I piled on the cold weather gear and went for a road ride after work today. It’s the first time I’ve been on a bike outside since old pueblo. According to my “weather station”:http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=KAZFLAGS26 it was around 40 degrees when I left a couple minutes after 5, and about 30 when I got back around 6:30.

Despite the cold (I almost made it back without my fingers hurting), it was nice to actually get in a decent outdoor ride after work. It’s finally staying light late enough, and the roads are pretty much completely dry, so riding the road bike may become more of a regular occurrence now (in between the tele and skate skiing, which is still awesome).

Not that I haven’t been using the road bike. In fact, I was almost afraid to ride it because of the squared off profile of the rear tire from the rollers. Might be time for some new rubber.

Now, many of you may be thinking to yourselves: Damn, rollers and a spin class as your only biking? That has to SUCK!

I’m sure this is especially true for those of you who live someplace where you’ve been biking outside every day for the last several months.

Well, I have a confession to make. I would like to get it out in the open that I have actually really enjoyed riding my rollers for the last three months.

Yes, contain your amazement, I know it’s hard to believe. For those of you who have ridden rollers or a trainer before, you may be asking yourself “but how can this be?”

I attribute it to one simple and indisputable fact: Riding any sort of stationary cycling device is all a game of numbers, and you know how I love numbers. In fact, I would almost say that I crave numbers. I love watching trends and interactions, I love seeing how different factors affect each other, I love geeking out on it.

The bottom line is that this has been one huge science experiment which I have been performing for the last 3 months, 4 days a week, 30-45 minutes a day.

It started out as a spin each morning just to keep the legs moving, and then I hit a turning point when Anita let me borrow my first heart rate monitor. That’s right, until sometime in mid-december, I had never worn a HRM with the exception of trying one on and playing the “I wonder what happens when I hold my breath” game (which is really fun, by the way).

I started noting where different transitions occurred. I had long ago since learned, by feel, how to pick a pace which I could hold for a certain amount of time. Now I could see what that meant in terms of beats per minute. I could see how that interacted with the speed of the bike, how much of a difference a ‘soft’ tire made, and even how long it really took me to warm up.

Very cool.

I can see how people can get hooked on all that data, and I can definitely see where some of this tailoring of workouts can start to make a huge difference. I have to attribute a lot of my somewhat decent showings in the three races I’ve done so far to riding the rollers. It’s a very targeted workout, and it’s kinda fun to see how easily you can manipulate what is going on with your body within such a controlled environment. It’s taught me a lot about my pacing and how I respond to different workouts.

Now, don’t get me wrong, if I had the option, I would definitely be riding outside. But, since the option hasn’t been presenting itself, I’m embracing what I have.

I also want to say that I don’t think that I will be using a HRM during a race anytime soon, as I think if you focus on it too much, it takes the fun out of what we’re out there to do: ride. But, I do feel like after training with one, I’ll have a better sense of when I’m going too hard or could push a little more. That could definitely come in handy.

I’m happy to get out on the road and/or trail again, but I’m also glad that I decided to take the plunge this winter and start riding the rollers. I’m definitely planning on keeping up the morning workouts for a while, even if I’m biking outside after work as well, and I may even just heading outside before work when it starts getting warm (sunrise snowbowl climb anyone?). We shall see. . .