Winter Training in Alaska
Winter training in Alaska is not much different
than any other northern state that has lots of winter snow. In fact, Anchorage is
rather mild. The typical winter temperature is 24° F. You have to dress warm,
but it is not any different than you dress for cross-country skiing.
I live in Anchorage. Anchorage is a big city wanna-be.
It doesn't do too bad, but as any true Alaskan will say. "Living in Anchorage
is okay, after all, it's located only ten minutes from Alaska."
The nice thing about Alaska is the
scenery. These pictures are from a typical winter day out training.
While I'll ride a recumbent bike in the summer, I ride my mountain bike in the winter time. The mountain bike is better for the rough trails that winter presents.
During the winter, the days are short. In the dead of winter, it will get dark at 3:00pm. This means that you don’t ride much during the week because it is dark when you get off work. During March, you can ride until 6:00pm to about 8:00pm in later March. We gain about 5 minutes of daylight each day during March. By summertime, it will be light until midnight or later.
I also use studded tires on my bike. The
little metal studs cut into the ice and give you better traction. The biggest
problem is being able to keep out of traffic during the winter as the snow gets piled up
on the edges of the road, covering the shoulders, and you no longer can keep out of the
traffic. I am lucky that I can ride my bike on roads that have little traffic.
When it
gets warmer, as spring nears, then the snow melts, and things get real messy. Slush,
mud, all the winter dirt. It's the worst time of year in Alaska. I expect I'll
do more indoor training during this time. I have my recumbent bike setup on a
trainer. I do a little training on it now. You use some different muscles on
the recumbent so training on the recumbent is important as that is the bike that I will
ride across country.
No Swimming
Surf's Up
All pictures and text (c) 1998 by Bill Peterson, Anchorage, Alaska.