When Winter Forced Me Indoors

When the first cold days came in early November, I bundled up and suffered through my planned workouts. An hour into the rides, I would inevitably be miserable: either sweating profusely from too many layers/clothing, or gritting my teeth at the pain shooting through my frozen extremities.

I will be the first to admit that there are likely better gear combinations than what I’ve been able to compile, yet despite my best efforts, snowboard mittens, and winter riding boots, my hands and feet never seem to stay warm when riding outdoors in the cold. So for the majority of my rides this winter, I’ve been indoors.

That probably wouldn’t be a big deal, except that in past years, I’ve done everything possible to avoid riding indoors.

This year, I just can’t manage the motivation to bundle up for an outdoor ride where my muscles will be cold and less responsive, I’ll have to wash my bike when I get home, and where I’ll be miserably cold by the end of it. Riding the trainer just seems so much easier.

That being said, there is a note in my training journal that reminds me of the pain of making the transition to indoors:

“Riding indoors always seems harder for the first few weeks. Push through it.”

In November, when I first succumbed to the cold and dark of midwestern winter and moved inside, I struggled. The workouts seemed harder, the bike less comfortable, the rate of “failure” higher. But I kept at it.

Soon, several weeks passed of riding indoors consistently. It became normal. I adjusted mentally and physically to the demands of workouts on the trainer. Now, two months later, I’m riding on days when I’m not even required to ride.

What changed?

In short, Zwift.

But let me explain. I’ve been a Zwift user for three years now, but never really gotten very engaged in the platform until this year. In the past, I’ve merely used Zwift as a background for my workouts and to join an occasional group ride. Fun enough, and certainly better than staring at a wall or even a movie, but not anything that would make me want to get on the trainer on a day off.

This year, however, I’ve started to get into the “game” of Zwift.

Rather than setting my avatar’s bike and jersey once and leaving it for the entire season, I change bikes and jerseys at least weekly (sometimes for every ride!).

Then, I learned about Route Badges. For every route completed on Zwift, there is a badge (and extra sweat drop points!). For whatever reason, this became a major incentive for me. I printed off a list of all of the routes on Zwift, then highlighted each route as I completed it.

Last week, when I was off school due to snow, I called an audible and opted to ride the London PRL Full route on Zwift–108 miles, making laps through London and up Box hill. It was supposed to be a rest day, but thanks to the draw of those route badges, I ended up riding for seven hours!

This is perhaps the only drawback of getting drawn into the game that is virtual cycling. Occasionally, that pull becomes so strong that it is nearly impossible to stick to the training plan. There are KOMs and sprints to chase, group rides to hang with, and long routes to complete–all of which make an easy day on the trainer hard to come by.

My solution to this (with the exception of my PRL Full route badge ride) is to sync my TrainingPeaks account with Zwift. In this way, each day’s workouts from my coach show as a workout option when I log into Zwift. I can select my route (getting those badges!), select my workout, and have the visual reminders of each interval and target wattage/cadence as I ride. (ERG mode is also an option, though one I’m less likely to use, as I dislike the cadence invariability of it). I even have the option of joining a meetup with a group of friends: as long as the “stick together” feature is selected, I can still complete my structured workouts while riding with the group (which is nearly impossible to do in-real-life!).

On those days when I do have “free rides” (typically a target power for a set time period, such as riding tempo for 90 minutes), I enjoy joining group rides on Zwift that will allow me to ride within my target power. Thanks to the popularity of Zwift, it is almost always possible to find a group riding happening at any time of the day or night. I’ve joined groups from my local bike shop, fundraising groups, groups with pro athletes, and groups that just happened to be riding when and how I wanted to ride.

My most recent addition to winter riding is Zwift racing. Admittedly, I’ve done a few Zwift races in the past. Seemingly once or twice a year, my coach has written a Zwift race into the plans. Last year, I remember being all psyched up for the race beforehand, then just really not being able to “get into it” during the race. My first race of this winter season, I was all-in, but due to the extremely fast starts characteristic of Zwift races (and my lack of knowledge of how the race/course/game/draft features could work to my benefit) was only able to hang onto the group for about the first 20 minutes before completely blowing up. Then last weekend, thanks to being drafted onto a Zwift race team, the Finesse Rockettes, I did another race with a teammate on Discord to “DM” the race–talking me through the course and the race strategies as it was happening (Like, what? Can I have someone do this in real life? So. Cool.). This changed Zwift racing for me. Suddenly, I understood some of the game-specific race tactics and started to feel like I had a shot at being competitive (B races only, but still.). Balancing the increased racing that comes with being a on a Zwift racing team with my training schedule is still something I’m figuring out, but I’m excited to learn this new aspect of #zwiftlife–including my first ever TTT (team time trial) with the team tomorrow night!

Don’t get me wrong. I’m still jonesing hard for some long gravel or mtb rides outside (please send summer!). But I’m not willing to be miserable in the cold to make that happen when there is a not only manageable, but also interesting alternative thanks to Zwift.

Until the weather starts to turn, you’ll find me Zwifting.

#RideOn

#RideFierce