The Pinkbike Podcast: Staying Sane In the Off-Season & Toaster Talk

 Mmmm Spring Rolls

 @DizzyNinja: hahahaaaa

 @DizzyNinja: hahahaaaa

 I feel a short break from the bike can be beneficial to your riding. Focusing on the gym, letting the body heal from the nagging injuries and just rejuvenating the excitement for biking.

 @bbachmei: snow rides can be so much fun. Especially with a good group.

That alone rejuvenates me for spring.

 Following snow mobile trails also works pretty good, tho not as well as groomed stuff

 Love groomed fat bike riding. Where I live the local trail system is a root nightmare, but then in the winter it gets groomed and all the trails are transformed into flow trails. It's really cool. I like the roots too tbh but in winter it's like we get totally new and different trails.

 @charliewentoutside:
re: rooty trails

Our winter trail crew grooms 15-20km of singletrack using a Snowdog and we say given the right conditions some of the trails can be ridden faster in winter than summer.

 @dlford: Yeah, ours are the same. If you're the type of person who cares about Strava, you have to always check when KOMs were set, because on a lot of trails the KOM is from fatbike season and times that fast would be pretty much impossible when the trails are dirt.

 The trail runners and snowshoers pack the singletrack here. Its for sure dicey but you have to just get over your riding a narrow line and your ok. Only issue is going off trail you drop down into pow lol.

The stuff that is groomable with a snowdog is a bit more mellow in town but the park thats near here is more green than anything in summer but so much fun in winter groomed.

As for their comments on testing fatbikes, they were all wide xc bikes with nasty self steer, the new blizzard slack hta fixes that and its like a mountain bike riding it, had 2 farleys since 2015 and this is a game changer. Just need f’n snow… or a mastodon.

 Yeah it's just the Muddy Season and Really Muddy Season.

 @fartymarty: really muddy season also known as the "shoulda brought my lights season"

 I'm just coming back from a knee injury that had me out all summer. Feels like Spring to me

 Yeah I’m curious about this “offseason” too.. this is prime time in the desert.

 @Rhymer: Same here. I’m still not ready to ride. Typically I just hang up my bike for the winter and find something else to do, but if my knee is ready to go in the coming months, I’ll be out there.

 I'm definitely confused by this, as someone who lives in Southern California. Can someone explain it to me?

 in Phoenix, AZ half the year is regular summer and the other half is sonoran desert summer. Big difference

 Riding in snow is also cool up to 5cm This gets me rolling typically to the mid December, then start again in March. It's quite surprising how slick trails can be under snow. But after such winter you get the hero mode in spring, all my PRs are right after the winter. It's off season only if you want it to be.

 Australia it's either warm or hot. Riding season all year.

 @fektor-b: Yeah, but poisonous everything and sharks and crocodiles waiting to kill you around every corner.

 @TheR: this is true. Ive seen 9 snakes since the end of our winter. All venomous. Maybe I should carry a Bluetooth speaker while I ride to scare them off?

 @fektor-b: Don’t mind me, man. I’m just bitter that we are losing daylight and won’t have consistently nice weather here again until June 1. Australia is a wonderful place! Enjoy the summer.

 @TheR: you're lucky you get "consistently good weather"....

 @fartymarty: we do get a lot of sun here. And actually today is great! But it will be a good exception rather than the norm for a good while.

 Nice! I've been watching the KEXP sessions and keeping an eye out for some West Coast shows. Love Ummon

 Look into the Kogala running light.

 I just got into trail running. I run trails that were either boring or not accessible by bike. Uphills are way more fun. It's been a game changer. It's also been great for lower body mobility and strength.

 @njparider: Trail running is much better than road running because it requires you to use upper body to quickly and gently counterbalance the lower body movements. I feel quite tired after 10km on pavement while the same distance in twisty up and downhill trails is like relaxation excercise.
Also, I started to ride the very same trails differently. I've never been the bomber style rather picky and technically carving my way down the trail. But after starting to trail run it's even better.

 Yeah I'm sure once that snow melts the new trails you put in look completely different.

 If you're able to do trailwork you're able to ride so still go season.

 A lot of time you can ride some lower bench stuff but I agree it is a shell of what it is in the summer.

 Feels that way.

 Trainers can be OK if you have a workout written for you or maybe Zwift. You need something to think about and change things up — mindlessly spinning sucks.

 @TheR: that first year a Covid I did whole bunch of riding a fluid trainer and it takes a lot of mental fortitude to make it through a long workout with nothing to focus on but hitting a specific power number

 @TheR: Thanks for the feedback ... I was wondering if I could incorporate a trainer whilst watching a show. I also like the idea of Zwift, but not for $15 monthly.

 @mtmc99: I believe it.

 @njcbps: I just listen to music or podcasts. I have some workouts that get progressively more difficult each week, and they include various cadence and technique drills that make the time go more quickly. (Sitting, standing, fast spinning, slow spinning, etc.) It just gives me something to think about. And I only go once or twice a week. I’m not saying it’s as much fun as riding a real bike, but it makes it a good deal less tedious. You just have to have a purpose or a game to play.

 @TheR: podcast help a lot to give me something to focus on. Back when I had that setup I lived in a town home and couldn't stop myself from humming/singing along to music which the neighbor did not appreciate at 5am so I had to stop (lol).

 @TheR: Thanks - I didn't go for it. $800 for a Kickr Core was too much - esp for something that only I could use. I couldn't find a way to keep it easily accessible for 2 or more riders, who wouldn't want to keep changing bikes.

 @njcbps: I’m definitely not an evangelist for stationary bikes or trainers. I do not own one myself, but have had access to some good ones over the last 10 years or so. I just wanted to give you some suggestions to stay sane if that was your only option in the winter. I’m rehabbing a knee injury from this summer — so stationary is my only option at the moment.

 I used to do all 4-3 times a week and lift weights (minus trail running). Then it caught up with me. Not giving yourself recovery time can really mess you up.

 ^only time it's not a dustbowl eh?

 @flattire: still a dust bowl. Still fun.

 @birdsandtrees: exactly this!

 Deleted

 Unsure why this is downvoted - the easier Z2 that can be achieved with a trainer is missing during MTB ride (IE Z3 and beyond intensity).