Some Cold Miles in the Legs

Another good week just managing to keep the cold at bay. Two hard rides to add to the endurance. Looking forward to first race on Feb 12th.

• Sun 22nd – 35 miles @ 15.5 mph – 2.15.00 – A recovery ride after previous days 85 miles. Slow and cold. Not the best combination. But, a good weekend of endurance riding.
• Mon 23rd – rest
• Tues 24th –  25 miles. Including 12 mile hill TT on winter training bike. 12 miles @ 23.1 mph. First kind of training at race pace. A local road race circuit. I averaged 23.1 mph, which is quite good for this time of year, given winter clothes and winter training bike. Felt good to be riding at this intensity. Recovered from effort fairly well.
• Wed 25th – 41 miles @ 16.3 mph. 2.30.00. Recovery ride. Nice weather. Fairly steady.
• Thurs 26th – 35 miles @22.1 mph. Hardest ride of the year. 1.45.00 at threshold level. Chose a flat circuit and kept constant pace. Included some leg strengthening exercises. A few minutes uphill in big gear at 50 rpm. Am being cautious about this due to last year’s problem with knees. Got cold in last 5 miles. Temperature dips in late afternoon, and the sweat started to dry. Very good ride, but really hard work.
• Fri 27th – rest. Thought about a recovery ride, but decided the bathroom needed cleaning instead. I could write a book ‘100 reasons not to do a winter recovery ride when temperature is less than 5 degrees’.
• Sat 28th – 60 miles @16.3 mph. Legs still feeling effect of Thurs ride, so took it at easy pace and only did 60 miles, rather than last weeks 80+ miles. When the temperature is less than 5 degrees, it seems no matter how many clothes you wear, you still end up getting cold by end. Role on warmer weather. In terms of recovery I reckon Thursday’s 2 hours @22mph was as hard as riding 100 miles at steady pace. I know understand why Graeme Obree said, he took 3-4 days to recover from these kinds of rides!
• Weeks total around 200 miles (including commuting miles)

January will be 1,000 miles in the legs.

Question: Why do we do the most miles, when the weather is the coldest? At least roads are nice and quiet at this time of the year.

See: Tips for Cycling in the cold