Beating the Winter Blahs
Whew boy, winter time. Amiright? I’m not sure if winter riding is harder when we have days of mild temps sprinkled in between days of frigid cold, but it seems like it. Maybe it’s harder in that it provides a sense of hope for those mild temps to pop back up giving us better weather options to hop on the bike and pedal around. Or maybe that’s just me. Maybe it’s you too. Maybe it’s both of us.
So what do we do when the winter weather settles in and the lethargy wraps around us like a warm blanket? How do we win against that negative feeling that wars against our better selves? In theory, we all KNOW that movement and activity do wonders for the body and mind. And we know that when we lose these mental wars with ourselves and gravitate towards the couch and Netflix, it becomes another card stacked in the deck of lost battles that our subconscious is amazingly good at keeping track of (yet I can lose my car keys 10 times a day…go figure). So, what do we do? My honest answer: give trial and error a chance and give yourself a healthy dose of grace.
In the first post about winter cycling, I mentioned that the first challenge to doing the task is mindset. It is a mindset to ride in the winter. It is a mindset to ride in the intense heat, high wind, drizzling rain, etc… it takes some mental wrangling to get on the saddle and move in all of these conditions. The only time I can think of when these conditions do not play a role in riding is childhood. Riding a bike as a child was the ultimate experience of speed, freedom, and never ending exploration. I grew up in a small town in Oklahoma in the 1980s and bicycles were a kid’s right of passage: kicking the training wheels, busting knees, making ramps from throw-away lumber, jumping over siblings, pulling wagons and skateboarders, riding down the big toy slide, and coming home when the streetlights came on…these were the glory days of bikes to me. These types of memories can be a well of motivation from which you can draw to help you get into a better frame of mind and get headed in the right direction for a winter ride outside. And it doesn’t have to be strictly a memory from childhood. The main point is to find some of those moments you enjoyed out and about with friends (or solo) and revisit them in your mind. Once you’re there in your head, you’ll find it easier to get the body to follow suit.
Work on the mindset, you can do it. It can be challenging, but it’s not impossible. And as mentioned, leave room for trial and error. What I mean by this is: you’re not going to have your riding clothes dialed in each time you ride. You may not go as far as you hoped. You may find that one of your layers rubs you the wrong way. You may find your hands were cold or you were too hot under the layers you wore. It takes time to get it dialed in. The important thing is that you did it. Period. It’s trial and error, but eventually it becomes as normal as riding in summer kit. One point I will make about cold weather riding is to be sure to keep the wind off the extremities: hands, feet, nose, ears. These will be the most susceptible to the cold air and will let you know very quickly how unprotected they are. The core part of your body, like your torso and thighs, are big muscle areas and will warm up nicely as you get moving so keep that in mind as you layer. You also don’t need the most expensive gear to ride in cold weather. You just need to make sure you keep yourself from being beat up by the wind chill. Work with what you’ve got and dial it in from there.
One last thing…give yourself some grace on winter riding. There is no other person to be used for a measuring stick here other than yourself. Quite often cyclists default into a mindset that defines a ride as one you are fully kitted out for, endure for hours, and cover long ass miles. Going back to the memory bank of fun rides mentioned earlier, these figures were never part of the equation. A ride is a ride. Enjoying a bike ride for a few blocks to get a cup of coffee with a friend or to get outside and let some fresh air into your lungs (which most of us are devoid of in winter time) is enough. Kit or no kit. It’s a fun a machine first and foremost. Remember that and go easy on yourself and take some baby steps to get it out the door. I think you’ll enjoy the time you spent wheeling around once you get back home and settle in with a warm throw and some Netflix for the night!