I agree with most of that and am actively looking forward to my winter riding, although I’ve broken the same rule at least twice and have accumulated a winter gravel bike (previously known as a ‘CX bike’ but I don’t race) a winter road bike and even a ‘deep winter’ singlespeed road bike.

I’m massively out of touch with MTB these days but I reckon any MTBer would enjoy a nippy CX bike in the mud, scoping out all the little dog walkers trails in the woods and gradually ending up further and further from home as you start linking stuff together. It never occurred to me to drive anywhere which is a bonus when muddy bikes and gear are involved!

Posting my favourite winter pic again just because I found it recently

Gravel bike, road bike, running, weights

Winter bike works for me. Cheap 10 speed Deore picked up in the CRC fire sale means I’ve got half a dozen £30 drivetrains waiting in the wings. Bit of Putoline on the chain and I can often just rinse the drivetrain with the hose and bung the bike in the shed. No faff winter biking means I get out more. Little time, effort or money

That mud looks awful scary to me. The good thing I’ve noticed with gravel roads is they have fantastic drainage qualities. When the single track is muddy and the tarmac roads are wet and sketchy the gravel roads are a great option. Luckily I can go for miles from the front door on gravel roads through the winter with a few little muddy bits which are usually churned up ground from logging activities.

When  the snow comes I get out the cross country skis. There are a few cross country skiing Strava loops set up in Glenmore forest I would like to try to set PBs on or even CR on.

My favourite winter cycling photo

but I reckon any MTBer would enjoy a nippy CX bike in the mud,

No thank you, but whatever floats your boat. I’ve never seen the need to stop riding in the Winter, yeah you might have to do a bit more cleaning, but those day where the Gods align it for you so that its frozen hard (increasingly infrequent, granted) or you have the place to yourself because everyone else has given up and gone home…

The article is supportive rather than condescending – but it does come over a little naive. Or at the very least very centric to the author’s personal experience. Even on an island as small as the UK we are dealing with some very different concepts about what winter actually means.

I moved north 4 and a bit years ago so just about to start my 5th Highland winter riding season. What I’ve learnt is there is no such thing as a specific winter experience to love/overcome. Significantly colder and darker here but I’d take that over the previous 20 years in the south downs. Copious riding options, most of which stay ridable where my riding of them does little harm to the landscape or the machine. Down south I might not have had to concern myself with suspension that had slowed right up because the bike has been stored at <-5 for 2 weeks straight or the balls of snow and ice where my pedals used to be but South Downs clag is a murderous mistress.

I’m determined that this year I’m sticking with the roadie club, too many of my riding mates over the last few years have seemingly stuck with regular riding and come out the other side in spring now riding with much faster groups.  It’s just a motivation thing usually, 90% of the time it’s not that bad out there once you’re dressed up and warm.

That and I’ve signed up for a training plan on Mywhoosh which will hopefully polish up my fitness more effectively than my usual high-Z3 clubrun riding.  It never gets easier and becomes Z2, you just spend more time at the front.

Nice, thoughtful article. I strongly support the spare front wheel with a mud tyre (Hillbilly is fine IMO).

I haven’t found myself doing as much winter graveling as expected, mainly as I end up soaking wet from spray (even with guards).

Maybe I need to work on my route choice, or just carry on embracing the slop on MTB.

Got to probably my best ever mud-riding skills last winter (unsurprisingly).

Slightly sad to see STW using AI imagery on articles though.

We have a ban on it for all content at my workplace.

Yeah, especially since it’s behind a paywall too. Surely there’s a plethora of great winter pics they could use from real people.

I’ve had to re-frame my expectations of winter (specifically) and seasons (in general) since I moved to Sweden. Winter is both longer and more intense here, even in the “southern” part I live in, and I can expect snow to start maybe in November and to not really go properly until fifth fake spring some time in April. Despite it mostly being a dry cold with temps even here in Uppsala getting down to -25C at times, the pure length of the season takes it out of you.

In Stockholm, commuting on bike was brutal. You need spikes/studded bike tyres and even then the lack of daylight during normal commuting time makes it tough. Icy and snow melt during the day to form an icy, salty slush that leaves those marks on your shoes, but which freezes before you leave the office into tramlines that wander in and out of cycles lanes and makes using SPDs a challenge on the short, steep hill sections across town. I took to wearing a very strong Exposure beam on my helmet so that I could make my presence at junctions known with the sheer weight of photons; sometimes ‘normal’ lights and all the reflective tape in the world does not let you be seen.

Out in the country, winter means studded tyres on the van and skis easy to hand for lunchtime XC skiing. My bikes take a rest now because there is no happy medium tyre that allows floating on snow _and_ grippy on ice and, honestly, my usual route through the forest becomes ski tracks and I am not willing to mess that up for my neighbours. So, the Stumpy and my Malt2 stay under cover and my road bike wears its winter tyres as part of the Tacx turbo setup. With this I can pretend I am somewhere warmer and use the hate that builds inside me during training sessions as a means of looking forward to that first ride when I can legitimately go outside without needed grippers on my boots.

Last winter was tough. It seemed to go on for ever and I was very glad it ended when it did. This year I may need to break it at some point with a trip somewhere warmer; I did Iceland in March and it was cold/windy/wet instead of just cold/windy, but I’d really like sunny/warmer for a week.

I suggest anyone who’s struggling with motivation to ride this winter just pops back here and reads Willard’s post.

@convert has it. I simply don’t see those sort of mud baths being described. The soil here tends to drain well and while yes there will be muddy patches it never gets like that. Last winter felt like an eternal autumn as we didn’t get it very cold for long. There’s not much choice of roads so it tends to be mostly gravel riding anyway – until we have some decent snow. Then it’s out with the fatbike. On the very good days I can get home, shake the snow off and the bike will actually be cleaner than when I set off. Paired with the right clothing and footwear choices (and pogies) it’s a fantastic time of year.

Another bonus for me last winter was buying studded running shoes. When the tracks become polished by too many users, these allow me to still get out and work some Z4/5 training in.

Then there’s the walking (or is it mountaineering) and the swimming.

Oh – and get a boot/shoe dryer. Especially if there’s more than one of you exercising outdoors.

I’m starting my prep for winter riding by doing something I failed majestically at last year. Night rides – and this time on worn out Barzos!

Those easy trails suddenly take on a whole new character when lit up badly with a handlebar mounted sun while on tyres with inappropriate levels of grip. Last night I was thankful to make it down the trail in one piece that I normally warm up on! Riding up things was also similarly exciting and required far increased levels of concentration. Then there are just the fast bits of singletrack that take on a whole new character with the rear end just drifting around in a comedic manner. I could have slowed down, but where is the fun in that?