when I finally was able to get out for three days in a row this week ... but there is still no comparison to being outside. My legs are definatley feeling the effects of biking in 15 to 20 mph winds and dodging small lakes and rivers off the melting snow even after all the time spent on the trainer.

Apparently we've all ready had our high temperature for today - 47 degrees sometime around 5:45 am - winds today are predicted at 45 mph which will certainly help dry things up but it meant that this morning I was clipped in biking on the trainer flipping through tv channels and looking forward to tomorrow.