The forced winter by David Desjardins

The season is coming to an end, and it's already time to start thinking about the next one.

Next trip, next bike. 

But it starts with a review. A pile of data, made up of miles traveled, power curves, distances, and average weekly hours. Every year, I take the time to spread these figures out on the screen and take stock of my memories. This helps me think more clearly about what lies ahead next year and how to prepare for it.

While summer is, for me, a season of rides pleasures and rides , winter is a time for reflection, work, and refinement. It's time to tune up the engine.

Since I stopped racing, I've been training a bit stupidly during the warmer months. Too much FOMO, so not enough rest days. Too much intensity, not enough rides I take it easy.

All of this rhymes with something other than performance. And that suits me just fine. 

At the same time, I know that the fitness I build up during the winter, in a much more organized way, is what allows me to enjoy the summer so intensely.

The years of indoor and outdoor training accumulate like compound interest in my RRSP. Every year, I become exponentially richer in knowledge about my physical and mental abilities, as I continue to push my limits, especially during the winter. That's when I can focus primarily on the data, without distraction.

In summer, cyclists like us are like junkies who can only think about their next fix. But winter isn't a prison that forces us into withdrawal. It's a time to gather our thoughts and set numerical targets and deadlines for our goals. When cycling on rollers, we'll try to improve our best minute, FTP, or VO2 max, because these are essential tools for riding long distances, sprinting against friends, and tackling rides .

The season is coming to an end. It's time to think about the next one. To make a plan. To put a trip, an event, or simply a Ride on your calendar and get yourself in the shape you need to be in. Pleasure comes through discipline. Repeating the same movements, the same efforts, so that they are no longer a constraint, but a solid foundation for the coming summer. And all those that follow.