Winter Training

Tired of the cold weather? Looking forward to spring? You can follow along on or upcoming 4th annual late winter/early spring cycling trip, this time to Big Bend National Park in Texas starting a week from today.

How does one train for a six day late winter ride with a lot of elevation? Winter riding was no obstacle for my younger self. As long as it was over 25 degrees, I was up for riding with fellow yo-yos:

I looked so young then. But with age sometimes comes wisdom. Perhaps it was skidding on ice and ending up in a snowbank with a busted breaker lever. Or falling after cycling through wet leaves and spending the rest of the morning at Norwalk Hospial for concussion testing. Or my freezing fingers when I had to take off my gloves to fix a flat. At some point it began to dawn on me that there might be a better way.

Many of you know that the gene for stubbornness is dominant in the Cooperman family. After years of listening to Mary say “you really should try the early morning Y spin class” (and of course later listening to her say “as usual, I told you so”), I’m glad I did since that is how I met several of you. But Mary and I have now done what any rational empty-nester cycling couple would do — turn a spare bedroom into our personal cycling studio:

We have “smart trainers” that, when paired with a computer program like Zwift, automatically adjust to simulate hills and other outdoor terrain (I have a Wahoo Kickr and Mary has a Tacx). It’s actually a better, safer and warmer workout than riding outdoors in the winter.

And since “Pop Culture” is not my middle name, an added benefit is that winter training gives me the opportunity to catch up on shows that most of you probably saw long ago. A few winters ago, I binged Breaking Bad and the next year The Sopranos. This year it was Slow Horses, Band of Brothers, Presumed Innocent, the Jackal and Severance. Here is my view from the trainer:

Notice those podium finisher plaques to remind me of Glory Days. Uh, actually they’re not mine. Some readers may recall my Glory Day of racing when I anchored the P.S. 24 6th grade 4x100 relay team to a victory in the district track meet:

I have podiumed once since then. Allie and Max had a 5k race on their wedding weekend. Awards were given for various age group categories and I was stoked when race director Sarah Cooperman announced that I was a winner — first place in the “60 Year Old Lawyers from Queens” category. I also finished last in that category but, hey, a podium is a podium:

But our upcoming Big Bend trip is not a race. I was there in 2013 with my hiking buddies:

I am not sure if we will have this view on our upcoming trip as I heard that Mexico paid for a wall along the border since then. Anyway, my friend Rob’s awesomeness as a cyclist (2/27/24 post) is only exceeded by his awesomeness for frugality. The finest restaurant we ate at on that trip was a converted gas station:

I am hoping to do better this time.