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Winter Riding By Jake Burns of the Rox Cycling Center – http://www.Roxcycling.com Winter riding is some of the best of the year. The cool crisp air is second to none, in my opinion. If you can stand those first few minutes of chill, then you’ll be one of the lucky few to experience riding outside when others shudder and cling to their indoor trainers. I’m not going to go too in-depth here, rather I would like to provide basics. If you have any questions at the end, feel free to e-mail me at jake@loweridersgobig.com. Mentality: Okay, so you were probably thinking I would delve straight into the meat of the article, focusing on clothing. I will say, clothing is extremely important, but I’ve always felt that attitude plays just as important a role. If you leave the house at 9 or 10AM and the mercury still shows a jaw dropping temp of 22 degrees, not including the wind chill, it can be a bit disheartening. My whole philosophy is that you should never look at the temp in the morning, only review the high for the day. Personally, I won’t ride outside if the high for the day is south of the freezing mark. I follow this rule for everything but mountain biking. Mountain biking speeds are typically slower making it feel warmer. My philosophy is in the winter, odds are it’s going to be cold, get over it and don’t complain to your friends how cold it is, that will only make you and everyone else colder. Instead, focus on the task of the day. It could be efforts that will take place later or, my personal favorite on long winter excursions, plot out your sign sprint (A sign sprint is an unannounced sprint within a small group to a town, township, county or city sign. Add them up at the end to find the “winner” of the day. NO STOP SIGN SPRINTS!) strategy so that you can impress your friends by your form. Clothing: Here it is, the most important element to winter riding. I’m not going to tell you what brands are warmer than others because, honestly, I don’t know. Since I was a teenager I’ve stayed tried and true to the lure of my elders for dress on those chilly winter days, KISS. Starting with the bottom layer you should wear one of those new undergarments that wick away moisture. If you don’t want to splurge the cash on one of the undergarments, wear a regular cycling jersey. Next, the second+ layers. Here is where it gets a bit tricky, because it depends on the temp and type of clothes you have how much you should wear. For those of you reading this, you’ll need to experiment a bit to get it right. A friend of mine only ever wears a jersey underneath and a ridiculously warm cycling jacket he picked up at the Lehigh Valley Velodrome Flea Market. I typically wear a standard issue long sleeve cycling jersey, my bib cycling shorts and a single pair of standard leg warmers. On really cold days, those dropping into the 20s for a time, I’ll wear a wool long sleeve jersey topped with a sleeveless wind breaker. Most important though is keeping your feet and hands warm. Invest in good gloves and cycling booties. For this, ask your local bike shop for pointers. Keeping your extremities warm is the key to enjoying long winter rides.

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