Winter Mountain Bike Hacks: Ride comfortably this winter
Winter mountain biking can be lots of fun, but the cold, wet, and darkness can make it less entertaining. Also, riding in the winter means there’s lots of admin in cleaning your bike, kit, and yourself. The extra admin associated with winter mountain biking can reduce your motivation, but here are some winter mountain biking hacks to make riding in the colder months more appealing.
Consider What You Wear On Your Feet When Winter Mountain Biking
Cold, wet feet are uncomfortable and can make your day on the bike pretty miserable. But you can keep your feet comfortable by considering what you put on them.
Start with some good socks. Proper mountain biking socks are great, but you may want to wear ones made from merino wool. This stuff is nice and warm and also dries out quickly. Alternatively, you could wear waterproof socks, such as Sealskinz.
You can also wear mountain bike shoes designed for bad weather riding. Check out my blog on winter mountain bike shoes for a buyer’s guide and some great examples.
Cover Your Helmet Vents
Modern mountain bike helmets are well-ventilated, which is great when riding on a hot day. However, all those holes let the rain in, making your head wet and cold.
One way to keep your head warm is to tape up the holes with duct tape. Electrical tape may be better for this, as getting on and off is easier. You can use the tale to block the front vents or to seal the holes on the top, depending on what you want to do and how bad the weather is.
Alternatively, you can wear a waterproof mountain bike jacket with a helmet-compatible hood. The hood covers your helmet, keeping your head dry and warm on cold days.
Here’s my guide to buying an excellent waterproof mountain bike jacket.
Fit Your Bike With A Mudguard
Winter mountain biking usually involves lots of mud. Therefore, I recommend fitting a mudguard. I really like the small plastic ones that fit to the fork with cable ties, as they are effective, look good, and are cheap to buy.
Just be careful how you mount the mudguard, as it can rub the paint on your frame or fork.
Dry Your Shoes
Starting your day with wet mountain bike shoes isn’t the nicest feeling. However, you can ensure your shoes are nice and dry by using shoe dryers.
There are a few options, but the best ones are the ones that slip into your shoes and have a timer.
Layer Up For Winter Mountain Biking
Wearing layers is the best clothing strategy for winter mountain biking. How many layers and their thickness all depends on the conditions, how the cold affects you, and what kind of riding you do.
When I ride my ebike around my local mountain in autumn, I like to wear a base layer under a jersey and carry a waterproof jacket in my backpack. I also wear mountain bike trousers for extra warmth and to protect my legs from scrapes when picking my way through the forests.
Wear Gloves
I like to wear gloves no matter what the weather conditions are. I usually get away with my regular mountain bike gloves, even when it’s cold. However, my fingers get cold on fast descents or in the wilderness on my ebike.
You may want some suitable winter mountain bike gloves if you feel the cold easily. There are a few different types, but they are all generally slightly thicker, while some are waterproof.
Check out my guide to buying winter mountain bike gloves and to see some recommendations.
Keep Your Bike Clean
I live in a ground-floor apartment, and I would have to carry my dirty bike through our lounge to wash it in our garden, which is not ideal. So, I keep a battery-powered pressure washer in my garage to give my bike a squirt before putting it to bed.
The washer is small enough to carry in the car, too, so if we go further afield, we don’t have to put dirty bikes back in the car. The Karcher washer I have holds just enough water to wash one bike, but we top it up from a water container to do the other one.
You can buy larger and more powerful battery-powered washers. But my one is powerful enough to blast the mud off without removing all the grease from the frame bearings.
Check out my review on the Karcher OC3 Cordless Pressure Washer.
Learn How To Clean Your Bike Properly
A mountain bike that’s consistently dirty and not washed properly will break. Components wear out, costing you money, so correctly cleaning your bike is essential.
Wear Glasses
It’s essential to protect your eyes while mountain biking. Googles are great, but they fog when they get wet or when you get sweaty. Glasses combined with your mudguard do a great job of keeping the mud out of your eyes, which can be painful and dangerous. Also, a friend of mine rode without glasses last year and got a tree branch in his eye, which required surgery.
Choosing clear lenses for winter mountain biking is best, as you can see in low light and when you go in and out of the trees.
Check out my guide and recommendations for mountain biking glasses.
Alternatively, you can save lots of money by buying safety glasses to ride in. They often provide the same coverage as the frame designs are similar. They may not be steezy as eyewear, but you can protect your eyes for a fraction of the price.
Winterproof Your Car
You can do a few things to winterproof your car as a mountain biker. These winter mountain bike hacks will keep your car clean while making life easy.
Seat Covers
Putting covers on your car seats will allow you to drive off without getting changed.
Storage Box
Putting a storage box in your car means you have somewhere to put your muddy kit. You can take the box straight to your washing machine when you get home. However, you may want to hose it down before, as the excess mud will eventually break your machine.
Alternatively, you can use a big bag; we use an Ikea bag.
Fit A Bike Rack
Loading dirty bikes into your car or van will make it dirty. But if you have an external bike rack, you can ensure all the mud stays outside.
What Do You Think Of These Winter Mountain Bike Hacks?
These winter mountain bike hacks will go a long way to make riding in winter more manageable. Do you have any winter mountain bike hacks of your own? If so, please leave them in the comments section below.
