How do you cope during the off season?

[auscyclefan94]

I am really struggling already without having some racing to talk about on this forum or an interesting issue to talk about. So I need some help! How do you cope during the off season?

 

[JackRabbitSlims]

aaahhhhh, maybe instead of sitting in front of a computer all day posting 7.5K times.......go ride a bike, go race a bike, go work on a bike, read a bike magazine, find some like mined people (friends) and talk about bikes.

There yah go....should keep yah happy till the Tour Down Under -

 

[Martin318is]

ACF,
I can understand the theory behind the question when talking to Europeans and North Americans, but given that you are Australian, thats kinda pathetic.....

Do what every other motivated Australian cyclist does, get out there and race your bike in OUR season. All the best local racing happens in the Australian summer. As discussed in other threads, in the Melbourne area we have the possibility of racing crits, track, and/or road handicaps just about every evening of the week.

Speaking for myself I will be entering my fat behind into as many races as I can convince the wife to let me do between now and April. and I hope to even finish one or two (trying to win is for suckers)

Will barely have time to moderate this forum really let alone sit here all day posting. LOL

 

[bjaelkesex]

Pro Cycling Manager. I still have to open the box. Usually I use the off season to relive (and reshape) the current season through the game.

 

[Marcus135]

Yea same for me, i spend most of my time riding now so dont have that much time and when im bored i watch TV shows on the internet

 

[Contre la montre]

I've decided to sign up on the cycling news forum in order to cope with the winter, and I might develop an interest in cyclocross. My bike rarely sees daylight in winter.

 

[Roland Rat]

I am really struggling already without having some racing to talk about on this forum or an interesting issue to talk about. So I need some help! How do you cope during the off season?

Isn't it summer down there? Jesus Christ man, do what most young men do during summer and go sit somewhere and watch the sunshine sheilas roaming around in their natural habitat.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Well, it isn't Summer where all the pro racing takes place and I have to say I hate the closed season.
We get odd bits of news, (usually to do with clinic matters) the 3 GTs and a few of the other big stage race routes unveiled, plus some nice pictures of new team team kit.
The icing on the cake are the short days and lousy weather.

If I find I am going cold turkey, I dig out a GT archive vid to watch. That is easy enough to do nowadays via the web.

Take the opportunity to watch some of the classic battles on Youtube etc and read a few good cycling books, while sunbathing at the beach.

 

[L'arriviste]

Through Flanders Fields the cyclists go,
Between the polders row on row...

What a great time we live in, when the upcoming months will mean turning over low gears instead of field guns.

Make no mistake though, they're out there, folks. Criss-crossing the cobbled combinations of infinite possibility, between Flanders fields: they're training already for next season.

And if you don't get out there too, they're going to destroy you come spring.

 

[flatclimb]

Doesn't talking about cycling wear you down? You can only talk about something so much before there's nothing left.

Remember that a lot of people on this forum won't be feeling the grip of their tires on fresh tarmac for a good 4-5 months. Instead they'll be waking up in the dark, brushing the snow off their windshields, and heading to work only to come home with maybe an hour of daylight left. Ride hard man!

 

[Marcus135]

Doesn't talking about cycling wear you down? You can only talk about something so much before there's nothing left.

Remember that a lot of people on this forum won't be feeling the grip of their tires on fresh tarmac for a good 4-5 months. Instead they'll be waking up in the dark, brushing the snow off their windshields, and heading to work only to come home with maybe an hour of daylight left. Ride hard man!

First thing, you can never talk to much about cycling... its just impossible, cant happen.

Second thing, i feel truly sorry for people who cannot ride for that long... I guess im lucky in that i live in a place that there is not really an off season as there are races all year round

 

[Ferminal]

Isn't it summer down there? Jesus Christ man, do what most young men do during summer and go sit somewhere and watch the sunshine sheilas roaming around in their natural habitat.

You sound like you've been here.

Go to cyclingtorrents and download as many exciting races that you've heard about but haven't yet seen.

Or you could just watch Giro Stage 7 on loop?

 

[ingsve]

I switch to winter sports namely cross country skiing and biathlon mainly. The two seasons complement each other rather well actually with only some downtime in late October early November, i.e. right now.

 

[auscyclefan94]

ACF,
I can understand the theory behind the question when talking to Europeans and North Americans, but given that you are Australian, thats kinda pathetic.....

