December is when the inevitable truly settles in.
The days are at their shortest, and although modest snowfall may melt away the snow begins to stick with increasingly greater frequency. Work also tends to get intense for a variety of reasons, but losing the ability to get outside regularly to ride definitely makes coping more difficult.
I got in a ton of outdoor miles in November, and if I can get organized in the next couple weeks I can still cherry pick some days in the coming weeks. It’s never easy, but as Spinney reminds me now is when I need to work on improving because now is when the foundation is laid for next season.
As I’ve said many times I don’t change gears well, and the bike to ski swap can be difficult. Sure, I ski plenty, and I even enjoy it some of the time, but more than that is the feeling like something I love is going away and I just want to hold onto it a little longer. Or a lot longer.
With my increasingly aerobic focus I have not yet figured out how I’m going to approach my ski season. Because I can pin it for short durations I can skate on steep & punchy terrain, but that does little for my overall fitness and although it keeps me from getting fatter it doesn’t help me lean up for cycling. Instead of skiing at Trapp’s with abandon I’m likely to travel further to someplace flatter and really try to keep the intensity down.
This weekend I’m thinking about getting some road miles in tomorrow afternoon then heading to Pine Hill Park Sunday morning before things thaw out too much and get soft. That’s if there isn’t any snow to ruin things for me, though if it’s firm enough and the snow isn’t too deep I could probably still ride.
Winter riding stoke is hard to come by so I’ve watched this video several times to try to get fired up. It’s made the rounds on the interwebs a few times but it’s still worth a look.
I’m also going to try to do some winter events, and next weekend’s winter triathlon at Craftsbury is first on the list. Maybe I should start doing some more running…