The 'base mile blast' or whatever you choose to call it is the practice of riding a set number of miles throughout the winter months, usually some way below your summer mileage.
The theory behind this is that by riding your bike (your winter bike, mind) steadily throughout the colder months, you will maintain your fitness for when the spring and summer comes, giving you more time to get race-fit and less time to try and get your fitness back.
We should mention that this only works if you're fit in the first place.
Base miles are a term bandied around between cyclists all the time, but what if you could actually IMPROVE your fitness in winter?
The rise in popularity of turbo training - aided by online platforms such as Zwift - has meant that base miles; ie trudging around your training route at a relatively slow speed in the freezing cold, become a lot less appealing.
HIIT sessions have been shown to improve fitness just as much as long, low intensity rides that are a key characteristic of the base mile slog. The benefit of HIIT is that they don't take long - just 30-45 minutes usually - and can be done on a turbo trainer or rollers in the comfort (!) of your own home, or even in a gym.
Great for maintaining fitness! But wait, there's more...
Why not go further? If you can achieve in three 30 minute HIIT sessions the same benefits you can get in 3 2 hour, low-intensity rides; then why not do the unspeakable?
Why not train properly during the winter months?
Talk about giving yourself an edge over the competition! Watch your diet over the winter months, train regularly at threshold in HIIT as well as doing some low-intensity outdoor riding to keep in touch with the road and you will arrive into the Spring season not merely at a similar fitness level than you were in September, but better.
Which is all any of us really wants, right?
And what better way to reward yourself for a winter's work well done than with a new bike? Especially as we have the new range of 2017 road bikes from Scott and Cannondale in store!
