Riding through the winter is important for building a good base for the next season – but the barriers are considerable! The days are shorter, the weather is worse, and the risks of accident are much higher. All of which makes for a challenge to put in the base miles.

How to make road riding work for you

Road riding does carry more risks in the winter than in the summer, but there are ways that you can mitigate the risks. Starting later in the day and only riding in temperatures over 5 degC reduces the risk of hitting an ice pocket. Additionally riding more conservatively, on wider and less inflated tyres allows for more grip. Mudguards and eye protection are also important, in order to manage the amount of debris on the road (eye infections can be an outcome of the polluted water and debris that can get into your eyes without protection).

The other challenge is the right clothing to stay warm, dry, and visible. The right solution for feet, ears, and hands is especially important, as cold extremities really detract from enjoyment! I personally like to have the coffee stop at the end of the ride and to have some extra clothes for this, as in low temperatures the body cools down very quickly. The other options can be a larger saddlebag or small backpack with an easily compressed duvet jacket and woolly hat.

Whilst riding as a part of a peloton is great fun in the summer, the delays of a large group can make for long, cold days out in winter. One solution is to ride with just one or two buddies; when you know someone well a puncture gets fixed in no time, route decisions are quick, and you can generally keep rolling more of the time.

Finally – do make sure that your insurance is up-to-date (both third-party and support in case of an accident: health cover, plus loss of income). It is also worth ensuring that you have someone who can drive out and collect both you and your bike. You can take out a policy that covers you for a year.

Better still – winter is cyclocross season!

 The great news is that the mud can be great fun! If you have never ridden cyclocross, then a treat awaits! As a triathlete, you will benefit from improving flying mounts, bike handling, cadence, and threshold racing with frequent over-threshold segments. And as a bike rider, you can have some of the best fun that you can have on a bike.

Don’t be afraid to sign up for a local race and go along – it is a very friendly scene! Things to know beforehand are:

• Make sure that you arrive in time for when the course is open for you to do a practice lap and recce the course.
• Warm up fully and be ready to start with a flat-out segment before the first obstacles.
• They will call you forward by name for gridding, and indicate where to line up – so be in good time for the start.
• Remember that the course changes all of the time – and you get more tired – so be ready to tackle the same obstacle differently on different laps.

Of course – you don’t need to race. A cyclocross bike can take you flying across fields, paths, and trails. The exhilaration of the slip, slide, and glide of this kind of riding is dramatic – and you get to see lovely places and views. If you want to make it more training-focused, you can develop your own lap and hit the split timer on the bike computer. It all makes winter worth looking forward to! Have fun!

Mountain biking is a great option

Whilst night-riding on the road is not much fun in the winter, MTB riding with lights is great fun! This makes a quick after-work blast very viable. I especially enjoy woodland trails, with the green dots of the eyes of the various night animals looking on!

Mountain bike riding is also a great solution for Sunday rides. There are beautiful routes on bridleways and cycling routes (Sustrans maps are excellent for finding routes around you). As a rule of thumb, I tend to think of 1 hour of mountain bike riding on difficult terrain to be equivalent to 2 hours of road riding.

The trick to making mountain bike riding work for you is to have a good bike cleaning routine. A bike maintenance stand helps – and a hosepipe (although never a power wash). Then degreaser and a chain cleaner, with the right brushes and some rags. I also sometimes find baby wipes useful to get rid of greasy grime, if it is discolouring the frame.

Getting on the Turbo Trainer

The rise of eRacing has created a very exciting and vibrant scene for team racing, as well as individual racing. This includes multi-stage racing, which includes team time-trials as well as road stages. The benefit is a lot of race practice, and honing skills of staying with the bunch across multiple terrains. And of course, there are all of the turbo trainer options, covered in this previous blog: https://athleticenduranceperformance.com/spending-time-on-the-turbo-trainer/