Saturday Rides Starting from Starbucks in Rosemount, MN
During the winter off season, when we cannot ride road bikes outside, we offer Saturday morning group rides on Zwift. These rides usually offer a weekly two to four-hour group ride. To communicate during the rides, we have a Discord server that lets us talk to each other and lets us have our coffee and pastry-shop chat during the ride.
Read MoreA few club members have been riding with Zwift for multiple seasons. This year, I decided to join Zwift to see what it can do to make indoor riding a bit more fun and interesting. Zwift is a game for your indoor trainer where you can ride on several virtual courses that are imaginary or based on real places around the globe. You can ride over 100 km of virtual roads, do structured workouts, and join group rides.
Getting started was pretty easy. All I needed was the trainer that I already own, a speed sensor that supports ANT+ or Bluetooth, and a laptop. I didn’t have a speed sensor, so I bought the Wahoo RPM Cycling Speed and Cadence Sensor combo. They are small and light and can communicate via ANT+ and Bluetooth, so I can pair them via Bluetooth to the Zwift Companion app and via ANT+ with my Garmin 510 when I ride outdoors.
Read MoreThis guide will help you if you’re a new rider and you don't have a closet full of cycling clothing and you don't have experience riding in a wide variety of weather conditions. Or, if you've been riding for a while and want to extend your riding season, this will help you make the leap to improve your clothing choices. I'll explain what cycling clothing, called kit, you should own, so you can get out for a ride in a wide variety of conditions.
Before we get into the clothing specifics, here are a few things you should consider when trying on clothing.
Read MoreDeciding what to wear while cycling in inclement weather is tricky. It can take a lot of trial and error to get it dialed in, but riding in most conditions is A LOT more comfortable once you know how to dress. It’s a horrible feeling when you went through the painstaking process to figure out what to wear last year, but you wrote nothing down so you spend the first few rides of each season miserable.
I’m here to tell you about a system I’ve honed that could help you out. The picture below is me, sitting in the car after a fat bike ride at -10F, where I was actually TOO HOT on the ride.
Read MoreThis is the time of the year in which we have to think about another safety factor, the sun. We have all experienced driving in our own cars, driving along and then turning to go east in the morning, our turning to go west at night. You can't flip that sun visor down quick enough, right?? This can be a dangerous thing especially if you are riding into that bright light on a road with no our very little shoulder. I personally have witnessed this twice since riding with a group. Luckely no one was seriously hurt. So take in consideration that the driver of any kind of vehicle can be blinded by the sun and not be able to see you.
I mentioned this little tip before and thought it worth while to mention again. Most of you drive to our ride on Saturday and you have a complete wardrobe of bike clothes with you. For those of us who ride to Dunn Bros. it can be a guessing game as far as how much to wear without overheating. I have more than once been under-dressed leaving the house only to turn back a mile later for something more. The rule of thumb that will help you is, you should be slightly uncomfortable for the first 3 mi. If you are OK after that then you are dressed just right.
Everyone who has tried riding the trainer knows what I'm talking about when I say, every minute on the trainer can seem like 5 min., unless you are one of the exceptions who can turn off your brain for an hour or two! To make the time go faster I recommend having a TV with the sound off, some rippin good music and a fan blowing on you, all at the same time. There is another solution, and that is check into buying a good light for night riding. I'm not talking about your average $40-60 models. Today your serious night rider is sporting a unit that will cost $200-$400 and I believe they are rated in candle power.
There have been studies that have shown that cycling alone without some sort of cross-training can cause low bone mass and deterioration of bone tissue over time. This is because cycling is considered a low impact sport. One study compared the bone densities of cyclists, runners and weight lifters, and found the cyclists had the lowest. I personally know of a couple riders from our area who in the past have been evaluated with brittle bone disease. Of course this can come as a surprise to a rider that logs at least 5,000 mi. per year.
Read MoreGoing with more layers is always best because you can shed them as the ride progresses with the temperature and stuff it in your jersey pockets. Booties and long finger gloves are a must. Remember this simple tip: If you are a little chilly for the first 2-3 miles you should be good to go as your body temp slowly rises. Of course sunny days versus cloudy windy ones will also effect your clothing choice.
Weather you belong to a health club or not here is some important information that many ignore for winter workouts.
We as cyclists think that we are in great shape physically because we ride 3,000-6,000 miles in the summer right?
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