--- title: "Winter Training for Cyclists | Healthflex Physiotherapy | Healthflex" description: "Off-season training advice for cyclists: indoor riding, strength work, fuelling in cold weather and building a base that does not end in injury." canonical: "https://healthflex.co.uk/blog/winter-training-for-cyclists" last_updated: "2026-09-23T13:45:13.541Z" --- # Training through the winter without losing your cycling season ![Theika Botterill, physiotherapist at Healthflex in Haslemere Description: Head and shoulders portrait of Theika Botterill, physiotherapist specialising in sports and musculoskeletal care at Healthflex, The Edge, Haslemere. She has brown hair tied back and a wide, beaming smile, and wears a pink Healthflex polo shirt. The background is a blurred autumn hedge under a pale sky.](/_next/image?url=%2Fapi%2Fmedia%2Ffile%2Fhealthflex-theika-botterill-physiotherapist-haslemere-64x79.jpg%3Fprefix%3Dtenants%252F6a993819fabdf5583928bbf1%26v%3D1790159715633&w=128&q=75&dpl=dpl_FWxsgCyzDSRxWHosZK98qVgRxgBw) Theika BotterillPhysiotherapist, sports and musculoskeletal PublishedWednesday, 16 September 2026 ![Bicycle wheel mounted on a gray indoor trainer on a textured mat with a beige couch in background](/_next/image?url=%2Fapi%2Fmedia%2Ffile%2Fhealthflex-winter-training-for-cyclists.jpg%3Fprefix%3Dtenants%252F6a993819fabdf5583928bbf1%26v%3D1790157206528&w=2560&q=75&dpl=dpl_FWxsgCyzDSRxWHosZK98qVgRxgBw) The riders who arrive in our clinic in April are rarely the ones who did nothing over the winter. They are usually the ones who did nothing for three months and then tried to make it all up in a fortnight of good weather. The off season is not a gap between seasons. It is the part of the year where the work that prevents injury actually gets done, and it is far easier to build a base in January than to rescue a season in May. ## Ride indoors when the road is not worth the risk Once the thermometer drops towards freezing, the chance of finding ice on a shaded lane stops being theoretical. An indoor session is not a compromise on those mornings, it is the sensible option. Structured platforms give you intervals and something to aim at, which is most of what makes indoor riding tolerable. The other advantage is control. Indoors you can hold a specific effort for a specific time, which is exactly what builds fitness efficiently when daylight is short. ## Do the work that is not riding This is the part most cyclists skip, and it is the part that changes how robust you are. Cycling is a narrow movement. You sit still, in one plane, for hours, and the muscles that do not contribute get quietly weaker while the ones that do get tight. Strength work off the bike balances that out. Squats, hinges, single leg work and something for the trunk, twice a week, is enough to make a difference. Most cyclists are surprised by how weak they are on one leg on its own, and single leg work is often where the asymmetry behind a stubborn [knee](/services/knee-pain) or [lower back](/services/lower-back-pain) problem shows up. Winter is also the sensible time to do it, because strength training sits badly alongside heavy riding volume and very comfortably alongside a reduced one. ## Do not ride through illness Winter brings the coughs and colds along with the cold. Training while you are ill will not build fitness and will extend how long you are unwell. If you track your resting heart rate, an unexplained rise or fall is often the first sign that something is coming, several hours before you feel it. Missing three days costs you nothing. Missing three weeks because you rode through a chest infection costs you the early season. ## Get off the road entirely sometimes Gravel and mountain biking use different muscles, avoid icy tarmac and are a good deal more fun in bad weather. Trail running does something similar, with the caveat that your cardiovascular fitness will let you run considerably further than your legs are ready for. If you are new to running, build the distance slowly. The tissue needs time to adapt even when your lungs do not. ## Fuel for the cold Energy expenditure rises in cold weather, and riders routinely under eat in winter because they are not as thirsty or as obviously hot as they are in July. Under fuelling shows up as fatigue on the bike, as slower recovery, and over a long enough period as a genuine risk to immune function and bone health. Eat properly before you go out and carry something with you, even on rides you would think of as short. ## When to get something looked at Winter niggles that you are planning to ignore until spring are worth an opinion now, while your training load is low and there is time to change something. Persistent knee pain, pain at the front of the hip, numbness in the hands or a back that hurts after an hour on the bike are all things where bike set-up is part of the answer and treatment is the other part. [Sports injury assessment and treatment](/services/sports-injury-assessment-and-treatment) covers the diagnosis, [strength and conditioning programmes](/services/strength-and-conditioning-programmes) the rebuilding, and [sports massage](/services/sports-massage) is useful alongside both during heavy training blocks rather than as a substitute for them. 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