- Here in New England where I call home,
before the snow and the cold weather comes
it gets rainy and snowy.
And you're probably saying to me, Powers that's exactly why
I own an indoor trainer.
However, I love an adventure.
So I'm going to show you guys some tips today
about how to get out the door
when it's cold and nasty, brrr.
(upbeat music)
okay so let's go through what I'm wearing.
First off, I've got the helmet on with no vents.
Either an aero helmet or a winter version is great.
The more vents you have, imagine that more water
and cold can go in.
You want to make sure that you have a good
healthy underlayer.
You want to make sure that you have a lot of neoprene.
Cotton and other materials that aren't waterproof
and don't hold heat in under wet conditions
are not going to be good for what I'm talking about here.
Then you want to make sure you have a really quick way
to be able to change a flat in the event
that you were to unfortunately get a flat in cold weather.
You want to make sure that you've got a CO2, a tire lever,
a quick inflater, and a good multi-tool.
(upbeat music)
okay so now that we are inside, we're warm,
we've got our clothes on.
We've got our neoprene shoe covers.
We've go tour thermal bib tights.
We've got a good, warm undershirt.
We've got another jersey, another jacket, neoprene gloves,
head wear, everything to keep the core and the body
as warm as absolutely possible against the conditions.
Now it's time to get into a good, positive mindset.
(upbeat music)
And start warming up, you got to do stuff,
you got to get ready, you got to get a little bit
of heat and sweat going on when we're in the house.
(upbeat music)
I have a gym, I have all kinds of stuff that I can use
to be able to do these exercises.
But I'm showing you guys that with, even without anything,
you can do these planks, pushups, all this stuff
to be able to get yourself warmed up.
Get in like a nice, small, little core session
with all your clothes on so that when you head outside
you got a nice little sweat going and you're not trying
to get your body temperature up when you're already freezing
from being out in the elements.
One thing that is essential when it's super cold
and nasty out, stay close to the house.
You don't want to be out in the middle of nowhere,
cold, having to call somebody to come pick you up.
Not a good look.
Stay close to the house, 10, 15 minutes away.
Ideal scenario for when it's bad out.
(upbeat music)
okay so I've warmed up in the house.
It was my 10 minutes of calisthenics.
Now I'm over at the trail head.
It's very close to my house, less than 10 minutes ride
through the woods to keep me out of the elements.
If you don't have trails or anything that will keep you
out of the nasty stuff on the road right away,
drive over to your local trail head, turn the heat up
in your car, get real warmed up, do some jumping jacks
under something covered and then straight onto the trails.
Do something very targeted fast.
You don't want to be sitting around doing stuff.
You want to make sure that you're out there
with a very clear plan of action so that you're
not sitting around.
(upbeat music)
Okay one thing that's very important is do not stop.
Once you get out to the track, you've warmed up
all that stuff, do not stop riding.
Because the second you stop riding is the moment
that you get cold.
Your body temperature starts to go down,
your sweat starts to actually become on your body
and evaporating and getting really cold.
You do not want to stop.
One of the ways that riders used to stay warm
back in the day is getting off the bike
and running with it.
It helps keep the feet warm and it also slows down
the wind from coming through you,
keeping your body temperature cold.
So if you can build in a way at your local course
to be able to get off the bike and run with it,
it will put blood in your feet and it will keep you warmer.
(upbeat music)
One of the things that I've been talking about a lot
is not getting cold by stopping.
But what if you get a mechanical or flat tire.
Truthfully, my best advice, if you can't fix it real quick
with a quick inflate or a CO2, get the bike up
on your shoulder and start running back to warmth.
That will keep you warm, get in a good workout,
hopefully save your day.
Your fingers, hands, feet, the extremities of your body
are the first thing to go when the weather turns
and it's nasty out here.
When you're doing these laps going as hard as you can,
once that cold starts to creep into your bones
and even though you're going as hard as you can
and you're still getting cold, that's when it's time
to wrap it up and head back to shelter,
your car, your house, canopy.
Whatever it is, it's time to wrap it up and head back.
So that's what I have for you guys to be able
to stay warm when the weathers turns
and starts to get nasty, you don't want
to be on your trainer yet, use these tips.
But be safe, be smart.
Remember a perfect execution of this plan
is to actually never get cold.
You leave the house warm, you get out to your local track,
you get warmed up, you do some targeted efforts,
you're warm the entire time.
As soon as you start to feel cold, you head back.
You never actually get cold.
You have to have the intuition to know
when it's time to pull the plug and head back.
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