Weather or not

Riding in the winter can be great fun. The roads tend to be quieter, there’s less chance of roadkill, and nothing beats a crisp winters morning in the countryside imo. It just requires a bit of common sense. Your tyres won’t get as warm, so avoid chucking the bike into twisties, especially early on in your ride. Good tyres are always important, but in the winter especially so. Roads tend to be more slippery in the winter, and you need to be mindful of the possibility of black ice. Those dark shady patches under trees on a bright winters day could be 10 degrees colder than it is out in the sunshine. Black ice is very difficult, if not impossible, to spot, and in the shade, it’s effectively invisible. I tend to ride at lower rpm in the winter, and short-shift, to reduce the chance of breaking traction.  You don’t want to be exploring your bikes power band on a cold or wet road. For the same reason, I tend to revert to a more off-road style of braking, using the rear brake far more than I would on a dry summer road. The key is, keep everything smooth.  Sometimes, on a lonely country road, I will slow down, and then put a foot down on the tarmac briefly to get some idea of how much grip there is. This does however tend to shorten the life of my boots. Also, you need to be aware that, with a low sun in the sky, your shadow in front of you means that oncoming drivers are likely to be partially or even completely blinded by the sun. While on how visible you are, I found that fitting auxiliary lights seemed to drastically reduce the occurrence of potential smidsy’s, as well as appearing to make me more visible while filtering.

You do need to keep warm, especially your core and your fingers. I use heated grips, but even with those, my fingertips do sometimes get cold. My Himalayan has hand guards and heated grips, and this combination works better. For clothing, I use layers. Then it’s easy to peel off a layer or two when you stop. The last thing you want on a  cold winters day is to get back on your bike all sweaty. Wind chill will soon have you wishing you’d stayed at home. You don’t need to spend a fortune to keep warm on a motorcycle. My merino wool thermals, bought from Aldi, make a great inner layer. Merino is warm, comfortable, and wicks moisture if you sweat. Over that, I wear more layers, the amount depending on the temperature.  A long sleeved, polo necked wool top and a fleece is all I usually wear over the Merino underlayer. This wool top is fairly thin, so doesn’t restrict movement. There’s nothing worse than feeling like the Michelin man astride your winter hack. I have removed the thermal liner from my jacket, which is an Oxford Mondial Advanced textile jacket, and instead wear a lightweight down jacket, purchased from Decathlon.  A major advantage of this is, that when you stop, or when camping, you have a warm jacket to wear without having to walk around in your bike jacket. The Oxford jacket is good value for a laminated textile jacket, and served me well on my South American trip earlier this year. However, the first one I bought leaked, but it was replaced by Oxford. (A quick disclaimer here: none of the equipment mentioned is sponsored in any way. My main point from mentioning the gear I use is that you don’t have to spend a fortune to keep warm and dry). On my legs, I wear a merino base layer (two if it’s really cold), jeans, and  my old Arma textile pants with thermal liner. This is sufficient for me. The Arma pants were quite cheap, and I re-waterproof them every year. They have survived 4 winters, as well as my South American trip.  For socks, I use a thin pair of bamboo socks (Aldi again), and a pair of ski socks. Under my gloves, which are winter waterproof gloves from Halvarrsons, I wear silk liners, which have the added advantage of making it much easier to remove and put on your gloves. I carry two spare pairs of gloves on any longer trip; waterproof gloves may keep your hands dry, but evaporation from the wet outer layer has a significant cooling effect on your fingers.  For my neck, I use a waterproof neck tube from Halvarrsons, which I find comfortable as well as waterproof. If it’s really cold, I wear a thin generic neck tube under that. Lastly, in winter I always take a waterproof over-jacket and pants, not necessarily for rain (my textile pants and jacket are waterproof) but as an extra, windproof layer for warmth. A few years ago, riding along Loch Ness on a clear cold day in November, I was very glad to have this extra layer. It was so cold I also stuffed a fleece towel down the front of my jacket, a trick I first used in Qatar on a cold winters night, when my friend Mikey and me bought towels at a gas station while out on a desert ride. But, whenever you get cold enough that you think your riding ability is impaired, stop. Take a break, heave a coffee, warm your hands up. Lastly, the boots I wear, year round, are Sidi Canyon GTX, which, apart from being completely waterproof, are comfortable to walk around in. More importantly, they have soles with great grip.

So that’s my tuppence worth on winter riding. As I said, I am no expert, it’s just what works for me. Let me know in the comments what tricks or tips you have for winter riding.

Keep the blue side up.