Today I rode to work. It was very cold. By the end of the ride I couldn’t feel my feet.

Winter in Scotland isn’t like other countries. They have consistent winters. It gets cold. It stays cold. Spring arrives. You can rely on it.

In Scotland, winter arrived on Monday, went away on Tuesday and came back on Wednesday. This is annoying. One day I need winter clothes but the next day was summer clothes.

Planning training is difficult as I don’t know what the weather will throw at me.

Previous winters I’d train like an athlete. Or my vision of how an athlete trains.

• Go outdoors no matter what the condition are; and
• laugh at anyone in a long sleeve t-shirt. Winter training should be done in the same kit as summer

This winter I’m going to train like an app-lete: indoors with a computer app telling me what to do.

The two main systems are https://www.trainerroad.com/ and https://zwift.com/.

I tried both and I chose Trainerroad. I could describe in depth how they both work, and how I made my decision, but its actually quite straightforward.

Zwift has a social aspect where you can see and hear other people as they train. Whilst using Zwift I heard one man say to his friends: “Go hard on the hill, we can regroup at the top”.

THERE IS NO HILL! IT’S A GAME! YOU DON’T NEED TO REGROUP. NONE OF YOU ARE GOING ANYWHERE. YOU’RE ALL AT HOME IN YOUR ‘PAIN CAVES’ AKA THE SPARE ROOM WHERE YOUR PARTNER COMPLAINS ABOUT THE SMELL OF SWEAT.

I thought “what a twat” and I’ve used Trainerroad ever since!