Well, inevitably, it appears the cold weather riding season has arrived! But don’t let “Old Man Winter” drive you off the road and into the pain-cave just yet. It’s worth at least putting up a fight before you retreat indoors to crank your way through countless hours of M*A*S*H re-runs, music you don’t really like (but which has a beat that matches your cadence) and riding hundreds of miles without going anywhere. With proper planning and preperation riding outside through most of winter can be both fun and invigorating. Not to mention, you get significant bragging rights!
So here are a few tips for dealing with winter. With luck you might even ride right through it and not even notice. (Well, probably not but it sounds good):-)
1) Heavy sweating and the pursuit of Strava PR’s are for summertime. In winter you need to be careful NOT to break (at least too much) a full sweat. It’s a simple equation. Wet, sweaty clothing =’s a cold rider! Use synthetic fiber base and insulation layers. For your outer-most layer choose soft-shell fabrics which breathe much better than waterproof ones. Moderate your speed when necessary to stay as dry as possible. Let me repeat, winter is not the time to work up a sweat. If you experience a puncture or mechanical and need to spend time off the bike fixing it, you’re not producing the necessary body heat to stay warm while you’re doing it. Cold wet clothing is guaranteed to pull heat away from you in less time than it takes me to polish off a double espresso.
2) Mechanicals and flats are potentially, seriously serious issues when it’s 15 degrees out. Have your LBS tune and check you bike if you plan on training or commuting outside through the winter. Make absolutely sure they check your cables and housing because a broken cable means no shifting or no braking depending on which cable is broken. Neither scenario is good and both are hard if not impossible to fix on the road.
3) Change over to “reinforced” tires like the Continental 4-Season Gatorskin's. There is less road surface available in the winter so that means there’s a greater chance of running over broken glass & trash or hitting potholes and/or other road damage from plowing. They’re no guarantee… but winter roads are no place for lightweight racing tires or tubulars.
4) Choose your routes intelligently. Rather than doing a 20 to 40 mile “in and out”... choose to do 2 or 3 shorter loops that add up to your total planned distance. That way if anything bad does happen, you’re not 20 miles from home without a friend. Keep in mind, bike shoes don’t hike well and to me doing laps outside still beats working hard and going nowhere inside. Pretend you doing a crit if that helps and try to improve your time on each lap… without working up a sweat of course.
5) Good lighting is essential to see where you’re going as well as to be seen. There’s lots of dark out there this time of year. Make sure you charge batteries daily, preferably overnight. The manufacturer’s stated 2.5 hour burn time (likely tested & established in a 70 degree room) will probably not be accurate for riding outside when its 20. Batteries lose capacity when it’s cold and a dead battery equals no light which can be downright inconvenient, extremely dangerous and definitely illegal. Carry a small headlamp too. It’s much easier to use than your bike light when changing a flat or doing other on-the-road chores.
6) Purchase and use a mirror. Hats, balaclavas and helmet covers make it hard to hear what might be sneaking up behind you. This is especially important because you probably have less road surface available to avoid traffic coming in either direction during the winter months.
7) Chemical hand and toe warmers can be your best friend. The hard-men riding the Belgian classics might disagree… but I’m not one of them and never will be. Hand warmers placed in your gloves and under insulated booties can turn a cold day into a good day. I know, I’m a wimp and I use them regularly.
8) A well fitting WindStopper balaclava (not to be confused with baklava, which can be a welcome pick-me-up)is essential gear. A balaclava very effectively seals the vulnerable gap between your face and your shoulders when tucked under the collar of your riding jacket. Closing that gap makes a huge difference in overall warmth, especially when you’re getting low and aero and huge volumes of cold air would otherwise be getting funneled right down the front of your chest by the collar.
9) Pay attention to nutrition and hydration. You need to eat and drink & maybe even more so in winter than summer. Carry cash and plan on stopping at the local convenience store for water, there’s no way around it on longer rides. (And trust me… cash is more welcome than a debit card when only buying a 99 cent bottle of water). Choose foods that will not freeze into tooth breaking chunks of ice. Gels and ShotBloks work well, although they’re not the best thing for your teeth either according to my dentist. Brush afterwards.
10) Finally, don’t let the cold freeze that part of your brain where “Good Common Sense” lives. Everyone is different and has different responses to cold. Experiment safely, establish your comfort zone and learn when you need to pull the plug and jump on the trainer. For some this might be 30 degrees, for others 10 and for a rare few 0. And I know some for who it’s 70 but we're not even going to talk about them because they’re not reading this anyway :-)
