Is it really so bad to take the whole winter off the bike?
Question: I basically hang the bike up from Thanksgiving to March. Between work, the kids’ basketball season, and it being dark before I get home, riding just doesn’t fit those months, and honestly, I don’t even miss it until the days get longer. My riding buddies act like this is a crime. They’re all on Zwift five nights a week, sending me screenshots and telling me I’m “losing everything I built.” And sure, every April I’m slow for about six weeks. But by June I’m right back in the same group taking the same pulls. So what’s the real story? Is starting over every spring actually as costly as everyone insists, or are my basement-dwelling friends just recruiting? —Jason K.
RBR’S STAN PURDUM REPLIES: Whether doing so consciously or not, your basement-dwelling friends may be seeking affirmation of their own decision to Zwift through the winter. This is not to say there’s anything wrong with their choice, but laying off cycling through the winter is not the disaster some make it out to be. You’ll lose some cycling fitness, but that fitness can be rebuilt.
It comes down to cycling goals. If your aim is to maintain high fitness year-round, then yes, sweat away on the stationary bike (but know that even the cycling pros build some weeks of downtime into their schedules). But if your goal is to enjoy the cycling experience, get some health benefits and outdoor time, then feel free not to ride in the winter.
Taking the winter off the bike doesn’t have to mean taking it off exercise. Walking, strength training, or other activities can help you stay active until spring.
Taking a few months off the bike does not mean you’re not a “real” cyclist — rather you are a cyclist in “winter mode.” Your body has not forgotten how to ride, and when you get back on the bike in the spring, your pedaling skills will be intact, and after a couple of rides where you may not set any land-speed records, you’ll notice your fitness beginning to reassert itself.
In fact, the time off the bike can set you up for an enjoyable return to it.
If you’re worried about losing fitness, you may be able to take advantage of occasional days in winter when the temperatures are high enough — and the roads are clear enough — to fit in a ride, but you shouldn’t think of doing so as obligatory.
During several Februarys, I’ve been able to schedule a 10-day vacation where I ride with a cycling group in Florida. While those rides no doubt give me a fitness lift, that’s not their main purpose, for when I return to frozen Ohio afterward, I’m still looking at a few bleak weeks weatherwise where I may not get back on the bike right away.
But when I do, the fitness gradually returns — but the joy comes back almost right away.
Stan Purdum has ridden several long-distance bike trips, including an across-America ride recounted in his book Roll Around Heaven All Day, and a trek on U.S. 62, from Niagara Falls, New York, to El Paso, Texas, the subject of his book Playing in Traffic. Stan, a freelance writer and editor, lives in Ohio. See more at www.StanPurdum.com.
