Winter Training

Riding in the winter provides some interesting challenges, one of which is working out which clothes will provide the optimum balance of temperature control, starting the ride a bit cold should mean that you won't be a big sweaty mess at the end. Although that doesn't apply to threshold training (less clothing is required), which is now being conducted in daylight for safety reasons (road conditions).
To keep the training interesting I've been exploring some new routes, there's some great roads around Oxhill, Whatcote, Tysoe and Sibford Gower. This exploring has also resulted in the creation of a 50 mile Hilly route which goes up and down the Edgehill escarpment several times, this will be making a more regular appearance when the Spring arrives! A change of tyres was required after traction was proving a real issue on greasy roads, a swap to GP 4 season tyres has transformed the winter bike and made the runs with Nick a little less painful.
I'm not short of motivation to go out when the weather is cold and wet, I take my inspiration from the hard men of the Northern Classics (Paris-Roubaix, Tour of Flanders, and Liege-Bastogne-Liege to name a few). Also, this years winter has been almost tropical in comparison to last year. To keep things bubbling over during Christmas I will be attempting to complete the Rapha 500 challenge between the 23rd and 31st of December (covering a total of 500km by bike, stationary training doesn't count).