Take on Winter
Do you feel like you have gone into winter hibernation mode and your bike is already gathering cobwebs? Don’t wait until spring to ride. It’s a slow, hard grind to get back your fitness after weeks off the bike. These tips for winter riding will help you avoid cabin fever, and burst into spring fighting fit.
I asked the hardy Dunedin girls from R&R Sport’s weekly women’s ride what helps keep their wheels rolling through the chilly months.
Erin Greene rides a lot through winter and she has her routine dialled. “I leave straight from work and carry my pack with everything in it,” she says. “My work clothes and some food are handy if I get cold or hungry and the extra weight is good for training. Leaving straight from work means I don’t fluff about at home losing precious daylight hours or worse still pike on the ride! A windstopper riding top, windstopper gloves and full tights are essential for Queenstown winter rides. Company is great and I try to choose well-known trails so it doesn’t end up being an ‘Erin-hike-a-bike exploratory mission!’ Snow is fun when it’s fresh, but once it’s been there for a couple of weeks it gets compacted and icy. Frozen trails can be a hard landing if you come off but they are nice and fast early in the morning. If you get up with the birds you can ride them before they thaw into mud and sludge.”
Celia Lie recommends doing a regular ride like the R&R Sport one. When it’s really hideous outside and the ride is cancelled, Celia sets up her wind trainer in front of the TV and pedals along to episodes of Greys Anatomy in the warmth of her lounge. It’s a pretty inviting alternative to get your legs spinning!
One of the regulars, Miff Macdiarmid emphasises the need for good gear. Her must-haves are her Louis Garneau tights and shoe covers and a waterproof jacket. She wears an Icebreaker-GT merino top next to her skin because it breathes well and stays warm and dry even after sweating up a big hill climb. “Once you get on your bike it’s never as cold as what you imagine,” she says. “The other thing is, you can never have too many lights for keeping safe on the roads and trails.” Miff likes the Nitelights 900 lumen model because it is really affordable and super bright.
If you can stop the wind buffeting your eyeballs and ears, riding is a much calmer and more pleasant experience. My tip is to cocoon your head in some clear eyewear and a Silkbody Caterpillar Hat and Headwarmer. These have a blend of silk, merino and cotton which is warm, itch-free and non-bulky. The Headwarmer is a tube so you can use it as a neck warmer. My technique is to pull the Caterpillar Hat down over my ears and the neck warmer up over my nose and cheeks before whizzing down the hills on frosty Dunedin mornings. No more watery eyes or face-freeze! Bliss.
A clever and cunning strategy is to enter a spring event with some friends. The subtle pressure of the looming race date nudges you out the door and onto your bike, and the group commitment ensures you have riding buddies over winter. The key is paying and entering early – otherwise your best intentions can fly out the window as the event nears and you decide not to enter after all because you are “not fit enough” and “haven’t done enough riding.”
Check out the upcoming winter and spring events in your region. I highly recommend a team event such as a 6 hour or 12 hour relay, or for a real fitness challenge you can enter as a solo rider. These events have an awesome atmosphere with supporters camped out, barbeques, music and lights. Some people race to win, but most have a fun, social approach. Fancy dress is common and usually unearths strange creatures such as, furry animals, superheroes, ballerinas, and witches.
Some spring events in 2010 include the huge Taupo ‘Day Night Thriller’ and Dunedin’s 6-hour ‘Haggis Basher’ in mid September. The Giant Bicycles ‘12-Hour Day/Nighter’ or ‘6-Hour Blast’ is at Christchurch’s McLeans Forest Park on October 16th, followed a week later by Timaru’s ‘Alpine Energy 12 Hour Day/Night Race’ on October 30th. Labour Weekend in October serves up the ‘Singlespeed World Champs’ in Rotorua, or for a South Island option head to Queenstown for the multi lap relay ‘8hrs@Jack’s.’
If team races aren’t your thing, there are some great individual events such as the ‘Karioi Classic’ a 48km ride near Raglan on July 18th with fantastic views, or for a longer option enter the ‘Molesworth Muster’ which is an 80km ride from Molesworth Station to Hanmer Springs on November 6th. Southland MTB Club runs a winter race series from May through to October at Invercargill’s Sandy Point, and Christchurch has their ‘Night Nav’ series at Bottle Lake Forest for night racing with a navigation component. These are just a snippet of the options. Ask your local bike shop or club for advice or search the internet. There is sure to be a race out there that stirs your adventurous spirit.
Urban riding can keep your biking mojo alive over the winter months. Places normally full of people and traffic are often quiet and empty at night. Simple ingredients for a good urban ride are night lights, some adventurous riding buddies, and a playful, curious attitude. You don’t need plans – follow your whim. Practise some balancing, carving turns, wheelies, and bunny hops. Elbow and knee pads can give you the extra confidence to master those manoeuvres you have always wanted to learn. If you want a guaranteed happy ending, finish up at a cafe for hot chocolate.
If you are craving a daily dose of sunshine and vitamin D, get out for a lunchtime ride. Start work earlier and negotiate a longer lunch break. The cold weather means you don’t usually work up much of a sweat and daylight riding is a lot safer than negotiating rush hour traffic in the dark after work.
It really doesn’t matter what sort of riding you do, just don’t hide inside! Get out there and suck in the freshness and exhilaration of winter riding.
Image: Anja McDonald (second from left) celebrates after negotiating an icy course to win the 2008 Scottish Cyclocross Champs
Photo by Trina Ritchie