Preparing for winter :mad:

[goride]

I do not ride in winter for all the reasons Oakleaf noted, and I am also farther north. Our not snowy or icy road season ends in November, and with a little luck, I might get to ride outdoors by the end of March (short rides because it will still be less than 40 degrees). Over the winter I continue running, weight classes and yoga, and add spin classes, ride on the trainer, snowshoe, and xc ski. Just learning to xc ski and last season was my first season. I am not so sure I am actually skiing as walking on skis at this point. In fact I found that in general, my skiing is much slower than my running. This seems wrong; I am definitely not a fast runner. Since I have added the outdoor winter sports I like winter much more than I used to.

[chryss]

Well, given I'm in Alaska and haven't lived through an entire winter yet, I don't know. I doubt I'll join the hard-core winter riders (there are a bunch of those) my first cold season, but do hope that until the road ices over I can ride a road bike and during times when the temperature stays around the 0°F/-20°C mark I can at least amble over some snowy trails once in a while.

But mostly I plan on taking up regular cross-country skiing. My workplace's back door goes out on a trail system: I just have to cross a parking lot. The other items on the winter fitness plan are to start weight lifting seriously (I have "The new rules of lifting for women" and am intrigued) and then there's running ... I still have a hard time believing that the human body is capable of running continuously for an entire mile or even more. Time to try it out!

[jelee1311]

I ride all winter, of course we don't get much snow. I got great rain/ wind gear last year so I could ride outside. I'd rather ride outside than on a trainer because I feel like a hamster on a wheel. I swim,do yoga and pilates,and I plan to try snowshoeing this year.