Winter riding?

[Tjcooper4]

Hey guys, I’m pretty new to mountain biking, though I am currently getting obsessed with it (I hope its not just a passing fad). I’ve been hucking around an old Giant Boulder SE from the turn of the century since late summer, and just the other day decided to treat myself to a Cannondale F5 as an early christmas present. It is sitting here in my den, untouched due to almost constant rain over the past couple of days, and I don’t want it to remain untouched due to cold weather in the near future. What are the best things to wear while winter riding?

[rsb201]

Here, read this previous post. You may find it useful.

http://www.singletracks.com/forum2/viewtopic.php?t=4161

[Outdoornut]

Welcome to the sport of mountain biking that will soon be more of a passion than sport 😉

The link above gives some good advise, however, I didn’t see it till late or I would have thrown in my two cents. I never got into cold weather riding because my son didn’t like it. Now that he’s old enough to stay home I wanted to give it a try.

I found the Starter brand at Walmart to work extremely well. I’ve used their lightweight wick away shirts before so when I saw the heavier cold weather stuff I couldn’t resist. It works as well as my few pieces of Under Armor at way less the cost. I was able to get the cold weather tights for $10 each and they work great. one pair works great down to the upper 20’s. If it’s colder I just wear two pair because they are not real heavy. The long sleeve pullovers, one without zipper in a medium and one with in large has worked great. In the $10 to $12 range can’t be beat. If it gets down to the teens I just put on a long sleeve jersey in between and have not been cold when riding down into the upper teens.

Our stores locally here in WV sold out fast so I’m not sure what you’ll find in your area but check it out.

Just used this stuff this weekend here in WV.

Just my two cents.

ODN

[bbmfkp]

That’s a sweet picture outdoornut. That looks like a blast riding in the winter. I just may be crazy enough to try that! 😃

[CraigCreekRider]

I think Outdoornut and Funrover are our 2 most dedicated winter forum posters. Of course Funrover wears shorts all winter long, putting his tolerance for cold weather pain way above mine. 😆 😆

Hey Outdoornut, do you use any different tires for winter riding than the rest of the year?

[Outdoornut]

"CraigCreekRider" wrote

Hey Outdoornut, do you use any different tires for winter riding than the rest of the year?

Nope ! My Maxxis Ardents are awesome in everything I’ve thrown at them. I rode this past Sunday and in places I plowed through at least 8 inches of snow. See these pics.

Note where my feet were going about an inch or two into the snow while I was pedalling.

Couldn’t believe I was able to ride over these log overs in this deep of snow.

However there were just a couple places I couldn’t pedal.

And other places it wasn’t as bad.

It was 36 degrees all afternoon so the snow packed down and the Ardents grabbed right hold of it. I just lower the tire presure down to about 28 psi up front and about 35 in the back. With the snow you don’t have to worry about pinch flats.

ODN

[Outdoornut]

"bbmfkp" wrote

That’s a sweet picture outdoornut. That looks like a blast riding in the winter. I just may be crazy enough to try that! 😃

Thanks bbmfkp, you’d like it. It’s a totally different challenge. One minute you are going good, next minute you have taken an abrupt turn off the trail and have to stop. My arms get more of a workout than riding through any of the nasty rock gardens I’ve ever ridden, which is many.

ODN

[Author]

Posts