Winter Riding: My Journal
In my area it gets cold, In February in can go to 0, then add the wind chill. In past years I don’t ride much during the Winter, maybe a couple of rides a month, then in the Spring I climb on the mountain bike and it’s like starting all over. Then searching mountain bike forums I noticed guys talking about “smart trainer” and my curiosity peaked.
So I purchased a 2017 Kickr Snap and started to look at what service I would use it with, and it came down to two:Trainer road and Zwift. After riding in Zwift I was hooked and the coolest part is I can load a Garmin file from a real life ride and load into Zwift as a custom work out; crazy cool.
It amazes me that people I interact with during the Winter don’t know about smart trainers or training services that can interact with them. When Zwift started up a couple of years ago there was 300 riders riding around their virtual worlds, now I see thousands. I have read that Strava is looking to buy Zwift and if they do I hope it even gets better. Strava has some really good detail ride data and Zwift is a little weak in this area.
I rode a couple of rides with these Bar Mitts on my fat bike and I can’t believe how awesome they are. I am able to wear a light pair of gloves and my hands stay really warm inside these mitts. It was around 25 degrees and I was fine, no cold fingers.The one thing that keep me from riding was cold hands and this is the solution. I don’t want to stop here, I want to talk a little about cold weather gear and layering.
I rode a couple of rides with these Bar Mitts on my fat bike and I can’t believe how awesome they are. I am able to wear a light pair of gloves and my hands stay really warm inside these mitts. It was around 25 degrees and I was fine, no cold fingers.The one thing that keep me from riding was cold hands and this is the solution. I don’t want to stop here, I want to talk a little about cold weather gear and layering.
I woke up and checked the weather,hmmm, this is the coldest day of the Winter so far, good time to test out layering for cold weather biking. I have rode a couple of outdoor rides in the 20’s and feel I have layering down for cold weather.
It’s gone so well I have been riding more outside instead of riding on my Kickr Snap trainer. -3 is kinda cold we will see.
My gear for the ride on a budget
ARSUXEO Winter Warm UP Thermal Softshell Cycling Jacket Windproof. Link
Thermal Softshell Cycling Jacket Windproof Waterproof
NBIKE Men’s Windproof Reflective UltraThermal Cycling Bike Gloves.
Bar Mitts MTN/Commuter Pogie Handlebar Mittens
Black Long Sleeve Compression Shirt
SmartWool Striped Light Hiking Socks
SmartWool NTS 250 Base Layer Top
Pearl Izumi Thermal Cycling Tight’s
Keen hiking shoe: still looking for a winter boot.
I had a good ride, a little cold at first, but the heat was in the pedals. I really am enjoying the Arsuxeo riding jacket, it’s cheap and does the job. I don’t care if road salt or grease from the bike gets on it, it’s only $33 bucks. I could buy 4 of these for the cost of one of my Arcteryx jackets.