Do what every other motivated Australian cyclist does, get out there and race your bike in OUR season. All the best local racing happens in the Australian summer. As discussed in other threads, in the Melbourne area we have the possibility of racing crits, track, and/or road handicaps just about every evening of the week.

Speaking for myself I will be entering my fat behind into as many races as I can convince the wife to let me do between now and April. and I hope to even finish one or two (trying to win is for suckers)

Will barely have time to moderate this forum really let alone sit here all day posting. LOL

Isn't it summer down there? Jesus Christ man, do what most young men do during summer and go sit somewhere and watch the sunshine sheilas roaming around in their natural habitat.

No, no, no, no! I do like to ride my bike and do it a fair bit but I seem to miss the watching of pros racing. I was more interested in hearing of what others turn to for entertainment during the off season. This thread is about the rest of you and not as much about me. I've got a holiday booked with friends and I am heading down to Adelaide for the tdu.

Ingsve has the right idea about the thread!

 

[Ney the Viking]

I switch to winter sports namely cross country skiing and biathlon mainly. The two seasons complement each other rather well actually with only some downtime in late October early November, i.e. right now.

It's just annoying that Biathlon is always aired on times of the day thats impossible to follow for working people.

Damn you eurosport and your LIVE television

Ps. Neuner takes the World Cup this year!

 

[craig1985]

My plans:

1/ Move house
2/ Ride my bike
3/ I might enter a race or two
4/ Watch cricket
5/ Drink beer

What could possibly go wrong?

 

[Ney the Viking]

My plans:

1/ Move house
2/ Ride my bike
3/ I might enter a race or two
4/ Watch cricket
5/ Drink beer

What could possibly go wrong?

I would switch 4 and 5, watching cricket sober sounds like a fast way to get your heartrate down to be so slow it might actually stop

 

[Angliru]

Wear out my cycling video library.
Search youtube for cycling videoes that I haven't seen before.
Play basketball in a winter league.
Watch NBA and NFL games.
Ride my bike on the odd day that it is clear of snow, ice and slush.

I'm considering investing in some studded tires for my mountain bike and trying them in the first major snow storm.

I have a good friend who lives in Florida who has been trying to get me to come back for a visit. That would be the ideal getaway from the Michigan winter, if only for few days or so.

 

[Parrulo]

well the off season just means i focus more on college and on the other sports i enjoy, football, basketball and in general motor sports.

 

[Cobblestoned]

- recap season
- have a look if the cats are still there
- clean the house / some paintworks
- finish my project (put a RZV500 motor into my TZR250)
- do a big check on my bikes / perhaps some new parts
- do cross / follow cross
- do biathlon (with bow and arrow) / follow biathlon
- cyclingtorrents
- play PCM
- give my pc a fresh reinstall
- wait for Gran Turismo
- play with girls
- look for a girl again who perhaps is able to survive a Grand Tour without thrown out because of nerving
- usual 14 days off bike / and not follow any cyclingnews or forums
- hang out at the coffieshop and play chess/ backgammon a lot
- play PES with friends
- built and play with my LEGO Raupenbagger that the Santa Claus hopefully will put under the chrismastree (men always stay kids, I know)
http://cache.lego.com/images/shop/prod/8043-0000-xx-12-1.jpg
- rolling the free-roller if it is too cold

Thats all I think. Should be enough to survive till TDU.

 

[L'arriviste]

- built and play with my LEGO Raupenbagger that the Santa Claus hopefully will put under the chrismastree (men always stay kids, I know)

That Lego thing sounds even better in German: a "raupenbagger".

Good luck with the girl finding. I was quite lucky with mine - she'd had a big accident that rendered her temporarily immobile for a time some years before I met her and she'd got into watching the Giro because there wasn't anything else to do.

 

[Anonymous]

watch some cyclocross, work on the website and go shopping for a certain unnamed festive season with the wife :/

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

I am really struggling already without having some racing to talk about on this forum or an interesting issue to talk about. So I need some help! How do you cope during the off season?

It's summer mate. Best time of the year.
Who needs the net

ps. i love riding in the summer.

 

[CatsNK]

XC skiing and watching downhill World Cup skiing. There's nothing like watching Bode fly down a hill.

 

[screaming fist]

There's no off-season when there's a cyclocross season.