WELCOME TO THE SUCK
It's that time of year where getting outside is a struggle, your house feels like a cage and your sporting life resembles that of a hamster in a wheel. It doesn't have to be that way though, at CHPT3 we've put together some bundles to make the breakout from your home cage that little easier, the procrastination of getting dressed that little less, the choice of weather protection that much better. Each of the bundles we've built includes a FREE Base Layer optimised to perform in combination with the jacket, all using industry-leading technology.
Meanwhile we want you to know that we empathise with the battle of getting out on the bike, it happens to the best of us, even professionals. Below is an excerpt from David Millar's 2015 book, The Racer, it shares the winter morning struggle. I think we can all relate:
We always set ourselves goals. After so many years we take this for granted – it becomes a routine or, more precisely, a pattern.
Towards the end of January everybody starts returning from their off-season visits home. Before long the seasonal group rides start again. Once this routine begins it’s easy enough to spot the guys who are having their own bad patches by their no-shows.
We all live within a fairly small radius of each other. I’m the furthest away, at fifteen kilometres from town, yet, depending on our mental state, we all see different conditions outside our windows. When things are good a quick glance outside is enough to know what clothes you’ll need to wear. You won’t even worry about what direction you’re going to take once you leave the house, as no weather is going to affect what training has to be done. On the other hand, if you’re in a bad mental state your morning could go something like this: Struggle to get out of bed. Finally get out of bed. Skulk to the coffee machine and make an espresso, then stare out of the kitchen window only to see clouds. If you look long and hard enough you manage to spot at least one cloud that might produce rain. Go and sit down at the computer and google ‘weather, Girona’ then spend ten minutes going over different weather sites checking hour-by-hour reports looking for the one that is bad enough to justify giving the day’s training some serious thought. Not once does it enter your mind to pick up the phone and send the ‘Going biking?’ message to anyone, because the worst-case scenario is that one of your potential training partners is in a sparky mood and super-excited about getting out. You don’t need that right now.
Time to think about breakfast, but you’re not committed, so don’t really want to have a proper breakfast, as then you’ll have to go training . . . so that gets put on hold for the time being. Another coffee and an even more searching look out of the window. This time evidence of wind can be spotted on a distant tree. Things are getting worse out there.
Next move is to start thinking of a potential training partner who you can trust to share this procrastination. In the old days Christian Vande Velde was a star candidate for this – NEVER Michael Barry, he’d always be up for anything; even if he was on a rest day he’d probably bin it and come out if he thought there was the chance of a good ride. Christian, on the other hand, is easily talked down. So I’d send a message saying: ‘Seen the weather? Doesn’t look so good.’
A few minutes later the phone would buzz, I’d get a reply: ‘Yeah. I think it might rain, and the wind’s picking up. We should wait.’
So we wait. Once we get past 10 a.m. we know we’ve missed any group-rides leaving Girona, so at least that means we won’t get roped into a big ride we don’t want to do. We are now masters of our fate. ‘Masters’ is a strong word; ‘passive witnesses’ would be a more accurate description.
Once we’ve passed the 10am watershed we only have two hours to get our shit together, because once past midday it becomes exponentially harder to get out of the house. In fact, if we’re not out by midday then our whole outlook changes. Simply getting kitted up is an achievement; to make it outside and actually sit on our bike and start pedalling is a win of sorts. A post-midday two-hour ride is worth four or five hours of normal training regarding the self-satisfaction it generates. It doesn’t actually have any training effect but it reboots us to start all over again the next day. The older we get the more regularly these days occur, and, although Tao might not believe it now, sometime in the distant future even he will have days like this. Winter sucks...
And this is why we take so much care at CHPT3 to make the best products for you to wear in winter, because we want you to make the decision whether you go out, rather than letting weather make the decision for you.
