Today the whole ride was undertaken in below zero degrees with a strong wind, the puddles were frozen and You had to be cautious when cornering. Usually I´m not fond of riding in freezing temperatures as getting dressed seems to last as long as the ride itself, not to mention the uncomfortable feeling of being overdressed and the inevitable numb feet after an hour of riding.
But things has changed a bit lately, due to the fact that I´m riding at higher intensities and thereby producing much more heat than usual and consequently I have to "underdress" compared to what I´m used to.
I can tell that Powercranking is a full body workout as I come home with hot feet, even after 100 minutes in the cold - too bad it´s also a sign that I´m not as efficient/relaxed as I should be: using Your toes shouldn´t be necessary to propel Yourself forward...
My winter bike is pretty heavy and usually I´ve been riding in the 39/19-21, but now I find myself riding mostly in the 53/15-16 on the flats and only briefly spin around in the small chainring.
I haven´t done a lot of  intended "kraftausdauer" or strength endurance training before, but in order to keep the cadence in the 70-80 rpm´s I have to gear up - it´s not always pretty but, but luckily I´m not feeling any excess stress on my knees, ligaments or muscles, so I guess it´s okay.
Yesterday I rode 50 minutes outside in a light rain shower.
Todays ride was 1.45 and hip flexor fatigue started to show its ugly face after 90 minutes - I suspect the accumulated stress from riding close to 6 hours in the first 5 days on the Powercranks might be a little too much for me, but the motivation is sky high because of the desire to master these new cranks and the fast (although exhausting) improvements.
The goal for the next week is increasing time on the Powercranks without overdoing it, rather two times 45 minutes a day than a 1.30 ride, suffering in the last 15 minutes. It´s all about neural adaptation in this initial phase and You have to start fresh and stop when fatigue sets in, but it´s so tempting to just try and go for as long as You can, pushing it to the limit...