Where I live in the Southeast United States there are two times of the year during which outdoor cycling is unpleasant, which can lead to a tough ramp-up when cycling weather again comes around.
Dog-Days of Summer
The first is during the summer, usually beginning in mid-July and ending in mid-September. During this time the heat and humidity combine to make cycling a sweltering and oppressive endeavor.
This combination of heat and humidity is encapsulated in a calculated value, the “Dew Point”, which is the temperature at which water will condense out of the air. When the temperature and the Dew Point are the same, the result is fog.
It is the Dew Point that determines how miserable things are – the the higher the Dew Point, the less efficient are your body’s built-in cooling mechanisms.
Our local weather nerds at Nashville Severe Weather have established a reference to how good or bad is the heat/humidity situation:
I have found this table to be absolutely accurate.
The Depths of Winter
The other time of year when cycling often isn’t an option is winter. Many think that winter in the Southeast United States is uniformly warm; well, it isn’t! Our wintertime temperatures can range from a comfortable 70°F to -20°F. For me, any temperature below 40°F is too chilly for me to enjoy a bike ride.
During these times in the summer and winter I am driven indoors and do my cycling on my bike trainer.
Indoor Cycling
In the off-season, I cycle indoors using a Garmin Tacx Vortex Smart Trainer. that it is a smart trainer is important because that enables what I consider to be some of the most important factors that make indoor cycling tolerable. Those factors are as follows:
- Interesting scenery
- Intelligent interactivity
Indoor Cycling Equipment
The Garmin Tacx Vortex smart trainer is a wheel-on trainer and the bicycle I use on it is my ancient Bridgestone T700 touring bike.
Here are some photos of my indoor cycling configuration:
Adding Some Realism (and comfort!)
Some people use rocker-boards under their trainer setup to allow the bike to move in response to riding movements while training. I’ve started using yoga balance-balls under my trainer to achieve the same effect.
Use of these balance balls requires some additional care when mounting and dismounting the bicycle, but the realism and comfort while using the trainer is greatly improved.
Training Content
Additionally, the application I use for my training is Kinomap. Kinomap has apps for both iOS devices and Android devices and features a library of thousands of videos from locations around the world.
These videos are created by individuals, such as myself, and are synchronized with the GPS tracks taken when the videos were recorded. The GPS data is then used by the Kinomap app to control the riding resistance provided by the smart trainer – for example, if the GPS track indicates that the rider is ascending a hill, the Kinomap app signals the smart trainer to increase the riding resistance to match the incline of the ascent.
I have the Kinomap app installed on an Apple iPad which I mirror to an Apple TV which is connected to a large screen TV directly in front of my trainer. This provides an enjoyable training experience.
Further, I record videos of many of my rides and then edit them to remove long stops and then synchronize the video with the GPS track of the ride. I then upload the video and GPS track to Kinomap which processes the video and GPS data and makes the ride available to Kinomap users.
You can see my library of uploaded Kinomap rides here:
Pre or Post Training Regimen
Either before or after a session on the trainer, I’ve begun a regimen of stretching and mobility and injury prevention exercises provided by Dynamic Cyclist.
These are short – about 15 minutes each – professionally guided video routines, focused on stretching and mobility, injury prevention and strength training, all designed specifically for cyclists.
I originally tried their 7-day free trial and was so surprised by how I felt after just 2 days that I subscribed!
Summary
I use a smart trainer coupled with the Kinomap app installed on an Apple iPad to do virtual rides from around the world which I view on a large screen TV.
Finally, I followup a session on the trainer with stretching and mobility as well as injury prevention exercise sessions provided by Dynamic Cyclist.
I hope this might be helpful to you as you consider what to do to stay in shape in your off-season!