Baby it's cold outside

I've been for a couple of rides this week and, unsurprisingly, it's starting to get a bit colder. That has some positives and negatives! You obviously need to dress a bit warmer and be more careful about riding in remote places, but I also find  the trails are less crowded and often more beautiful, and I need to carry much less water!

Plenty of frost around as I arrived at the first off-road section at 11:30

My first ride of the week ended up being quite a long one for me. The forecast was for 1 - 3ºC, and as it was my first cold-ish ride of the year I played it safe with the clothing. That means wearing a pertex / pile smock / jacket thing and packing an extra base layer in my small rucksack, just in case. That was definitely not needed though - I was cosy from the start and ended up with all the vents on the jacket fully open and still being towards the warm end of comfortable for most of the ride.

Still plenty of ice around right into the mid-afternoon

I wanted to explore some trails I'd seen on trailforks which were a bit further away from home than usual. I planned a route with plenty of opportunities to shorten or lengthen it depending on how I was feeling, and in the end ended up taking all the extra bits. That was completely fine until it came to ride home. The easiest way from my start point to the trails is along the side of the river, which on the way was a lovely warm-up with the wind behind me. Not so on the way home, a strengthening headwind plus being tired from the ride and not packing nearly enough snacks made the last hour pretty uncomfortable. Lessons learnt: pack more snacks, check the wind direction and consider heading home before the tiredness kicks in.

Nice scenery and several stream crossings made for a fun trail

Wool makes for a good base layer on a cold day.

For the second ride I wanted to start out feeling a bit colder and see how little clothing I could get away with. I wore a thin long-sleeved base layer under a lightweight "windproof" jacket and expected the first few minutes to be a bit uncomfortable. The forecast for the the day was about the same temperature, but the lack of wind coupled with a shorter ride made everything much easier. Despite 15 minutes of drizzle at the start of the ride I was toasty warm throughout (even my hands warmed up after 15 minutes) and didn't have any need for my emergency midlayer. This was a much more normal ride for me, with a 5km road ride to the woods and then a few laps up and down the hill, with a bit of exploration mixed in as well.

Autumn leaves almost completely hid some of the trails

So, what have I learnt about cold weather riding?

• It's really not that bad, especially if it's not too windy or wet
• I don't need to wear as many clothes as I think
• I should always bring extra snacks
• MTB is definitely an all-year sport

So, any questions? Do you ride in cold weather and have any killer tips for me, especially if they involve motivation to actually get started? Let me know in the comments (optimistic, I know). Otherwise see you soon for some more waffle about something MTB related.