Saturday, November 14, 2009

Fresh air


I’m not much of one to ride bicycles indoors. I understand for some people this is a great way to keep in shape in the “off season”, but for me it’s a non-starter. I ride bikes to get out of the house. If I was going to ride indoors I could have saved myself a lot of money and just bought an exercise bike.

My winter fitness plan

Plus, riding when the weather isn’t ideal makes it hard for me to rationalize not riding when the weather is nice.

I love this sound.

And I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like it when all the non-cyclists I know tell me I am out of my tree.

6 comments:

Rachel said...

Where's a good place to pick up studded bike tires? I'm going to try out cycling in the snow for my very first time this year!

Jacque Hendrix said...

Ahh, the wonderful sound of studded bicycle tires.

John Speare said...

Rachel -- any bike shop can order studs for you. What's important is to get studs made from carbide steel (more $$, last for years) instead of mild steel (<$, lasts for weeks). Check out http://www.icebike.com/ for good info on the good stuff.

Rachel said...

Thanks John.
Do you think studs are pretty important? This winter I'm riding an old, not-so-great MTB I have hanging out in my garage. I have plans to buy a new bike, so I'll probably have something different next year. Because of this, I probably don't want to sink too much money into tires just yet because they probably won't fit whatever bike I end up buying.

That site looks great, thanks!

John Speare said...

If you are going to "commute everyday no matter what," then I think studs are important. Otherwise, I'd get fat knobbies for your mnt bike and just ride when it's not icy. Studs only help on the ice and compact (ice-like) snow. Otherwise, fat, low-pressure knobbies work well in snow. For winter riding, I'd put my money in lights and fenders before buying studs.

EvilElf said...

I put on my studded tires a couple of weeks ago when it snowed, thinking "this is it." However, I am still riding the bicycle without the studded tires thanks to the lack of ice. It's good knowing that the winter bike is ready to go when I need it.

I don't think I have ever been so far ahead of the game. It feels kind of strange.

I like to ride outside through the winter, but when the roads get slippery my cardio is mostly from being scared going down the hill. So, I will put on some Warren Miller movie and bike indoors to get in some good cardio. I wear a heart monitor to make sure I don't slack too much.

In other words, in the winter, I continue to commute and bike around in the snow and ice for fun. I "ride" indoors and step up my mileage running outdoors for exercise.

Great post and video!