A Seven Treeeline is the Golden Ticket to the best winter of your life and all of the benefits mentioned here!
Top 10 Reasons to Keep Riding Outside this Winter
The Old Farmer’s Almanac predicts a deep, snow-filled, cold winter. Plan to hibernate for 5 months sadly or enjoy it and expect to wish it would stick around after the spring returns!
1. Physical Health
Getting outside on a bike is a healthy activity. You already know that. The winter accentuates the positive benefits of being on a bike outside.
In the winter, your strength increases by riding through snow. Needing to handle the bike works on your core muscles and upper body in ways you can’t replicate in the gym.
The full body workout you get on a bike in the winter is much more balanced for your body than time on a trainer.
The time you’re outside riding is also much more concentrated. An hour in the winter is worth many times that on the road in the summer in terms of the workout you get.
Your tolerance to the cold increases by riding outside when you’re dressed right, you don’t have to feel the cold, but it makes your life, in general, more pleasant since you don’t need to walk around hating the cold when you’re not on your bike.
Getting out in the sun increases your body’s Vitamin D supply assuming you have a little skin showing.
We know many people employ an indoor workout, weights, cross training of various kinds, and cycling on an indoor trainer. We’re not suggesting you give up all indoor activities, but having an outdoor cycling routine is one of the healthiest things you can do over the winter.
There are a lot of winter riders; you’re in good company with others who recognize the myriad reasons for staying outside all winter.
2. Mental Health
Mental health is being much more commonly discussed openly because it’s very important. It is critical to your well being to not hibernate all winter or stay inside for the 5 months that are a typical New England winter.
Endorphins from physical exercise are important for keeping Seasonal Affected Disorder, SAD, under control.
This is the ticket to the Winter Riding Club, being upon a fun, joy-filled bike - it’s the Honey BiFrost!
There is a real feeling of accomplishment from doing a hard ride and getting outside, too. Even more endorphins result!
Everyone else was at home during this first snow fall of a previous year. These riders (along with more who were out in other groups) had the time of their lives.
Looking forward to group rides and laughing while playing in the snow is incredibly fun while helping you experience happiness and joy.
Your good feelings translate to being better able to handle work and family stresses at a time of year when others are more likely to be stressed and also dealing with SAD.
3. Keep your Cycling Life Interesting
If you’re a serious road rider, that means you’re probably doing the same rides over and over. At some point, it’s just important to do something different to keep things interesting and to fight burn-out or boredom. Snow riding and fat biking takes you places you don’t ride the rest of the year, and it makes it easy so you don’t have to learn mountain bike skills.
This group hadn’t ever ridden together before, but they all had a day to remember on the trails after one of the best snows fell the night before.
4. Accomplish New Goals
If you’re the kind of person who likes to set and meet goals, you’ve likely gotten “there” where it comes to your road cycling life. Winter riding opens up new frontiers in terms of proving things to yourself about how far, long, and what you can accomplish on the bike.
Just out making the best of the gorgeous day. What else can be done on such a day that would beat this?
5. Be Considered Hardcore
You’re going to look pretty hard core by riding all winter. Your friends will think you’re cool and will admire you in ways you never thought possible. The truth is that you don’t have to be hardcore to really enjoy winter riding - but you still get credit for being tough.
It’s warmer in the woods, off the roads. It’s really pretty comfortable assuming the right clothes are employed.
Not exactly the image that pops to mind when you think about a hard-core, tough winter cyclist, but this rider who has a very low threshold for getting cold (she feels the cold on a 60-degree day) is one of the most avid winter riders in New England.
6. Enjoy the Peace of Nature
Riding in the winter is quiet and perfect peace in the woods. Get off of the busy roads and back into nature. There are almost no horses or dog walkers out there - just you, your friends, and no one else - day and night.
At 6am after an evening snowfall, the woods were spectacular to ride.
7. Good for Your Family & Non-Riding Friends…
…therefore, good for you, too. When you ride in the winter, you don’t have to go far or long to have had a very effective workout. One hour in the snow and on the trails is all you need to feel great for the rest of the day, have a super workout, and a great escape. Do you have a family? Do you work at home? Only have time for a short ride before or after work? All of these are options and you won’t find yourself feeling like you didn’t have a complete ride - you’ll be satisfied.
As a side benefit, your family will find you more enjoyable to be around on the darkest, coldest days of winter.
These cyclists went out Thanksgiving morning with temps in the 6 degree range. They were all back in time to help prepare feasts at their respective households.
8. So Many More Opportunities to Ride
Once you figure out how to be comfortable on the bike temperature-wise and outfit it properly for winter, you’ll discover that you can now ride anytime at all - day or night. Over the winter, your cycling friends are much more available to ride and people tend to stick around since kids are in school. Now that you can ride anytime of the day or night, you’re going to be able to find impromptu rides more often and you won’t have to ride alone as much or ever!
The Full Moon ride runs all year at Ride Headquarters. We find a large number of people are able to enjoy a bike ride after dinner at home with their families.
9. Feel and Experience Something Special
It can’t be overemphasized how important it is to laugh and have fun as a stressed adult with adult responsibilities. There is a different feeling you will experience when riding in the snow than any other feeling you ever get when riding a bike. It is something similar to what it was like playing in the snow as a kid. But add in the feeling of flying, floating, and being free to the whole equation and that’s the feeling we are trying to describe.
Try it and you can join the large numbers of people in this area who have found it and can’t wait to get it back every winter.
Some of the most beautiful days are those blanketed in white; the feeling of being out there flying and floating over it is unparalleled.
10. Life is Easier this Way
You’ve set up your road bike on the trainer and you have that all figured out. Great. Have your winter bike ready for outside. Keep the trainer bike there and have your winter bike for everything else. If you have to keep moving your bike on/off the trainer or changing things out to make a bike good for inside and outside, it’s a pain. When you get a sunny, blue winter day, even if you’re not a winter rider, are you really going to sit inside on the trainer that day?!
Riding slower in the winter doesn’t mean you’re getting less of a workout. You’re staying warm on the coldest days and having more fun!
11. Fun with Gear
This is a bonus! Getting a cool winter bike such as the Honey BiFrost just begs you to outfit it in every way possible. Have fun with colors on your bike. Have fun experimenting with handlebar and saddle bags. If you’re someone who likes gear, a titanium fat bike is the perfect platform for having waaay too much fun with. You don’t need to do anything fancy with your bike and setup, but you can if you want. You get to outfit yourself, too, with warm, fuzzy clothes, and sweet winter boots.