Pfeier Georgi

Lives Gloucestershire Age 20

Iam one of the only people on my team, Sunweb, who likes winter riding. I don’t mind the rain and most winters you’d be lucky to find me on the indoor turbo even once. Rain or snow, I just love riding outdoors in winter. I like the drama of it when there’s a storm and strong winds. It feels like an adventure. And I love that feeling of going on a long, cold ride and then coming back and getting cosy by the fire. You feel like you’ve really achieved something.

Riding in cold weather toughens up your mind. The Tour de Yorkshire in 2019 was horrendous, with hail smashing us in the face on one descent. But I loved that race. It was one of my highlights of the year.

Riding in winter also teaches you technical skills. Because I train in the rain, when it’s wet during a race, I feel confident cornering. You can feel the di erence in the bunch, with people who never train in the rain being much more tentative. Racing in the rain is one of my favourite weather conditions; that comes from getting out over winter and dealing with the rain all the time.

Over winter I mainly just build up my base fitness with five- or six-hour rides. But I like to use it as a time to explore. I usually ride into the Cotswolds, which is a lovely area with lots of short, steep climbs, or head over to Wales for a longer loop, some di erent scenery and some longer climbs. I try to find new roads and di erent areas. I treat it as an adventure.

I love baking, so over winter I take some flapjacks in my pocket, maybe with chocolate in them for extra motivation. I also bake banana bread, oat cookies and even chocolate avocado cookies.

If it’s a really cold day, I usually just remind myself about my training goals or tell myself I don’t want to let my teammates down. I know that they’re going to be training hard too, so we motivate each other and keep in contact, which is really nice. I always like to think I can make gains when the weather is bad: if you have that extra motivation to get out in the cold, you can get a step-up on your rivals.

“When you’re training inside, you’re watching the clock constantly. The winter is miserable anyway, so I like to get out and enjoy some hills, some scenery and some daylight”

Louise Gibson, amateur racer