Winter riding

[Minotaur]

I know it's probably a little early to be talking about winter riding, but hear me out.

I haven't gotten very much riding in this summer, for personal reasons I don't want to burden you with. Suffice to say I wasted a lot of evenings and Sunday mornings that I could have spent on trails.

Having said that, do you all "dry dock" your rides after a certain time, or do you pile on the winter gear and just go for it? I bought some winter gear last year thinking I would go out but I wussed out when it got really cold and windy.

I love riding and don't want to be wasting time being a wuss, when I can be out there.

 

[Norm]

IMO winter riding is an evolution. Last year maybe you went out when it was 45. This year you want to work down to 40, and so on. Your gear will get tailored to what you need, and you'll just better be able to handle it. Every year I go out in colder conditions. This past year I was doing road rides on 20-25 days. At that point it's pretty much never too cold to go off road. It sounds insane at first but it's also very rewarding. You'll get there, just keep at it.

 

[hardtale70]

I do Stokes and Wawayanda when it's single digits. If i lived and rode where you are I'd go year round no prob. The sandy pines with a little frosy snow sounds like 100s of miles of opportunities to me. The best part is that your "popular" marked trail areas are small so dying alone 25 miles from your car is not even an issue. Go for it.........

 

[Frank]

Winter riding can be a lot of fun. I bought a bunch of fleece wear from LL Bean that work great at keeping me warm and dry. Layer up, get Lake shoes, and keep riding.

 

[Minotaur]

OK, very good. Thanks.

Road riding is a horror, imo, when it's super cold. But I think in the woods it's probably more sheltered. I will prepare myself and psych myself up for it.

 

[walter]

All the good shops will soon be loading up on winter gear. Drop the money on some quality stuff and you will ride happily even on the coldest days. Gore, Craft, PI and others all make good stuff. For your feet, I would certainly suggest the Lake winter shoes as Frank did. If you dont want to drop that much on winter shoes but still suffer from cold feet, regular winter boots and flat pedals will get you by.

 

[Minotaur]

I have sock liners that are supposed to be thermal, athletic socks and Timberland boots. I have thermal gloves and a balaclava. So I guess I am set.

 

[Kmoodymz3]

Winter MTB is great, trails are so quiet and frozen ground makes for fast riding. Layers are critical with a wind breaker of some kind on top. Also toe warmers are the bomb! I wear them in my shoes on top of my toes. Snuggly warm for hours!

 

[jdog]

Misery loves company.

Get a group together that is commited to riding in all but the very worst of conditions.

If you have the support of some friends you will ride more and more.


Better yet hit some trail days in the fall and see the result as you ride through the winter.


J_

 

[stb222]

I got a Gore jacket last year and it was one of the best 150 i ever spent on bike stuff. I rode it in 15 degree weather with a craft base layer and was fine. I plan to check out some gore gloves this year. You can also get neoprene booties to cover your regular shoes, while they look stupid, they do the trick.

 

[xc62701]

Some of my best and most memorable rides have been in the winter. Get yourself some studded tires - not absolutely necessary but they do help. And make sure you have some cold weather gear. Heavy stuff is needed for the road but lighter stuff is good for mtb where you'll work up more of a sweat. The best is winter night riding...oooh so fun...especially when it's snowing...

 

[RNG1]

I scored last year on some closeout winter stuff while the winter was still in swing and once I forced myself out it was really rewarding. I personally found that once it got below 25 I stayed off the road bike as the wind chill was just brutal and you just don't move around on the bike as much. I also found that it was obviously more fun in the woods because even if you aren't going as fast as you can it's still fun. The 2 biggest issues that took me a couple of rides to figure out was keeping the feet warm, which I tried the plastic bags over the sock thing which helps but I don't like how the moisture builds up so what I ended up doing was using a set of road booties (not the toe covers as that wasn't enough) and when I used these over my mountain bike shoes and left a little of the velcro open by the heal to let the moisture escape it really made a big difference. I know there are good winter mtn shoes but I never got them. The other trick is to figure out how to not have your water bottles freeze. I used an insulated bottle and left the house with hot tea in it and that lasts for a while but I always found that an hour in 20 degrees pretty much will freeze anything. Norm told me the trick about putting a little antifreeze in the bottle with your drink but that made me really sick.

 

[Norm]

Norm told me the trick about putting a little antifreeze in the bottle with your drink but that made me really sick.

No no no. Antifreeze in the shorts, whiskey in the bottle.

 

[RNG1]

That's where I went wrong, I knew it seemed like a waste to put the whiskey in the shorts
You going to JH today?

 

[BiknBen]

The other trick is to figure out how to not have your water bottles freeze.

Salt in the bottle. You ever see an ocean freeze?

Since I know someone is going to ask how much salt to put it...It is trail and error. The colder the temps, the more you need. If the bottle still freezes, you need more.

 

[Norm]

No JH for me today.

It's probably not a terrible idea to put salt in your bottles all year around. When you sweat you lose a ton of it. So summer, winter, it's probably going to help one way or another.

 

[Minotaur]

I think maybe some fruit juice with some Sangria. The alcohol in the Sangria should keep the juice from freezing.

 

[NJMX835]

As others have said, with good gear you can ride all year round as long as there's not too much snow on the ground, even then you can ride where the snowmobiles have packed down the trails if you go really early in the morning before it get's soft, done quite a few rides at Stewart that way.

Personally, I'll go out down to about 20 degrees, after that it's a bit much for my tastes (I'll do it if I'm desperate though).


P.S.

I think I may try the booze thie year, I'll just put some brandy in a cask around my neck, lol

 

[ArmyOfNone]

Its all about the gear...baby

 

[Minotaur]

Ooh! New stuff to get!