I live in Texas and it gets extremely hot and humid during the summer. Due to bike accident back in 2020, I have nerve damage from peripheral neuropathy that keeps my blood vessels from expanding and allowing proper heat dissipation. Add that with 90% humidity is normally present during morning times, I drown in my own sweat and overheat and dehydrate quickly. I need to keep my rides shorter during the summer months to avoid an expedited overheating incident. Historically, races in the south are in late winter and early spring for the race events to avoid having staggered starts that have racers competing in extreme heats in the afternoon.
With all of these things added up, I’ve come to the conclusion that I shift the typical winter off-season to summer months. Is this a crazy idea?
Not that my opinion matters, but that’s exactly what I do. I am unable to handle the heat due to SEVERE cramping (no matter what I do), but the TEXAS gravel season starts the first week of Jan. So I just back my training up from there… Foundation training in August, Weights in the fall, and Base in the winter, and race until May. By the time I am tired and take an “off-season”, most people are getting fit and killin the group rides. Its a trade off, but works for me, personally.
Awesome! I appreciate your feedback! It frees me to rest and encourages me that I’m not losing hard earned fitness, and just shifting my calendar to maintain what I got going on!!! Thanks for the encouragement.
No worries… This path is by means the “best” approach, but thought I’d share to let you know there are options for folks just like us 