Out for my first snow ride tomorrow. Anything I should bear in mind apart from the obvious? Riding a KHS XCT555 running Bontrager Mud-x front and rear…..hoping not to break anything!!
Cheers

Don`t brake!

Dont fall off into snow encrusted freezing sluch and fill your oants with it, all your mates will think you have half killed yourself with the moaning (well they did when I did this).
My only real tip is winter boots socks gloves and the rest will look after itself.

Depends if it's fresh or frozen. Fresh snow is fine but hard work and things get jammed up. Frzen is fine as long as you don't brake or steer.

I was out in the snow today for the first time and I'm stunned at the grip levels. As long as I wasn't somewhere a car or an awful lot of feet have been, it was grippy as hell. I rode up stuff I'd normally expect a bit of a slip in the wet and it stuck like glue.

So, look after your personal warmth – good gloves, keep the feet dry, warm fluids in the Camelbak, etc and you'll be fine.

But nobody told me SPDs freeze up! 😯

Snow is fine – problems are more down to it being heavy going sometimes. A decent climb in the dry can turn into a real slog if you're pushing your bike in snow. Descents also seem to work out fine – just take it easy.

Ice is the bone-breaker. Oftentimes the trail will be iced up but rough and broken with snow etc – you can do OK here – good fun trying to keep traction up and down. If the trail looks like you could skate down it then don't bother – excellent chance of falling on your aris. Being ice, you can lose the front end without any warning leading to faceplants / busted wrist / collarbones etc.

Thanks guys…plenty to watch out for…think I'll pad up!

snow is like mud. Ice is your real problem. Pretend the snow is not there. Ice will let you know itself when it;s there.

Struggled yesterday on some descents where it was icy – realised others had decided to give them a miss as no other tyre tracks. The problem is that walking down is even worse. Biking in fresh snow is also very tiring but fun 🙂

Either 'snow and ice' tyres or 'ice spikers' both by Shwalbe I think. As they dont get used all that much, they last for years if stored decently. My ice spikers are 4 or 5 years old and although not cheap, I have loved every minute I have been out on them, so well worth the money to me. The grip they have on frozen stuff is amazing. I have on several occasions been the only cyclist I have seen that day. Never fallen off yet (famous last words!)

Either 'snow and ice' tyres or 'ice spikers' both by Shwalbe I think. As they dont get used all that much, they last for years if stored decently. My ice spikers are 4 or 5 years old and although not cheap, I have loved every minute I have been out on them, so well worth the money to me. The grip they have on frozen stuff is amazing. I have on several occasions been the only cyclist I have seen that day. Never fallen off yet (famous last words!)

Biking in fresh snow is ace, anything up to about 6-8" depth is fine with a bit of momentum. You actually get loads of grip in snow, it's quite impressive. Mud tyres are best and you'll probably find that the bike clogs quite easily, especially round the brakes and the pedals.
The trick with ice is to stay completely relaxed but that's very difficult to do. Thin ice usually isn't to bad cos the bike will often just break through it with a wonderful ripping cracking sound.

Here in Finland we do a lot of biking in the snow. I don't really bother with studded tires unless I know there is a lot of ice, usually you are fine if it's just a small area that's frozen (just unweight).

Our trails are usually full of roots and stones. All the people walking their dogs in the forest can often cause us to have the smoothest trails when there is snow (they pack narrow paths). I use the same tires for wet autumn and winter (Nokian NBX, Highroller, Minion), switch to studded when everything is iced up or I want to go ride on the frozen sea.

The cold is your enemy and will try it's best to disrupt your enjoyment 😡

Feet and hands need speacial treatment, and wear multiple thin layers, no thick jumpers etc

Plenty of grip in the snow, its just the sheet ice on any tarmac you need to be very wary of, you're basically ice skating so keep your balance otherwise all of a sudden it's THUD!

I dont know about anybody else but riding in sub zero temperatures is the optimum environment, you don't overheat and can therefore keep going for ages. I was out for over 6 hours yesterday and only came home when I was running out of sunlight (didnt bring my lights)

Enjoy!

Escape Route in Pitlochry had a nice pair of continental studded winter tyres in last week when i was up

£50 an end tho …. worth it for all the ice we get up here tho

streets lethal today…ice under 2 day old snow

the kerbs already claimed a few alloys 🙁

kamina –

switch to studded when everything is iced up or I want to go ride on the frozen sea.

😯 😯 😯 😯

I want more snow! Overtaking people on sledges last year was great fun 😮

My top tip for cycling below freezing point is remember to blow the water out of your Camelbak hose when you're done sipping. Will save a LOT of faff!

fresh snow is vert grippy.

I was out on the ss in swinley yesterday and it was great fun although I did find the effort higher for my usual loop than normal. Particularly climbing, I was struggling a bit at times to stop the traction breaking out and turned the wheels a few times more than usual to cover th same distance once wheelspins were taken into account.

The 'groomed' trails (Seagull, Stickler, F9Y, Tanktraps) were great although a slight novelty in places was where standing water has been recently there were a couple of 'Oh Sh*t' moments on icy corners.

The only cropper was on the F9Y through one of the muddy dips. Normally where there are ruts in the bottom you can unweight the front a bit, aim for the other side and if you don't hit the rut exactly you plough a new one. Not when they're frozen you can't, I just missed the middle, hit the edge and it barreled me sideways into the bank by the side. But no harm done. This time.

DONT FORGET HAVE SOME FUN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All you'll need

Hey Kamina! How's it going? I remember you from CM/FM (I was Tangent on there) and I'm posting this from a PC you spec'd for me nearly five years ago.

I dibbed out of the snow on the pentlands yesterday and went east. Out of Musselburgh and looking back at the Pents covered in snow and with the early morning sun hitting them I had a tinge of regret our choice of route for the day. However, the John Muir trail was fun and where sandy it was mostly frozen twisty singletrack. Braw enough at Gullane point and headed back to Edinburgh before the ten minute blizzard hit.

Tomorrow, if I survive the journey I'll have a similar ride on frozen coastal path in north Norfolk.

All good tips.

Just to add:

Egg Beater pedals don't clog as badly as SPDs.

Just had my best day in months. Fitted the Nokian studded tyres to my SIngular 29er, and off out looking for virgin snow. Heaps off it around so maximum fun. It's amazing how you can get a sweat up cycling at about 3mph on the level 🙂

BTW a plug for my favourite gloves – I went out wearing my expensive warm cycling gloves but they soon ended up cold & wet inside from sweat. Changed to my Tesco £5 wonders (thick woolly gloves) and had no problem with my hands thereafter, nice and slightly damp & toasty – they definitely breathe better and stay warm even when it's snowing.

Super Mendip XC ride today – no snow but loads of ice and heavy frost. Tarmac was an ice-rink but everywhere else still full frozen was pretty grippy. The churned-up trails I normally slide through has become techy frozen ruts. Only where the mud had melted was it truly difficult going – hey ho it's all mountain biking

surly pugsley eats it up… 🙂

in most UK conditions a normal bikes fine..airline mechs after washing to remove moisture will help freezing problems,full lenght cables coppergreased,graphite grease in all bearings,freehub,castrol chainwax(motorcycle)all biodegradable chain lubes are water based so wash off eventully in wet conditions and can freeze,relax arms on ice-dont tense,if you crash get it on camera 😀

My flat pedals were a bit of a pain with a covering of ice. Also riding a 22 lb bike on steepish descents was rather nerve-racking!