Winter Riding is better than Summer Riding
tightbarsteward
Posts: 123
Chill in the air, snow on the ground, frozen puddles & a buff around your neck. That's what it's gonna be like in a few months & I for one can't wait! 
Winter is the best time to be out on yer bike especially in the lakes. More of a challenge and more of a crack.
What does everyone else think?
Winter is the best time to be out on yer bike especially in the lakes. More of a challenge and more of a crack.
What does everyone else think?
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Comments
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Seem's to be winter riding all year round now eh, the pants summer we have had.
I know what you mean though, doing your local climb on a frosty morning and it feels like your chest's going to burst!
I don't mind getting wet in the winter because after all it's winter, but I hate it in the summer. Looking forward to the snow. Snowdon was a right buzz in the snow last year, emotional getting to the top and even more emotional trying to keep your front tyre in a straight line Niner Air 9 Rigid
Whyte 129S 29er.0 -
yup winter riding rocks particularly when really cold but bone dry.
and night riding in the snow with no lights 8)0 -
Offroad, and after a very heavy frost,I might just agree with you.
But to your perhaps rather over-optimistic picture, I would add: salt spray rotting expensive components, horizontal sleet penetrating even the most expensive gear, remembering to charge your lights and pack spare batteries(the weight!), drivers sliding around all over the place, unable to see you in the dusk despite being lit up like a christmas tree, the shock of cold as you go down the first hill before being properly warmed up, and the pain in the extremeties which no amount of socks/gloves/headbands seem able to keep at bay.
I'll still be out in it, becase at the end of the day anything's better than driving, and I expect there will be some idyllic days, days which beat anything summer has to offer, but I don't think I'll ever look forward to winter.0 -
Yeah your right about the shit summer but we got a few good days in tho especially up round the Staveley area.
Me and my mate were talking the other day tho & both agreed that there is something about the winter riding thats more fun. Dont know whether is cos its more sketchy or what.
I'm thinking maybe the camaraderie created by the adverse conditions or something like that. We have a much better crack in the winter than the summer. Maybe we are just weird?!
As for night riding in the snow, I like the sound of that actually!!0 -
I rode the hills in Cyprus 4 days a week for 6 months in the summer of '07 and to be honest, as nice as it sounds all I wanted was some rain!Niner Air 9 Rigid
Whyte 129S 29er.0 -
Yup, I agree with that. Do most of my riding in the Lakes in Winter. The trails don't hold a lot of water, and there are far fewer grockles about. Air is clearer so the views can be superb. They can also be non-existent!
Always feel as if I've stolen a day.Frank Yates0 -
Pfft, you're all mad. Winter riding sucks big time.
Well, the riding doesn't, it's the cleaning up afterwards that gets my goat. And having to buy vastly overpriced and often slightly useless clothing to try to make it half-bearable.0 -
Winter riding sucks big timethere are far fewer grockles about
As I said.Frank Yates0 -
winter riding all the way, the summer is just too boring and the mud is like half set concrete, winter mud just slips off your bike,
Its easier to know what to wear too, never is it just too hot to wear extra but too cold to not bother. I admit that the toes can get a touch chilly but again at least you know where your at.
how does the post cuppa and cake taste in -5 compared to +20? to me its soooo much more like it.fly like a mouse, run like a cushion be the small bookcase!0 -
I enjoy it, if we do actually get a cold winter- had some great rides on Cutgate in the Dark Peak last winter. Well once the passes were open and I could get there! Funny riding over snow and as you slow down start to sink into it! Mild and wet gets monotonous TBH as that is what we usually get and as stated, the views disappear under the grey weather, will still ride, but it's not so good then...0
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I prefer autumn, not winter. Autumn generally has fantastically crisp, cold dry days, perfect for ripping up th ecountryside.
Winter (round here anyway) is terrifyingly cold, and usually monstrously wet.0 -
A tenner says that by Christmas everyone who has responded to this thread (except me) will be whinging a like a set of girls about how cold/muddy/unfair it is and how crap winter riding is...0
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Don't include me, I said I like autumn. Still doesn't beat a good summer though.dave_hill wrote:A tenner says that by Christmas everyone who has responded to this thread (except me) will be whinging a like a set of girls about how cold/muddy/unfair it is and how crap winter riding is...0 -
A tenner says that by Christmas everyone who has responded to this thread (except me) will be whinging a like a set of girls about how cold/muddy/unfair it is and how crap winter riding is...
I'll have some of that.Frank Yates0 -
The Marin trail copped a good dumping of snow earlier this year and it transformed that trail, flippin deadly but fun Niner Air 9 Rigid
Whyte 129S 29er.0 -
I like winter riding myself but I hate the damage it does to the trails
Bloody fools with big mad mud tyres turning singletrack into swimming pools, does my head in. I'd sooner ride in the cold and wet than in the heat, you can put on a raincoat but there's nothing to be done about baking heat.
As the saying goes, there's no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate gear
Uncompromising extremist0 -
Ive been thinking about what tyres I might run this winter & just cant make up my mind. I ran Nobby Nics last winter until I ripped a big gash in the wall of my back one. Front one is still sweet tho so I might just buy another one for the back. I was well impressed with them.
However I liked the look of the Maxxis highrollers I saw in Wheelbase today. Also my mate reckons Bontranger Mud x are the muts gonads so I'm in 2, or 3 minds.0 -
I ran mountain kings all last winter and they did me well in the mud with good clearance. I have just changed to Maxxis ignitors and I'm going to see how they do.
Thing is up here in North Wales, going by this summer there is not much difference between the winter and summer conditions on the trails. The man made trails accept for penmachno drain pretty well and the natural trails I ride have a good dousing of mud on them all year round. I've found that the same tyre does me well all year round.
The new Bonty range is supposed to be good. Although going by my previous with bonty I won't be buying to find out!Niner Air 9 Rigid
Whyte 129S 29er.0 -
Not as good as the post ride Pint(or2)of winter ale and dustbin lid sized chip butty in the warm and toasty Ladybower Inn 8) 8)fletch8928 wrote:how does the post cuppa and cake taste in -5 compared to +20? to me its soooo much more like it.
Ratty2k knows where i'm at 0 -
yeehaamcgee wrote:
Don't include me, I said I like autumn. Still doesn't beat a good summer though.dave_hill wrote:A tenner says that by Christmas everyone who has responded to this thread (except me) will be whinging a like a set of girls about how cold/muddy/unfair it is and how crap winter riding is...
OK, you're out chum. But if I hear one peep... 0 -
ibbo68 wrote:
Not as good as the post ride Pint(or2)of winter ale and dustbin lid sized chip butty in the warm and toasty Ladybower Inn 8) 8)fletch8928 wrote:how does the post cuppa and cake taste in -5 compared to +20? to me its soooo much more like it.
Ratty2k knows where i'm at
Oh yes, and the VERY fine eastern European waitresses as well! 0 -
Wait, are you now saying I'm not allowed to complain? I won't be hypocritical!dave_hill wrote:yeehaamcgee wrote:
Don't include me, I said I like autumn. Still doesn't beat a good summer though.dave_hill wrote:A tenner says that by Christmas everyone who has responded to this thread (except me) will be whinging a like a set of girls about how cold/muddy/unfair it is and how crap winter riding is...
OK, you're out chum. But if I hear one peep...0
