Winter Cycling Training Tips

Winter in the Europe can be mild, wet, to chilly and snowy. It is changeable and you are never guaranteed of the same conditions each year. People enjoy pedaling in snow in Europe, it is not regarded as off season. You can easily meet people on their bikes, commuting from one place to the other.  If you are also thinking to ride in winters? Here are a few tips to keep you going in winter.

Set Goals – How much you want to Travel?

Your goals should be as per your fitness and experience level. Set your own personal goals such as distance goal, a time/distance goal; an event goal; or to lose weight, gain fitness. Whatever may be your goal is, make sure that it is realistic and attainable. It will help you keep going when the training gets tough, and the cold weather sets in.

Keep Taking breaks – Do not Exhaust yourself

It is important to take small interval breaks between pedalling. Otherwise, you may lose your motivation and develop a mental or physical fatigue. When you do take time off be sure to cut back on your food portions at mealtimes. Listen to your body, and allow enough time for recovery.

Building your base

It is the time to ease back on the intensity, and instead concentrate on building a base. Think of your base as a foundation, this is what will help you to absorb and gain benefit from all your future higher intensity sessions. It improves your cardiovascular systems and helps you become a more efficient rider. In the past it was thought the best way to build a base, get out on the bike and ride as much as miles as possibl. This resulted in a lot of ‘junk miles’. ‘Junk miles’ refers to miles added into your European Bicycle Tours plan with no purpose other than to increase your mileage count.

Winter is the Best Time for Strength training

Winter is the best time to develop inner strength and undergo strength training. If you have the time, a short session of 30 mins, 2 or 3 times a week, can be very beneficial. This can be in the gym or at home. A good strong core can help prevent injury and will help eliminate unnecessary upper-body movement. You don’t need specialist equipment; you can start off using your own body weight and do exercises such as press ups, squats and crunches, etc. Just like your cycle training, be sure to stretch afterwards.

If you find your training getting a monotonous maybe consider going on a short distance cycling tour. These can be great to keep you motivated. They can be as hard or as easy as you make them. However, remember not to get carried away with the intensity, it’s winter so you don’t really want to be doing max efforts until you have built your base.

While venturing out, be sure to wear the appropriate clothing for the conditions, and carry some food. Even though it may be cold your body will still sweat, so make sure you drink enough fluids, despite maybe not feeling like doing so. Make sure your tyres are durable. You can buy tyres specific for winter.

Europe is one of the most popular countries in the world for taking bike tours. These winter training tips will surely help you enjoy a winter European Bicycle Tours. Europe is a continent of cyclists. Planning a bike tour to travel Europe is a brilliant idea.