Each Tuesday night in January, road bikers jonesing for their weekly club rides packed into Motion Makers bike shop in downtown Sylva, set up their road bikes on little stands and prepared for a night of spinning — the sport’s term for biking in place.

To avoid the cold dash from their vehicles in bike shorts, they changed in the shop, some even donning their full racing jerseys. The riders were prudent in picking Tuesdays. Nick and Nate’s, the popular pizza place across the street, is closed that night, cutting down on the number of potential spectators gawking through the window at a room full of bikers furiously spinning away in place in their brightly colored bike gear.

“We’ve had as many as 10 people in here at night peddling away for an hour,” said Motion Maker’s owner, Dave Molin. Molin calls them “the hardcores.”

“There are some that are very serious about their winter training. Cycling is more of a lifestyle for a lot of people. It’s one of those things you can get addicted to,” Molin said.

Losing the fitness edge in the winter and building it back in spring is not a viable option. In addition to setting their bikes on stands — called “trainers” or “rollers” — many hit the gym for spinning classes. Spinning classes are similar to an aerobics class, only the group is mounted on stationary bikes. The instructor, perched on her own bike in the front of the class, sets the pace to simulate a real road ride. Two minutes of uphill climbing, followed by a 30 second relaxed pace, then a fast-as-you can straight ahead.

The stair climber is another choice option for bikers looking to keep their legs in shape in the winter.

“A lot of us roadies like to get on a mountain bike in the winter, too,” Molin said.

The undergrowth that smacks your legs during summer mountain biking is gone vamoose, along with the leaves that obscure views. But the main reason for mountain biking in winter: it’s much warmer plugging away at slower speeds under the forest canopy. Whistling down a straight-of-way at 40 miles an hour on a road bike in winter racks up a terrific wind chill factor.

But some just don’t know when to quit, like Dave Forshee, owner of Smoky Mountain Bikes in Franklin.

“You can ride all winter long. The key is to dress correctly,” Forshee said. Once you get bundled up in winter riding gear designed from special fabrics, it’s not that bad. But getting up the gumption to haul yourself out the door when it’s 30 degrees?

“You have to be a little bit more motivated,” Forshee admitted. “When it gets wickedly cold out, and it’s raining, I’ll get on the trainer.”

But without the motivating scenery that goes along with road riding, it’s tough to log a solid hour spinning on a stand in your living room or den.

“You can watch TV or listen to your mp3 player and try to get in a zone and keep it going, but it’s not easy,” Forshee said.

To solve that problem, there are spinning workouts on DVD where one can follow along with the instructor, both to keep motivated and simulate a real ride with ups and downs.