In addition to blogging on the urban cycling and bikes we will ocasionaly bring something for you, who are interested in cycling more, willing to train and compete. On our FB page “Cyklisti Trnava” you can ask us how to train, which clothes, bike or training machine to buy. And because plenty of questions about training in this period, we summarize it right here. A little note for a start: We bike competitively or recreationaly for more than 10 years, but we don’t consider ourselves as experts. This is about our opinion and recommendation. Simply experiences, what have worked for us.

Practice in this time of the year is specific because of the weather and the aim of trainings. But true is, that who blow off the winter preparation, will feel it whole next season.

Let’s start with the most important. Safety! Because it’s getting dark soon, we recommend reflective elements, flash lights, etc. But in total dark, which is at this time of the year already at 5pm, we don’t ride usual roads because of the cars. Great thing we recommend to buy is reflective vest. It’s kind of similar like the one you have in your car, but material is different and fits better for a riding. It’s possible to get one at Erik’s Cyklocentrum Plus. Lights are super important and basically, more is better (There is large selection of lights at Pecobikes).The lamps like e.g. Sigma Powered Evo, really make sense. With light like this is possible that even a bus could flash because you illuminate him. True story J

The second important thing is clothes. The weather is fickle and mostly cold. It’s all about health. There are a lot of extremists, that ride even when freezing, but we don’t ride when it’s below 5 degrees. Air is too cold for deep breathing and joints suffer. But still it’s individual. Feet and hands suffer the most. To protect feet we recommend winter socks and gaiters. Because bike shoes are mainly for a summer, you will always feel cold without special winter bike shoe. It’s possible to get winter shoe from 100 euro. SIDI Diablo costs twice, but it’s an investment for 10 years. There is a “layer rule” in winter. More than Windstoper materials we recommend more layers. These warm clothes from Goratex doesn’t breathe that well, and you will get sweaty really fast. And they are expensive as well. We always use functional underwear as a first layer. The sweat doesn’t stay on the skin, so the warm feeling last longer. Now we just put gloves, hat under the helmet and let’s ride. There are a lot of brands on the market. From cheap ones, Nyna is ok, or if you want something special, in Cyklocentrum Plus there are various pieces of Castelli brand.

When we are ready, let’s choose the track. This time it’s not about pushing to the limit or racing, just sit on the bike and twirl the legs. We ride longer, light gears, low pulse. Frequency of pedaling around 100, pulse under 140 and 100km flat should be no problem. The target is volume. You will build on that all next season. When the weather is not in favor for riding, just go cross country, skiing or whatever. Hitch hiking and gym are also pretty good. Sometimes you need a little rest from bike anyway.

Training at home on the machine is a chapter by itself. To the apartment we recommend more machine than cylinders because of the noise. Tacx or Elite are really good brands. Personally we use Tacx Booster. By the way, the machine is a little bit crazy. Use it regularly and hold on demand “balls”. Ideal is watching some road biking in TV during training. It’s hard to focus on a movie. That’s also the reason why you can buy a lot of training machines second handed in the spring. It’s not for everybody.

In spring the best thing is to go abroad, for example Croatia. There is better weather, you have some change and plenty time for riding. This year we travel through Sporttour.sk.

We hope you found some answers for your questions. If you are still interested in anything, just ask at Facebook page Cyklisti Trnava. We wish you a lot of awesome kilometers J

Cyklisti Trnava

winter training

Cyklisti Trnava cross country

spirit of winter training

train with friends

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