Its Winter so it has to be OK



I was thinking about my thoughts on street lighting in yesterdays posting and it got me to thinking about the weather of course..For those of you who are waking from a one week drunken stupor or living abroad in Sunnier climates - I have noticed India, Singapore, Argentina and the USA on the blog- we in England are suffering from our earliest winter in living memory. Temperatures are falling-minus 10 tomorrow I am told and snow is shutting down many of our roads and airports. It amazes me that we just can't clear the stuff or we grind to a halt simply because of the wicked white stuff.

So what do we people whose lives revolve around the two wheeled machines do when riding is impossible? Well first of all respect to those of you out there still riding through the snow (are you sure you should be doing that?). I hope you are keeping upright and I hope you find a way to warm up quickly. There are other options though. First of all the indoor trainer - traditional rollers are fantastic if you love the stress brought about with the fear of flying forward as you come of the edge of the things. Then there is the turbo trainer. The ultimate version being the Tacx virtual reality I have talked about in previous blogs. It's social too you know. You can link over the Internet and even chat with someone in New York while riding through Germany. Or bring your mates round for an evening of track racing in the lounge, You may need to move the furniture into the garage though so the kids can watch TV. Then there are other activities, swimming is great for core strength,the gym for specific muscle development, think about squash, 5 a side football or Morris dancing, after all the competition for the most ridiculous clothing must be won by them or us.

Ultimately though, to beat those winter blues try to fit a few rides in outside, on holiday if you can, wrapped up nice and warm if you can't. Remember the timings will drop. Book your next race or sportive as a goal for early next year and ......do you know something....like the happy chappy in the picture...it's OK to put a few pounds on over the winter. It keeps the cold away and makes you very attractive to ....well possibly just yourself but who cares. Stay safe and be sensible.